No, that really sucked. You aren’t cheated out of winning or getting a faster time anymore. Random variables like that absolutely do not belong in a game revolving around beating a track as fast as possible.
I disagree with all of these points other than the shortcut one. I wish there were more cuts. Especially on Paradise where the devs went and “patched them out” with these gross appearing boxes. If you don’t want shortcuts, then your level design should be edited, not patched up.
From someone that put in over 1000 hours into GMT Ball Race, I feel ya. The finish being bigger does sorta take away that challenge of timing when to stop at the end, but not completely. There are some levels where you’ll sometimes go too fast and roll straight over the finish. Shortcuts DO exist in TU Ball Race, but they aren’t as crazy as the ones in GMT, although there are some skips that feel as hard to pull off as the old Ball Race skips were. Play it for a while and it might grow on you.
Actually this is no random variable. As you always could make sure that you hit the finish - you just mustn’t devote yourself to rush into. (Also it’s not random as the physics are calculated always the same way, there is no wind etc… Best seen on minigolf, where you always come up at the same spot when driving off in the same direction with the same power)
Easier doesn’t necessarily mean better. The old physics had some more inertia or less “braking” ability, so you had to watch out and concentrate more when being fast.
Even with the pop sound?
Yeah sometimes or rather often, you just can run with full speed into it.
The only problem I see with ball race is the physics. Every direction you go feels incredibly rigged. In GMT’s ball race, the movement felt much more free and light, in TU it’s like your ball is carrying a bunch of bricks along with you.
Though I remember Mac saying that the current physics engine (PhysX) is kinda shite and that the physics will be reworked.
As a Ball Race speedrunner, the risk/reward is much better balanced in TU’s ball race. There was too much reward and no risk in the old TU, making it difficult to enjoy competitively (but it was great casually).
As of right now, every Ball Race course, even to the developers own in-game description, is either Easy or Hard/Very Hard. We need some medium challange maps that give a nice balance of racing and obstacles, which is what I felt like most of the original GMT ball race maps were, like the Sand World, Ice World, and Khromidro (my personal favorite
I also agree that the “pop” sounds sucks. When you run out of time, it shatters into a pieces, maybe a glass sound would be more satisfying feeback to failure - Honestly, I extend this complaint to most of Tower Unite’s sound design. The UI gives me the image of someone making clicking and popping sounds with their mouth and it drives me nuts. The whole aesthetic of the game right now feels so “soft” and unoffensive, like it’s Web 2.0 in video game form. I hope as time goes, they carve out a more unique, stylized feel for everything.
I however, disagree on the controls. I think they feel much better in TU than they ever did in GMT, and I’d say this goes for just about every mode except virus, but that’s because the original was piggy backing on Source.
I also disagree on shortcuts. There are plenty of ways to skip a lot of levels.
I very strongly disagree on the goal-hole. Funneling around it only to be beaten by someone who you were ahead of most the race sucks.
Ultimately, more balanced ball race maps is the solution.
