Buy Ballpoint Universe : Infinite

After playing this game, I feel like drawing something. This game plays like a shmup( Shoot them up) if you're not familiar with games where you're a spaceship to destrory enemy planes or aliens. But what's unique about the game is everything is done in Ballpoint; you're always introduced to new and vibrant art that keeps coming in your face. When I first played this game, I was confused either to say if it was a platformer and a shmup. I feel like the platforming sections are really weak and presents a flaw when you're trying to go to many platforms. Controls don't feel tight so you have to rely on your mouse or keyboard/game pad for the jumping sections. The game works as you collect inkblots to upgrade, buy new parts to your ship which adds a lot of customization to how you want to approach things. You want a sword and gun combo? Done. You want to protect yourself and use missiles? Done. You just want to go commando and use dual melee or guns? Sure thing. Its very rewarding when you upgrade because it helps with ranking on missions. I recommend this to anyone who wants to try it out, the game can keep you playing for hours and it's not entirely hard ( The wheel can give you 40k inkblots if you're having trouble) if you're new.

This was a good game for me.

Pro
+ Easy shooter. It's possible to get all achievements in this game. Takes work but it's doable. I got them all and did not have to break that much sweat.
+ Interesting story though it takes awhile to understand. 'Doodles vs Logicians' -war is not something you see in every game.
+ Good looking art work.
+ Different.

Con
- Mouse cursor controller adventure part. Horrible controls.
- Above requires patience and a good aim. Keep that cursor visible and aim with it.
- Can be too weird for some people.

Recomended for people who like shooters and who have an open mind about what that term can actually mean. This game sure stretches that boundary.

I want to recommend this game, I really do, but between horrible platforming sections (this game is actually a shmup) with extremely confusing controls and a lot of stuff going on in foreground in shmup sections (making it hard to dodge projectiles) I cannot. The art style is fun and amusing and there are enough upgrades to chose any playstyle you might need. Ranged weapons are extremely weak though, and I very quickly found myself picking up a couple of melee blades and playing the rest of the game with them.

At first, I thought that this game was also programmed with a ballpoint. It's very awkward to control, there's too much acceleration going on everywhere, you have to change control modes constantly and the physics feel that everything is about to collapse at any second.

But I persevered, and after getting used to it's controls, I found myself liking it a lot. I love arcade shmups, and after figuring out how to buy weapons and equiping them, shooting sections very fun, although I found them too easy at first, I was having a blast in the later sections. There's no way you'll have enough ink to buy all weapons and try them without grinding, so I stuck to the ones I know I would liked and upgraded them to the max. Also, ♥♥♥♥ kamikazes, one touch and you lose a life, no matter how much you have.

Personally, I would've liked a score system, which also could have alleviated the frustration of losing a life trying to get a gold by gaining one after hitting certain number. It would be a nicer bonus for your skill than having a star that makes a short blast of bullets.

Also, the graphics are very unique and cool, but sometimes I feel this game is kind of egotistical, shoving them in your face. This is really a problem with a boss that shows up in front of the camera and blocks your view of the enemies, I dont mind it too much in the overworld, but it can be annoying. The opnly other graphical problem is in the last level, when all the objects being white becomes a problem, there were times that I didnt know where I was, what was attacking me and where it came from.

And lastly, I think that the game would be better if it had less focus on the overworld, specially platforming in there, and different music. My god, I had the game on mute 80% of the time, I was so sick of hearing the same thing over and over.

TL;DR: Like Skyrim on paper 420/666

With visual layered artwork, this game with its intuitive controls and addicting gameplay and the deep customization options is truly a unique game.

Don’t know if it was just me, but I really didn’t like the controls in this game. They were just really wonky no matter what settings I used. The gamepad joystick was too sensitive for the shooting parts, but not sensitive enough on the menus. And the mouse controls were horrible for the platforming bits.

The platforming bits seemed unnecessary. Why not just give us a menu-based level hub instead of constantly shifting between two types of gameplay?

The shoot em parts were quite fun, but felt like they could have been done a lot better. The worst part was how often enemies would go off screen. If enemies go off screen in a shooter, they’re not supposed to come back!! But in this game, they do, quite often. Most of the enemy movement patterns depended on your movement, so you often had to move in a way that would keep them on screen. That’s pretty annoying.

Anyway, I played the game for the artstyle, and it surely delivered on unique graphics. The melee weapons on your ship were fun too. But overall I wasn’t too impressed.

Recommended, but with slight caution.

Ballpoint Universe is a side-scrolling shmup with adventure-y platforming between missions. The art style, obviously, is the most notable and unique aspect of the game. It's consistently good (and weird) throughout the game and, along with the music, adds a ton of atmosphere. The "ideas vs logicians" story fits in perfectly. There are a wide variety of upgrades to acquire for your ship, including some genuinely useful melee weapons.

