Bouncy 'Madballs' Toys Beget XBLA and PC Shooter

The first title out of independent developer Playbrains will be a "casually hardcore" Xbox Live Arcade and PC shooter injected with American Greetings Properties' Madballs line of radical and "obnoxiously gross" toy balls, the studio revealed today.

Madballs?! Totally groooooosssssssssss!

Due out this summer, Madballs in Babo Invasion will offer class-based shooting across 10 campaign levels and 21 multiplayer maps, with co-op campaign gameplay for up to 4 online players and competitive multiplayer support for up to 16 online players.

Multiplayer modes include Invasion, in which "players take turns placing map tiles to create a unique multiplayer map," and Avatar, in which players control their Xbox Avatar.

In all, 10 character classes will be available with 5 archetypes: assault, heavy, runner, flyer, support. And though that sounds complicated, especially when special abilities and unique weapons and different firing modes come into the equation, Playbrains promises that the game "is easy to pick and play, yet offers a real strategic challenge."

To refresh your memory of Madballs, check out this totally tubular commercial: