If you time the catch just right, not only does it charge up the ball for an even faster shot, but you immediately recover and can perform another action. Now you’re the aggressor and can strike right back. You can shoulder bash the thrower if you’re close enough, which causes the ball to pop out of their hands. Running behind cover might be enough to evade the ball’s homing capabilities. If you’re on the wrong side of the ball, you’re not a sitting duck.
You can also pump fake your throws in order to bait your opponent into overcommitting on a defensive option and striking them with a swift throw as they recover. Though aiming is simplified thanks to a generous lock-on feature, you can still land tricky shots by curling balls around walls, arching them over walls, or varying the speed of your throws. Better yet, its combat mechanics have shades of depth that are akin to a fighting game. With your characters being so mobile and the maps having lots of verticality and obstacles, moving around the map almost feels more like a 3D platformer. But what excites me most is in the ways that it feels different from a shooter. Running around the map and landing shots can be incredibly satisfying once you get a feel for the game’s throwing mechanics. It functions like a shooter and certainly scratches some of that itch. Your character can even roll into a ball and have your teammate throw you for a one-hit kill if it connects! Rarer special balls are also included in the mix, from Sniper Balls that are almost impossible to catch but take time to charge, to a Bomb Ball that explodes and causes area-of-effect damage. When it comes to throwing, your characters can throw the ball at blistering speeds, curl shots around walls, and arch shots over walls. Not bound to the same laws of gravity, your character can double jump and whip out a glider to coast long distances. Other aspects of the game are also heightened. Its main deathmatch modes are still fun for extended stretches, but more variety would be greatly appreciated. I wish the game would incorporate more objective-based modes, but those might be coming in the future. Lose both hearts and that character dies, giving the other team a point. Each time a player gets hit, they lose a heart. Though the game has a number of different modes and is gradually rotating modes in-and-out, all of the ones we’ve seen so far are slight variations of team deathmatch. From a construction yard with a giant swinging wrecking ball, to a train station with trains that can run players over, the battlefield feels like a shooter deathmatch stage with even crazier set pieces. Played from a third-person perspective, these dodgeball matches aren’t confined to the gym. Taking cues from team deathmatch shooters, Metroid Prime, and…fighting games(?)…this might be the most ambitious dodgeball game yet. Maybe they just didn’t have any ideas to expand on the core concept of hitting people in the face with balls.Įnter Knockout City. Maybe other game designers didn’t want to step on the toes of the Kunio-Kun universe. As a whole though, dodgeball is an underutilized concept. Video game dodgeball has existed since the 80s with the likes of Super Dodge Ball.
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