GameCyte

"Niki - Rock 'n' Ball," developed by Bplus, has a bright colorful presentation, simple controls, and quirky theme which makes it a good fit for the family-friendly WiiWare lineup. It also has frustrating gameplay, inconsistent and flighty physics, and a jarring difficulty curve which keeps it from being very enjoyable.

"Niki" is a puzzle-platformer game, played in a "2.5D" style. Niki, the spherical protagonist, must roll and jump around each level, killing every enemy and collecting six colored tokens to finish. Niki can hop fairly high, and bounces enthusiastically off of walls and obstacles, allowing him to perform walljumps and tricky maneuvers.

Some enemies are killed on contact, though Niki will encounter spikier foes with the opposite effect. Thankfully, Niki can usually find an item which allows him to transform from a squishy ball into a solid rock, and back, at will. Once in rock form, Niki is mostly invincible, though he can barely roll or jump.

Players are given the option to control Niki using the Wiimote in a sideways "controller" format, or opt for motion control. This latter scheme is inadvisable, however, since it ties the "jump" function to a quick flick of the Wiimote. Even setting aside the wrist strain this will produce from Niki's constant jumping, it simply doesn't work well enough to execute Niki's trickier maneuvers, making it a needless inclusion.

Still, once one has a handle on the controls, Niki's bouncy platforming gameplay seems well-suited to a clever and enjoyable experience. Unfortunately, the game's potential goes unrealized, marred by inconsistent execution and exasperating progression.

When it comes to the game's enemies, there is no pattern or reason to their defeat. Once Niki is able to turn into a rock, one's primary goal is to start killing baddies, typically by thumping into them. Inexplicably, however, this doesn't always work. An enemy will survive when you fall onto him at crushing speeds, only to finally die when you mildly tap him, or perhaps the enemy may only die after running into Niki while he is sitting still.

This might produce only mild frustration if it didn't also repeatedly lead to Niki's own death. In later levels, whose many hazards are fatal even in rock form, Niki will often attempt to leap to the next platform, which is occupied by a baddie, and whether he defeats the creature and lands safely -- or is sent rebounding to his death -- is purely arbitrary.

To compound this frustration, "Niki's" advancement is cruel and unforgiving: Each world contains ten levels, which the player must complete without the benefit of continues or checkpoints. Niki has only a few lives, and if he loses them, he's got to start all over again, meaning a particularly tough level near the end can force you to repeat 20 minutes of gameplay before you can make another attempt.

Not even co-op gameplay can save "Niki" from feeling sloppy and inconsistent, losing its appeal around the third game world. This game neither rocks, nor is a ball to play.