Babo Violent 2, originally released as a network library stress test, is a strange mixture of 2d shooter and physics based puzzler. Best described as “Marble Madness meets Quake”, the player assumes control of a small ball, called a “babo”. This babo is then equipped with a wide assortment of weapons – that’s right, weapons – such as machine guns, bazookas, sniper rifles, and even esoteric energy weapons and “suicide nukes” which do well to wipe sections of the map clean in a brilliant flash of destruction.

As player count increases, so do options for strategy. A simple one-on-one would result in the babos sniping at each other from afar. But with a server capability of up to thirty-two players, the chaos gives the babos the chance to use “other” weapons. These include throwables like grenades and Molotov cocktails. Or, the babo may want to go for the “full monty” and use their secondary weapons, such as retractable blades – the equivalent of knifing, personal shields to negate damage – though it prevents the shielded babo from firing, or the almighty personal nuke – wiping out any babo in sight.

Gameplay wise, the nuke is the one thing that is both a benefit and a detriment to Babo Violent 2. While it’s amusing on a massive server to watch one guy run in with pre-nuke siren screaming only to see a list of six kills pop-up on a “flashpoint-white” screen, the usefulness of the nuke has a habit of being everybody’s favorite secondary weapon. This inevitably boils the game down to “nuke-spam”, where everyone that spawns immediately activates their nuke and hopes for the best. Eventually the entire map is just one large explosion that never ends. To remedy that, servers have the option to disable nukes in their entirety, but I feel that there should be an ability to limit nukes to a specific number per team. It’s a great – and hilarious – weapon, but it’s abused too easily and ruins the balance of play.

Another issue with Babo Violent 2’s gameplay is the lack of modes. BV2 offers three modes total: Babomatch (Deathmatch), Team Babomatch, and Capture the Flag. To keep gamers’ interests, servers often shift between modes at random, as there’s no one mode that can keep players’ interest for more than a half hour or so. Even a combination of the three will eventually lead to a drop off in players after the ninety minute mark. There are plenty of maps to play, but the lack of modes leaves people wanting more. A Babo Violent 2 “escort the babo” mode would be much appreciated.

Fortunately, there’s always someone out there to play BV2 with. RndLabs have done a fantastic job in maintaining a community of dedicated fans to shoot in the face, and as mentioned before, the more, the better. This is true especially with visuals. With a low player count, the gamer will only see spheres and boxes representing obstacles or walls. This is aesthetically pleasing in terms of simplicity, with clean, gentle texture jobs and a smooth frame rate. However, the beauty of BV2 doesn’t kick in until the gamer has a 32 player bloodbath on his hands. Fire blazes, tracer rounds fill the screen, and explosions rock the house in an exceptionally violent conflagration.

The sound helps enhance the experience. Again, following the simplicity method, there’s not much in terms of variation of sound, however it’s enough just to have the sounds that are there, as it successfully captures the chaos that is Babo Violent 2. Even the soundtrack, composed by metal band Lamb of God, is heavy, thrashy, and adrenaline-pumping, pushing the gamer to play “just one more round”.

Babo Violent 2 represents a great niche in freeware games. It’s the canon of games that have developers that go with the wind in terms of design. RndLabs has taken a tried and true genre of 2d shooters and given it a fun twist of deceitful simplicity that’ll keep gamers coming back, though in short shifts. Babo Violent 2 is highly recommended; just try not to tell anyone that you’re playing with your balls.

Babo Violent 2 Main Site

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