Super Korotama Review

Recently there seems to be a bit more variety in some of the smaller titles being released on the PS4, imagine a recreating a Japanese arcade game based on your skill using two joysticks. Welcome to Super Korotama, which is likely to be a game you would never have seen in an arcade. You wouldn’t think that placing a ball into a specific hole would be that difficult, well in Super Korotama it is.

Super Korotama starts off in very much an arcade environment, strangely it reminded me of Stretch another recent release which was played out on an arcade machine. You are presented with an arcade machine which contains a series of perforated panels. There are two joysticks in front of you, the left one represents the left joystick on your controller and the right joystick represents the right joystick of your controller. A ball drops from the top of the screen onto a platform at the bottom of the arcade machine, it almost looks like a pinball. Using the joysticks you must guide the ball via the platform into one of the green highlighted holes on the panel. Each time you do this successfully, you will need to guide the next ball into the next highlighted hole, you have 3 balls to do this with in general. If you fail to guide any balls into the designated holes then you lose. Sounds easy doesn’t it?

The joysticks in Super Korotama move the left and right handsides of the platform you control that has the metal ball on it. If you push up on the left joystick then platform will raise on the left, which in turn will make the ball slide to the right. If you then raise the right handside then you can steady the ball to a stop. The challenge is to manoeuvre the ball into the designated holes, unfortunately there are a lot of holes your ball could fall into. If your ball falls into the wrong hole then this will affect how many points you get and also if you’re able to proceed an further.

Super Korotama at the start is quite easy as you there’s lots of space to move your ball through, as you progress more holes appear set out in different shapes making it increasingly difficult. There are 20+ levels in Super Korotama, there are two main modes which are the Arcade mode and Levels mode. In the Arcade mode you just have to get the ball into the designated hole first time, if you don’t then the game ends. In the Levels mode you move through the levels, unlocking later levels by putting the three balls into the designated holes. You need to put a certain number of balls into the designated holes otherwise you will be unable to access later. Unfortunately it doesn’t tell you which levels you have managed to clear all the designated holes, so you need to keep tabs which levels you have cleared and also put the three balls into the relevant holes.

There are power ups in Super Korotama, they appear randomly. Some give you more time to finish a level, whilst there are some that remove time. One power up will slow the ball down making it easier to navigate around the panel. The most annoying power up is the invert power up, as it inverts your controls so it becomes frustrating difficult to move the platform, so i’d advise giving that power up a miss. Super Korotama has very simple graphics, just different panels on for each level. You can win different skins which add little to the experience, they all have a Japanese vibe to them. Musically Super Korotama keeps you going with an enjoyable synth-wave jukebox and has the usual arcade sounds you would expect from an arcade machine. When you complete all the levels in Super Korotama, you will unlock additional modifiers like an ice mode. The online leaderboards helps keep Super Korotama addictive as you see what other people’s highscores for each level are. Super Korotama definitely has that one more play addictive quality to it. Depending on your skill level you could get through all the levels well within an hour but your need to beat your high score will keep you playing for a lot longer.

Super Korotama is a simple yet addictive game of skill. If you fancy something something that is somewhat different to what you usually play, something that will test your skillset then Super Korotama will satisfy that need. There are not that many levels to get through but Super Korotama will keep you coming back for more magnetic ball in action.

REVIEW CODE: A complimentary Sony Playstation 4 code was provided to Bonus Stage for this review. Please send all review code enquiries to press@4gn.co.uk.