Needs more diverse gameplay
Fri Jul 17 2020 HehhbdeebThis game is pretty fun the campaign took me about 4 hours to beat but after that there isn’t much to keep the player engaged. Sure there’s an endless mode but it’s just the same concept but without an end goal. The game price, I would say, is a little greedy (you are practically paying for a premium version of many free brick breaker games that are already out there) and I think there needs to be more worlds that introduce in game power ups, currently the only in game power up is the purple currency used to buy upgrades. I think there should be more upgrades in the blocks that you break that give you advantages while playing. Although I almost guarantee this game won’t be updated to add more content I think it desperately needs it to make the game more worthy of its price. I also understand that the developers think that they have a $4 price point standard for each of there games but even though these games look well polished they need more content to justify this “standard”
This whole review was poorly put together and probably sounds like a poorly thought out rant but oh well 🤪
Curiously Addictive
Tue Nov 26 2024 random9qHave always enjoyed this game, but for a while I’d shelved it because I’d played the campaign through and had a high score in the infinite stage that I just couldn’t beat. (I swear it was updated with a physics fix that made it just slightly more challenging in being just slightly more accurate/removed one tiny seldom triggered bug/whatever it was.)
I came back to it after a few years to find my one wish — that the infinite stage could be made more colorful along with showcasing the other music from other stages — had been implemented!
These days I use it as a kind of software toy, not expecting I’ll EVER beat my high score (though it’s fun to try). I just like the chaos that can sometimes be found in creating a particularly good shot that happens to be both acyclic and yet a very long path. I compete not on depth but try to see how many “touches” (times bullets hit the bricks) with every shot. Which happens to be good strategy for winning but is a much harder thing to compete with oneself at. And thinking of it now ad a software toy, it takes the edge off the inevitable crash and need to reset progress.
Basically, rethinking how I approach the game the second time I’ve come to it to play, it’s turned it into a go-to fidget toy. And I love that…
It might not be everyone’s favorite, but it’s a neat twist on the old “Breakout”-type gameplay, and for me it’s surprisingly rewarding in repeat gameplay.
Perfect challenge:fun ratio!
Thu Aug 16 2018 d4v1ddI’ll admit, I didn’t love this game at first. I had to try it a few times, reluctantly. After beating the first level, I couldn’t put it down. I picked up some techniques like shooting at specific spots on the rounded edge and paying attention to the numbers to think about my strategy. At first I was shooting randomly and crashing often. I beat all the levels and was happily surprised by the black hole level. Brilliant! Got my whole family hooked on this game. I’m excited for future updates and improvements. The simplicity is a major draw, but it could be fun to have power-ups and other types of blocks, like maybe squared corners to make it more challenging or diamond shapes. Anyway, this is a SUPER fun game and I highly recommend it!!!
Enjoyable but meh, not worth the price
Fri Aug 10 2018 ChakvooThe play style of Holedown is solid! I love to aim the line at different angles and watch the onslaught of balls Ricochet off of everything, it’s satisfying! What’s not satisfying though is the 3 hours I spent going through the games worlds. They have an endless world however there is no sense to play because there is no variety in the abilities you purchase. Plus the boss battles at the end of each world are just the exact same boss but with a higher number to bring down to defeat it. Ugh!
That’s lazy. You guys could’ve made them different shapes, or have them move around or SOMETHING! Rather than the same circle of doom at the end of every level. This is definitely NOT worth $4 you all got greedy, this is a $.99 cent game up and down the board unless you have new worlds and abilities planned for the future.
Shame really, because it feels really great to play, oh well.
A satisfying, but short experience.
Fri Aug 24 2018 tspaghettiReally satisfying feel to the gameplay. Could use more upgrades, more levels, more something. Maybe a challenge mode with blocks that have their own characteristics (flipping blocks on/off so the player has to time shots), or with balls that behave differently (arching maybe), or the board acts differently (moves up with time, not moves), or with a time limit.
Not sure why I can continue to catch crystals when I’m playing the endless level and have all the upgrades, wish there was something to still put those toward.
Really fun, was worth $4 to me, but I’d understand if someone were to say it was too much money for the experience.
Great fun if you want some mental exercise!
Wed Sep 15 2021 DarkWolfHunterHoledown is a simple puzzle game that balances your own strategic thinking skills against run-based roguelite progression systems to create a casual, yet very fun and fulfilling experience. The gameplay, which is best described as a hybrid between Breakout and Tetris, allows you to dominate the game the more you use your brain, while also making things easier via upgrades between runs if/when you find yourself struggling. It’s a very smooth and addicting game loop that never grows stale for the duration of the game.
It’s worth far more than it’s minuscule asking price, and easy to recommend.
These balls are the best balls
Sat Jul 28 2018 sobriquet73This game is the best of all the Ballz-like games I've played. At first I was little concerned about the price for such a game, but I went for it and I am not disappointed. I played so much since downloading it last night that I’ve already finished it and have been focusing on getting better shot records. Very few games grab me like this and I really appreciate it when one does.
The only issue I’ve had is the cloud save doesn’t allow me to transfer between devices so I had to play only on my iPad.
Thanks for such a great gaming experience.
No Restar Button
Wed May 06 2020 JnCrlsRvraYes, the game is kind of addictive, but there isn’t a restart button, which means that you have to finish the current game your playing, so if by accident you select a planet, star, planetoid or whatever you have to finish the current game or lose on purpose. If you want more balls, more moves or another level, again, you need to finish the current game or lose on purpose. But the worst happens when your current game freezes, kind of. Everything is still working but the ball freeze; so you can change the settings turn off the music, the sound, the language but you cannot restart the game, no matter if you close the game, even if you turn off your device, the game is unplayable. Your only option is to reset the game, which means that you will lose all your progress and achievements, you have to start all over again.
With depth, but not enough.
Wed Feb 26 2020 BreadmanMcGWith the recent rise of ball bouncers on mobile (thanks in no small part to an absolute onslaught of advertising for these sorts of games), when I read Holedown’s description of “A ball bouncer but with some depth”, I was intrigued. And indeed it does have more depth compared to many ball bouncers! It felt less like I was just trying to make the same ideal shots over and over and that I had some strategy in my gameplay choices, but alas; the feeling does not last. Pretty quickly you’ll get to the “end” of the game which is an endless level, and very few upgrades left to purchase. The game should have had so much more than it did, and it’s a shame that the devs appear to have abandoned this game.
Could’ve been endless fun
Sun Sep 02 2018 turdmcgurdStarts off strong but after maybe 30 minutes to an hour the fun ends. With the levels being Procedurally Generated I’m really surprised at how few levels there are.
At the start you have limited balls and shots but with a few upgrades you get unlimited shots which really kills the challenge. Then you get to a point where the crystals you collect to buy upgrades become pointless because you maxed out everything.
I would like to see more block shapes that cause the balls to bounce differently or black holes or gravity spots that pull or push the balls different directions (goes with space theme) adding to the difficulty.
