It seems as if game developers are taking a cue from Hollywood, glutting the summer blockbuster season with sequels. Arriving just in the nick of time is Civiballs 2, the successor to one of the better physics puzzles on the Web. Unlike most movie sequels though, this second installment packs just as much oomph as the original.
Yes, that's right, Civiballs 2 is a phuzzle, heavy on the uzzle. All you need is your mouse and your wits: click the chains to cut them, releasing their cargo to the cruel but ultimately predictable whims of physics. If all the colored balls fall into urns of the same color, then you did it right The key is finding the correct order in which the chains must be cut, though timing also puts in a strong supporting role.
There's three new sets of levels to master, each based on a different ancient civilization: the Romans, the Vikings and the Incas. Each of the three tracks has its graphical theme and its own pretty steep difficulty ramp. You may want to play the original first to help you get the hang of things. You'll find a few things in Civiballs 2 that weren't in the original, such as balloons, fountains, and replicas of famous statues. These new items are good for a little variety, but don't mess with the overall feel of the game, and they don't seem the least bit gimmicky. It's sometimes nice to see a sequel that maintains and continues the things that made the original work so well without resorting to silly things. Of course, there is also the danger of leaning too far in the other direction, where the sequel is nothing but a rehash of the original, but again Civiballs 2 avoids this pitfall with its uniquely designed levels.
You could certainly say that Civiballs 2 is nothing but more levels, but considering that it offers as many new levels as in the original game without a drop (and perhaps even an increase) in quality, it stands on its own just as well as its predecessor.
1st first post ever! Man, I love Civiballs so this should rock
Ugh, stuck on Vickings level 10, hoping that I can do that magic thing of figuring it out once I've posted this.
Yup, that did it. Was a bit complicated, here's a walkthrough for anyone who might get stuck like I did:
Drop the grey ball that's hanging by two chains into the catapult (you'll have to swing it over to make it land right)
Drop the red ball, he'll bounce into his pot.
Release the catapult, it will start the middle grey ball swinging, use him to knock in the red ball on the left.
Drop the grey ball on the right, it will put the one below it in position for the green ball to bounce off of him and into his pot.
Found a bug. In Inca, level 7, I can't restart the game anymore. The restart button does nothing, the space bar does nothing, but all the other controls work. It was working, then it stopped working, I reloaded the page and all is good again. Just an FYI.
Am I the only one playing this game?!? Anyhow, just finished it and loved it. Can't wait for the next installment, and if you have any questions on a level feel free to ask.
im stuck on rome lvl 10 and inca lvl 7-10 ='(
When do physics puzzles break the laws of physics? Aka less than 1 bounce ration aka 1st and utmost important law of thermodynamics and all of physics, the law of conservation of energy.
It also doesn't recognize mass increases inertia, nor that the moving platform starting to move would increase the balls speed, not slow it. And I know all this from physics 1, which makes me wonder if the maker realizes the very schewed physics he uses.
Level 8 Inca, the catapult is unneeded as well as the gray ball above it, might be a red herring or a bug.
I love this game! Great review too: the analysis that this sequel kept the best from the original is spot on. Why reinvent the wheel? Looking forward to the third installment...perhaps with a level editor?
I'm fairly sure I used the catapult.
As to screwed physics: cry more. The physics aren't perfect, but they don't need to be, because they're consistent and super-accurate physics would be completely unnecessary and make it harder - have fun with your pixel-perfect timing. Nothing makes me nerd rage more than "good game" being sacrificed on the altar of "good physics".
I'm stuck on R10 I9 V9.
Rome, LVL 10:
Cut top most grey guy
Swing top red guy onto platform, knocking off one grey ball to the right
Cut large grey ball
Swing lower red ball into cannon, he goes home.
Use ramp on right to drop green swinging ball into cannon, he goes home.
Use channel on the right to drop yellow ball onto ramp, into cannon, he knocks second red ball home then goes home himself.
Inca, LVL 7:
Swing red ball into crossbow on right.
Drop middle grey ball.
Fire red ball.
Drop grey ball on right, red ball goes home.
Cut swinging grey ball so he goes left and plugs hole.
Swing green ball into left crossbow, fire, he goes home.
Inca, LVL 8:
Swing green ball into updraft, he goes home.
Drop both grey balls, one red ball goes home and one green goes home.
Fire catapult, last red ball goes home.
Inca, LVL 9:
Swing lower red ball to right, he goes home.
Release chain on platform for upper red ball, he goes home.
Drop upper left green ball, two greens go home.
Drop upper left grey ball, one more green goes home.
Drop remaining grey ball (upper right) and final green goes home.
Inca, LVL 10: (more than one way to do this one)
Swing green ball into crossbow, fire, he goes home.
Drop upper right red ball, he goes home.
Cut swinging red ball so that he goes left, he'll go home (the long way).
Swing lower grey ball to the left, so that he rests up against the green pot.
Drop final green ball, he goes home.
Vikings, LVL 9:
Swing lower (small) green ball into the red ball on right, he'll go home.
Swing upper red ball to left, into crossbow, fire, he'll knock green ball home.
Drop fatty green ball, he and red ball will go home.
Cut swinging red ball so he goes right.
Cut right chain on grey ball and time the swing so that he knocks red ball home.
Here's the final level too:
Swing lower yellow ball into crossbow.
Swing red ball to the left, he goes home.
Swing green ball to the right, as soon as he's even with the lower grey ball, fire the crossbow, both yellow and green ball will go home.
Swing upper grey ball to the right, and drop him straight down onto crossbow
Drop second grey ball, he'll join his buddy in the crossbow.
Swing final yellow ball left, he goes home.
Hooray for Civiballs! I beat the whole thing without any help, and thats a HUGE accomplishment for me!!! Woo!
Tahsis: To address your comment on why so many games exhibit the same physics, Civiballs, like many other games uses the Box2D physics engine. It is a popular choice due to it being open-source, efficient, and easy to implement.
I'm not sure I understand your complaint about the bouncing, but I am certain that Box2D correctly accounts for mass and inertia. Probably in this case, the game maker chose to give larger objects the same mass as smaller ones (thus having a lower density).
PS, since Box2D is open-source, you can take your own crack at improving it if you like: http://sourceforge.net/projects/box2d/
Oh I love this game even more than I loved first part! This game is more challanging than most of physics games, which is ofcourse advantage. Sweet graphics, suprises and all that stuff gave me a great warmup before work. My this week's best!
PS. Here's my video walkthrough for all levels if you guys need it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adHgizffGaw
Inca lvl 6? I'm stumped...can anyone help?
rome lvl 9 is so hard! help!
Update