Game Classification

In Somersault players control the character Bally who needs to save his friends who are held captive by a villain. The basic level design resembles a side-scrolling platformer, but players only have indirect control over the main character. Bally can fold himself into a rolling ball and the player needs to steer and bounce him around by drawing paddles in the air.

Somewhat similar to the mechanics in Breakout, the position of the paddle determines the direction. Paddles are drawn through the mouse; the length determines the strength and the rotation the direction. If the left mouse button is held, it is still possible to adjust the paddle to achieve the effect of pinball flippers. A rainbow pattern allows the player to preview Bally's path before actually executing it.

After a short tutorial where the gameplay is introduced, Bally needs to travel 21 levels in five worlds, based on the themes forest, candy, psychedelia, crystals and machines. During his quest there are short sequences with other characters, he can collect rings and needs to avoid various hazards and enemies. Bally has a limited amount of lives (which can be replenished with hearts) and loses a life when touching an enemy, water, fire or other dangerous obstacles. [source:mobygames]

Distribution : Retail - Commercial
Platform(s) : Macintosh - PC (Windows)

Links

• http://www.mobygames.com/game/somersault/