Here's the biggest issue: the controls. Do not expect precise movement like most shooters. The platforming segments are better with the keyboard, or maybe controller, but the movement and physics feel wonky no matter what. It's doable, but prepare for some frustration.

The flying missions should be played with the mouse. It's highly unusual, but because the ship moves as fast as you can move the cursor, it seems as though the game was meant to be played like this. That advantage will be required on the harder missions.

Control schemes must be switched manually by going into the menu, unless there's a shortcut I missed.

Control issues are often a death sentence for this kind of game, but once I stopped resisting the mouse, and bought some better equipment, the good started to outweigh the bad. The developers appear to have been confident about going their own way here, and the result is a game that's fresh and worthwhile. Some mental effort on the player's part may be required to see that, however.

Not going to lie, I played this game to grab the cards lol

If you like side-scrolling jet fighter games, you will really like this game. It is the right amount of challenging to keep most type of gamers engaged. The artwork is really, really refreshing in that it is all hand-drawn with a pen. There is also platforming elements involved if you like achievement hunting/collecting.

The grinding is reasonable because you periodically pick up these "infinite" orbs that allow you to start from progressively higher levels (so you don't have to start from wave 1 every time).

The music is very good, I usually play my own music in the background when I play games, but that was unnecessary for this game.

For the price, I would definitely recommend it if you enjoy shoot-em-up games.

Got that game From Humble Weekly Eye it a Good Shoot Em Up Game with some platforming for talking to some NPC & Collect Golden Sticker If you complete it with Gold Rating to get Achivement and some Inks - Inks are used for play The wheel of Fortune in the garden or upgrade ur Fighter

The game is addicting but a little repetitive in Infinite mode but it get harder and take reflex the ship is very customizable you get Two weapon which you probably can already see from screenshot & gameplay trailer

I recommend it and it is currently 1$ on humble bundle Weekly

Surprisingly addictive. Controls are difficult, though. You can't really use mouse in the platformer part & gamepad in the side-scroll shooter part.

Recommended

Pro:
Great art style and music
Campaign has a decent difficulty level
Story somewhat entertaining for a shooter
Good variety in combat through shielding and melee system
Replay ability through infinite mode

Contra
You can't switch between mouse and Gamepad on the fly so the movement in the campaign world isn't good
Campaign a bit short
Game shut off a few times but the save game wasn't compromised

Overall a great shooter with a few problems here and there. For fans of the genre a must everyone else should at least have a look and be it because of the art style.

This is a review update following a second play of the game. The original review can be found at the end.

The first time I played this I was intrigued by the art, but felt let down by the controls and gameplay. After a response from the dev, I felt I owed this game a second try.

Ballpoint Universe is a game that's hard to put into words. The art style is certainly unusual, so I'll start with that. It's ... weird. Not what I'd call beautiful, but it's fascinating. I think it could turn some people off. But why play cookie cutter games that are just like all the others? I applaud the makers of this game for doing something visually so different.

The gameplay is another weird one. To drop straight into the game with no expectations was, in my experience, a bit brutal. Or rather, I had different expectations. The game is essentially a side-scrolling shooter, with basic platforming elements that connect missions into a storyline. While the art styles match, the gameplay is radically different. Jarring, even. It doesn't help that the default controls are really terrible. Practically unplayable. If you're going to play this, I strongly recommend you use keyboard for the platforming sections and mouse control for the spaceship missions. It handles rather well that way.

Another part I had trouble with was ship add-ons. Those little black silhouettes in the bottom right can actually be scrolled through and bought. I played for ages thinking the game was going to unlock them for me, which led to some tiresomely long missions with my underpowered ship.

It could be easy for someone to play this game and think it's awful. The alternative artwork, the odd mix of gameplay, the default controls. But going into it with a bit of knowledge helps a lot, and I found on the second day of playing that it really wasn't too bad. It's definitely not for everyone, but there's more good here than bad.

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OLD REVIEW

Very interesting art style. It reminded me of And Yet It Moves. It's always great to see games pushing boundaries of visual styles, but unfortunately the game is let down by the actual gameplay. It's basically a bunch of side-scrolling shooting games, all very similar, tied together with a platforming narrative that only exists to move from one shooting mission to the next. Decent music.

The controls are pretty bad. I played in windowed mode, and the character moves at different speeds depending on how far the mouse pointer is. But the mouse isn't bound to the window, which is a staggering oversight. Also, clicking on the menu button in the top right corner means your character runs to the right before you can click on it. I don't know how they thought this was a good idea. Fortunately I have Display Fusion so I was able to lock the pointer to the window, but I can't imagine the game would be even slightly playable in windowed mode without this.

