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Switchball is all about rolling a ball around and through various mazes. One of the cool aspects of the mazes is that they are floating thousands of feet in the air. If you aren't careful, your ball will roll off the edge and probably crack a mountain goat in the head. For those of you who are concerned about the health and welfare of local wildlife, you may want to be careful as you play the game.

Each maze has a number of challenges, from rolling across a narrow board to rolling around or through various objects. Some of those objects may be spikes or huge fans or even tissue paper.

Tissue paper may not sound like much of an obstacle until you realize you are rolling a solid metal ball over the tissue paper and there is nothing else supporting it. This is where the concept of "switch" and "ball" come into play.

As you roll along, you will come to stations where you can switch the ball from a standard metal ball to one of a number of other balls — a heavy metal ball, an air ball or a power ball. The station available is usually the one you will need to complete the upcoming section of the maze. For tissue paper, the air ball would be the best choice.

As the air ball, you will come across fans set in the floor that will kick the ball up in the air so that you can change levels and reach new heights. The heavy metal ball is good for breaking through stacks of boxes, moving large metal boxes or even for, well — I think I'll let you figure out other uses for yourself. And as for the power ball, let's leave that one as a complete mystery, shall we?

The mazes, of course, become progressively more difficult as you play the game. Some require that you find solutions to puzzles, others require some dexterity with the use of the controller and some are just plain confusing. Once I started playing, if I wasn't throwing my controller in frustration I was totally hooked.

The game is set up so that as you complete the various mazes, you move on to the next on the list. And once a maze has been solved, you can go back to it at any time. If you find that you have a favorite or two, you can replay them whenever you like. And when you're ready to return to advancing to the next level, just pop to the end.

The graphics are amazing — especially if you have your Xbox running in high-definition mode. The graphics have a definitive 3D look to them, and the camera controls allow you to zoom in and out on the ball, as well as change the angle of view. As you are rolling about the various mazes, you can get a look at them from all angles.

The game also has a music track that plays along with the game and is a fun and light soundtrack that is very appropriate for the style of game.

Switchball is a fun and addictive game that is good for the whole family. Not too difficult, but it does require some skill with fine manipulation using an Xbox controller. I find the game exceedingly addictive even with the minor frustrations I suffer from rolling off the edge over and over.