Ballance

Ballance is a 3D puzzle computer game for Windows. It was developed by Cyparade, published by Atari and first released in Europe on 2 April 2004. The gameplay is similar to Marble Madness: The player controls a ball via mouse and keyboard that they must move along a course without falling off the screen.

Gameplay
In the game, the player can change the ball's material with special changers throughout the game's 12 levels. It can be transformed to a wood, rock, or paper ball. The wooden ball is very stable and can be used for several puzzles in the game. It is the very first ball, used in the easy levels. The rock ball is extremely heavy, and can be accidentally rolled off an edge very easily, but this ball can easily push down boxes and bridges. Rolling a rock ball through a bridge made of planks will make the bridge collapse and usually cause loss of one life. The paper ball is very light. Its surface is not smooth, unlike the wood and rock ball, and can be a bit rough at first. A paper ball can be blown into the air by fans and can roll up steep hills easily.

Two power-ups are available. If the ball rolls into them they provide an extra ball or extra time. Checkpoints are scattered evenly across levels so that if a player falls off the course they only have to restart the game from the last checkpoint reached.

Reception
An Adrenaline Vault review by Bob Mandel described the game's graphics as "heavenly", particularly admiring the "exquisite detail". Mandel thought the sounds were "absolutely outstanding", enjoyed the music and thought the gameplay was exciting and intense.