Korbats Lab

In a mysterious old laboratory crawling with Korbats and Spyders, Dr. Sloth hoards ingredients to create his evil Transmogrification Potions. Destroying his ingredients is a sure way of ruining his dastardly plans.

How To Play

The object of the game is to keep the ball on the screen whilst guiding it to destroy the boxes above. Press the space bar to launch your ball upwards towards the boxes. Use the left and right arrow buttons to move your little paddle from side to side to keep the ball on the screen. Press the Shift key at any point to pause the game. The clock on the right displays how many lives you have remaining. The playing area actually stops where the green line is drawn on the picture below; once your ball hits this 'wall' it will bounce off in the opposite direction.

The Boxes

All of the beige boxes must be destroyed to move on to the next level. The paler ones are made of stone and your ball will just bounce off them, unless you have a potion active that allows your ball to power through them. Here are the different 'strengths' of boxes:

The Potions

Sometimes when you destroy a box it will release a potion. This potion will slide down the playing area and will be activated if your paddle catches it. Some can be helpful, whilst others can hinder you. Below is a graphic showing you all of the potion you can collect and what effect they have.

Enemies

Occasionally during your game you will have Korbats or Spyders invading your playing area. These can come either in pairs or by themselves and they will always be visible from the moment you begin a level, they won't just appear part way through. The Korbats fly around the screen slowly, the Spyders drop in a straight line from the top of the screen, dangle for a moment, then go back up. If your ball hits either a Korbat or a Spyder it will cause the ball to bounce off at a random angle. This can sometimes be useful, but because it's impossible to predict which direction your ball will go in it can also be very problematic, especially if your ball is near the bottom edge of the screen already.

The Candle

On the shelf in the background you will notice a candle burning. After 30 seconds of play the flame will change colour from orange to pink (as shown below). Whilst the flame is pink, if you press the space bar your ball will randomly change direction. This can be very useful if your ball gets caught somewhere, or if you just want to aim in a different direction. It has the same effect as hitting a Korbat or a Spyder except you control when it happens so you can be ready for it. After using this ability there will be a 30 second cool off period. You can do this multiple times per level.

Scoring

You will earn 10 points for every box you successfully remove from the screen. If a box requires multiple hits to remove it you will only get points for the final hit that causes it to be destroyed. Destroying a flame box or a bomb box will not award you any points, though. As noted on the potions graphic, silver coins will earn you 50 points if you catch them and gold coins will earn you 500 points if you catch them.

Strategy

The mechanics of this game can be a little overwhelming at first, but once you get the hang of it it makes the game much easier. It all comes down to angles. Understanding physics will help you a great deal in this game, but you don't have to have studied the subject in great depth to be able to understand how it works. In scientific terms: the angle of reflection is equal to the angle of incidence. If that doesn't make much sense to you don't worry, I will explain it in layman's terms.

In the two images here, pretend that the red line is a mirror. The yellow lines show the direction of the ball. In the first picture the ball hits the wall at roughly a 45 degree angle. As a result, the ball bounces off the wall at a roughly 45 degree angle. Whatever angle the ball hits the wall at will determine the angle that it leaves the wall at. So in the second picture the ball hits the wall at a much steeper angle, so it bounces off at an equally steep angle. It's worth having a few practice runs to get yourself familiar with how this works.

Once you're familiar with how the ball behaves, it's time to start using the game codes. They are all listed below for quick reference but I'm going to advise you on where and when to use them during your game. The first tip is to remind you that pressing the shift key will pause your game at any time. This is especially useful if you think you're not going to be able to get your paddle to the ball in time; in these cases you can hit shift and pause your game, giving you time to type the code skip to move on to the next level with your life still intact.

You can choose to skip as many levels as you want to, but it's worth remembering that there are only 50 levels in total and once you complete level 50 your game will end. The first three stages will always be in the same order, after that the levels are generated randomly. If you are aiming for an avatar-worthy score then I would advise you to skip 'bad' levels - those being ones with few boxes and Korbats and Spyders to contend with - and to only play the 'good' levels - those being ones with lots of single-hit boxes and preferably no enemies. It is also a good idea to skip levels when you only have flame or bomb boxes remaining as they won't give you any points so aren't worth potentially losing a life to destroy (thanks to azienskieth for this tip). Of course it is up to you to decide what constitutes bad or good, and if you're playing for fun or Neopoints then the skip code is your friend.

An example of a 'good' level

An example of a 'bad' level

Finally, there is the destroy cheat code, which causes your ball to spawn approximately 50 clones of itself which then dart off in every direction. It is most useful on levels that contain lots of boxes which require multiple hits to destroy, as those can get very monotonous. Once spawned the balls will act the same as your original ball and will remain in-play for as long as you can keep them in the game area.

Quick Tips

• Type spiderbite at any time during gameplay for an extra life. Once per game.
• Type skip at any time during gameplay to skip a level. You will keep any points you have obtained so far. Unlimited use.
• Type destroy at any time during gameplay to launch a giant number of balls. Once per game.
• Type monstermovie at any time during gameplay to turn the game black and white. Type again to go back to color. (Not useful).
• Press shift to pause the game.
• The clock on the right hand side of the screen will show you how many lives you have.
• Potions are not worth losing a life to collect.
• That being said, make a particular effort to catch any coins that fall.
• Watch out for the Korbats and Spyders - they can cause your ball to go off course.
• Press the spacebar when the candle flickers purple to change the direction of your ball.

This game guide was written by: Meghan & Weepit