Besmashed for Mac

Pong! taken to new levels

It's hard to imagine anyone can add anything new to the Pong! clone of games out there but Besmashed manages to bring yet another dimension to it.

Besmashed is a 3D version of Pong! complete with characters, soundtrack and tilting camera angles that try to bring Pong! to life. Besmashed also allows you more players than Pong! ever did - you can play against the computer, a friend or even across the net. Besmashed is beautifully presented throughout and you can see that the developers have done their best to make it as slick as possible.

The gameplay is also a little bit more original because you can choose different characters to play as and during the game, you can collect powerups, bonuses and other goodies that will leave your opponent struggling to return the ball. To be precise, Besmashed allows you to choose from up to 5 characters each with their own power-ups. Plus there are 15 levels to play in with 17 different power ups available.

I recommend changing the controls to mouse control from the beginning as it's not exactly complicated to control your character and paddle. In the full version, you can choose to play against the computer, a friend or take a challenge such as Armageddon, Ice-Skating and The Lone Runner. In this demo, you can only reach the challenges if you progress through the first few levels. As the ball flies across the court, you can hit bonuses and weapons that make your player more powerful than your opponent. The ball speed to very slow by default though and I recommend speeding it up in the configuration options before the game starts.

Besmashed is a great version of Pong! that adds a lot of original touches that make it more than just a case of returning the ball.