First of all, the characters are, yes, balls: Blip, the blue one with the bandana, and Blop, red with a helmet on. However, their might and charisma see nothing to envy in the Contra marines. The very best, though, comes with the enemies: they are all evil versions of known cartoon and videogame characters. So, slaughter those Snuffs to avenge the horrible murder of poor Dr. Gorgomel! Dorkemons have hijacked the plane, Gotta Kill 'em All! Beware of the Scare Bears, the Snott in Black is hiding there! Uncover a horrible secret of the Snotties' evil actions... And so on, until the final confrontation with Dario the Plumber and his bunch. Total desecration in a frame of senseless gore and violence :b I particularly liked the bosses - the first time fighting them, I lost lives because I was laughing ^^ As if battling such baddies wasn't fun enough, the very high playability and the simultaneous two-player mode come in to make the experience even more enjoyable - if you don't mind reducing Smurfs and Teddy Bears to unrecognizable bits of flesh, of course. There aren't many weapons, but they are good enough, pity that flamethrowers and lasers are so rare and run out of ammo very fast! The smart bomb is one the wackiest ever, see with your own eyes ;)

The backgrounds, while nice and varied, could have been better (parallax scrolling, anyone?). On the other hand, all the characters are very well animated, and the music is great. The only big flaw of the game is the short length, but there's something to compensate: it's difficult! There are no selectable difficulty levels, no continues, no passwords. You must succeed with the five lives at your disposal, and at first it might seem impossible. Quite a few tries are spent in practice, learning the enemies' patterns, and becoming one with your Ball of Steel. Overall, a great, extremely well-made, cartoony platform-shooter that it's sure to give a big pack of laughs, especially with a friend.

Die, Snuff Elite Squad, Die!