Overall, a visually interesting game that is focused too much on art and not enough on gameplay and fun. Maybe it's just too arty for me and I don't "get it", but I really can't recommend it.
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Much more worth than its price!!!

This game is a gem. First of all , the artwork is spectacular, I love how it is hand drawn and the doodles are quirky and unique. The gameplay is simple, just a typical shoot em up mixed with a bit of some platformer action, making it fun for a casual play to wind down after a long day at work. The controls were a bit annoying, especially how sensitive the mouse was, which resulted in a bit of frustration, Although, I believe you can use a controller, but I haven't tried it yet. The music is lovely and cute and yes, this game does have an interesting plot as well. If you are looking for a game that can give you hours of casual game play, this is a great game.

This is a pretty game.
The art style is clever, unique and clear to make out.

Unfortunately, those are pretty much all the positive things that can be said about it.
Ballpoint Universe is half adventure-platformer and half level-based horizontal shooter, both halves have some glaring problems sapping the fun.

On the platformer side
You walk around a hand-drawn environment, finding new character to help so that you can unlock the next area. Helping a character involves playing a level in the horizontal shooter.
There's a plot in this half, and it's not that bad actually. The Doodles are in a war with the geometrical Logicians and it is your job to find out what's going on with the Logicians and how to stop the war.
The main gripe with this segment is that the controls are very, very weird. With three control schemes available (keyboard, mouse and controller. Mouse being the default) you'd think there was something in there for everyone's tastes.
Jumping is floaty to the point where it's almost impossible to accurately steer where your little doodle guy is going. This isn't such a big deal at first, but for some reason the developers decided that precision platforming is exactly what would make the second half better.

On the horizontal shooter side
The first impression here is a lot better, which is good since this is the meat of the game.
You fly around in a little ship with 4 customizable parts (2 weapons, a hull and a type of special weapon with limited uses) destroying or dodging all enemies until you get to the boss of the level, that you then have to defeat. You then get Ink to spend on getting new parts and upgrading existing parts (Ink can also be earned in the platformer half, but has no use there).
Pricing on new gear is very high though, so you'll need to fly a lot of missions before you're able to get that heat seeking missile pod (not the ultimate weapon, just my personal favourite).
There's some finesse where some enemies have armour that can only be bypassed with melee weapons, so it's generally a good idea to bring one gun and one melee weapon.
What frustrated me here is a minor detail, but one that I couldn't exclude here. The heat seeker missiles I mentioned are excellent when they work as intended, and are even capable of getting around those pesky melee-only shields. However, the targeting on them is way off. Missed enemies that are by now far behind you and out view, scenery, enemies that haven't spawned yet, everything gets targeted by it. This is more apparent on some levels than on others, but especially since it's such a late-game weapon where players will have had to save up Ink for dozens of missions, it just reeks of poor design and/or testing.

Ballpoint Universe isn't a bad game, but beyond the distinctive graphics there just isn't anything exceptional there.
You can enjoy it, but the same can be said more so of a lot of other games on offer.

This game was quite the surprise, I didn't pay much attention to the trailer, under the expectation I wouldn't even play it (having gotten it from a bundle), but for no firm reason I decided to try it. What at a glance I had thought to be an artistic platformer (as so many indie games these days are), turned out to be an artistic platformer/upgradable shooter. Although I was a little put-off from getting the wrong idea of the game, I continued to play and started to really enjoy it! Ballpoint Universe allows the player to use keyboard, mouse, or a gamepad at their will, allowing a wide variety of choices. The game has a surprisingly interesting story, and provides much inspiration with it's monochromatic artwork and interesting design.
Ballpoint Universe is a must-have for casual and artistic gamers alike, for it provides a fun and inspirational casual game for all to enjoy.

This game is very awesome, only played it for a short while but somehow I think I will be hunting for all the achievements and thoroughly enjoying every moment of it. The game mechanics are simple but has a high skill ceiling, basically just sidescrolling shooter using either mouse/keyboard/controller. Cool art style. Possibly one of the few games that I enjoy very much.

This is a side scrolling STG that is very simple to control (as long as you use a keyboard and rebind the non movement to something simple like Z and X), and turns into a platformer at the end. The upgrade system requires some grinding, however, it is of no concern. The only complaint is that the ship movement is god awful and requires a lot of getting used to.

Eye candy. Not much else.
Gameplay: default shoot 'em up and quickly gets boring.
Soundtrack: not horrible, but doesn't fit the game at all.
My advice: turn off the sound and put something ambient on. Thus you can transfor the game into a neat little, relaxing, couple minute wind off.
Recommend only if you're that type of person who gets a big kick out of visuals.

Ballpoint Universe is an unimaginative sh'mup tarred with a mushy control system and zero scope for anything approaching mastery. Sure, the artstyle is nice and all, but you don't drink a beer because the label on the bottle is pretty.