Enjoy power ups and other creative spins to this classic genre. Are you still reading? Download DX Ball and start having fun right away! Dave Galvin is a freelance writer and avid gamer. Somehow, he managed to find a way to combine the two passions.
Are you familiar with the old block-breaking game of Breakout? It was a challenging little classic that had you break apart rows upon rows of shiny little blocks using a ball that you had to ensure never hit the ground.
This is not that game. At first blush, it might look really derivative, and you would not be entirely wrong in thinking so. Even so, DX-Ball still has a few tricks up its sleeve that help it stand out in the crowd.
Like all the various clones of Breakout that came before and after it, DX-Ball plays like a combination of pinball and Pong. You control a paddle with your mouse and use it to keep a little white ball aloft in the air. Failure to do so results in you losing a life. In the meantime, you have to use the ball to destroy an array of blocks above you. Some blocks go down with a single hit. Others need to be whacked several times. Some are invisible and will only appear once the ball collides with them once.
Some blocks are indestructible, some blow up at the slightest touch, and so on. It may not sound exciting at first, by DX-Ball manages to mix things up with its variety of power-ups. Some blocks will release a power-up when they are destroyed; if you catch it with your paddle, you can benefit from any number of boons. You can increase the size of your paddle, add more balls to bounce around, get the ability to catch and strategically re-launch the ball at your whim, or equip your paddle with a pair of blasters to shoot and destroy blocks in an instant.
However, not all power-ups are so benign. Just to mess around with you, DX-Ball incorporates a variety of power-downs that can make things harder if you make the mistake of grabbing them. They can have all sorts of negative effects; one can shrink your paddle, one will cause the blocks to sink lower every time the ball bounces, one will increase the movement speed of the ball, and one will even outright kill you!
The power-ups and power-downs of DX-Ball make it far more dynamic and unpredictable than your usual Breakout clone. Sometimes a level will be over in a flash because you got a good combination of abilities. Other times, it could take a good while before anything decent comes your way. Either way, you could easily call this game the Super Mario Bros. DX-Ball would be fun for a few minutes on its own, but the assorted abilities you can receive at any time seal the deal and increase the replay value.
It can be a very difficult game to put down. Progress in DX-Ball often comes down to how lucky you are. Make no mistake; DX-Ball is not necessarily hard without the power-ups. Clash of Clans. Subway Surfers. TubeMate 3. Google Play. Biden to send military medical teams to help hospitals. N95, KN95, KF94 masks. GameStop PS5 in-store restock.
Baby Shark reaches 10 billion YouTube views. Microsoft is done with Xbox One. Windows Windows. Most Popular. New Releases. Desktop Enhancements. Networking Software. Trending from CNET. Download Now. Editors' Review Download. Now here's a walk down memory lane. Modeled after the hugely popular MegaBall for the Amiga, this game maintains not only the look and feel of the original breakout style of game but similar sounds as well.
This freeware download is easy to play, but don't expect to be wowed by graphics or fancy features--this is nostalgia, pure and simple. For a more up-to-date brick-smashing game, you'd be best to look elsewhere. However, DX-Ball is small, stable, and free. What more could you want?
Bring back the '80s and break out DX-Ball. Full Specifications. What's new in version 1. Release November 8, Date Added October 22,