DX-Ball 2

DX Ball 2 is a vibrant "brick buster" game in the vein of Breakout and other classics.

In DX Ball 2, there's no story to be found whatsoever. But this makes sense: it is a "brick buster" where your goal is to clear the board of variously-coloured bricks, by knocking a ball to and fro with your paddle near the bottom of the screen. There are many similar games, but DX Ball 2 is notable for its colourful graphics and engaging gameplay.

There are a decent number of levels in DX Ball 2: 24 in all, varying in difficulty. However, this number can be expanded much further, if the player wishes to. There are five board packs for DX Ball 2, and one of them alone expands each starting set of boards from 6 to 24 boards each – creating a massive board total of 150. For players that particularly enjoy the game, it sports no shortage of content!

The basic gameplay of DX Ball 2 is also enhanced by various powerups. By striking one with the ball, the player "obtains" that power-up immediately... and not every power-up is good! There are three categories: blue, red and grey. Although blue is the most common, providing positive boosts such as extra lives and fireballs, red power-ups break the player's paddle or speed up the ball without improving its power, and grey power-ups can help as well as harm.

Unfortunately, DX Ball 2 is a little bit difficult to play on modern operating systems such as Windows 8, 8.1. and 10. Although it will often run on these operating systems without support, there is no guarantee that it will do so, and even if it does run, there may be graphical glitches (or even other glitches) as a result of the fact that the game was released in late 1998.

Still, DX Ball 2 is a very fun diversion, with more depth than you'd expect for players who find themselves getting particularly into the game. It is a great example of its small genre.