Factory Balls 2: Great game, frustrating controls

Factory Balls 2 might have a funny name, but the puzzles this flash game presents you with are serious business. Decorating a ball might not sound thought-intensive, but your brain is either going to love or hate you after this game is done having its way with it.

Why it’s a Challenge

Why does decorating balls have to be complicated? It seems simple enough during the first few levels. You figure out the order in which you need to put things on the ball for the right paint pattern and move on, right? That’s exactly right, but the further you progress the harder it gets to determine the order in which you need to place the seeds or the belts or the paint (or the helmet, or the fish..) on the balls because every aspect of what you make needs to look like the order you’re trying to fill.

Why it’s Fun

Luckily all of the focus in Factory Balls 2 goes toward figuring out what you need to do and not being precise. You drag the ball to the accessory or the paint you want to use and it’s automatically applied. When the game starts to through some tricky color patterns at you, you only need to figure out the order of things. No dexterity required.

Why it’s Frustrating

The puzzle aspect of the game is great, and I did have a lot of fun just trying to figure everything out. With that said, I really didn’t like the controls too much. You have to drag the ball to each adornment or paint. This doesn’t seem like a big idea, but it would be far less time consuming if you could just click on items instead of having to drag the ball. Some people might find the dragging to be part of the game’s charm, but I just found it to be annoying after going through all 30 levels.

If there’s one thing that flash games have done, it’s present new puzzle game ideas to gamers looking for something new. Thought-intensive games aren’t for everybody, but there’s a definite market for them. Factory Balls 2 and its predecessor are both examples of unique and challenging games that we simply wouldn’t have if not for the flash platform.