If there is one genre out there that holds a certain affinity in my heart? Then that genre must surely be rhythm games. As you faithful readers must surely know by now? A game ‘s soundtrack is a make or break deal for me. Does this fail in a game? Then the game will already have lost some credibility in my regards. Because I am of the opinion that a good soundtrack sets the perfect mood for a game, and thus becomes a large part of a game ‘s quality. A great example for instance? Is Crypt of the Necrodancer. Boy, did that one rock my world! I bought the entire soundtrack even! So when I read that Super Dodgeball Beats was one of these rhythm games as well? My heart jumped! So, what did FinalBoss Games bring to the rhythm table? Does it put the swing into swinging? Or was it best left as a figment of imagination? Then be sure to read on in our review of, Super Dodgeball Beats!
What do you do? You play as a dodgeball team who are pitted against all sorts of creeps and ghouls and kawaii animals. This to the beat of a track. It is up to you to absolutely annihilate them from the face of the earth and in doing so, winning the dodgeball tournament. Thank god that in my days, we just played dodgeball with a regular ball and not explosive ones… Thank goodness!
- Soundtrack: Oh yes, I love these tracks! They are fun, engaging and just nice to listen too. And as already previously stated? For a rhythm game? These are truly important. It seems that FinallBoss Games knows their stuff! Just because each and every track absolutely bombs, in a good way! They’re unique on each level, have an amazing pace and feel perfectly at home in a rhythm game. Unfortunately, the mechanics lack a bit to execute a perfect implementation… More on this later
- Smooth graphics: Another part that I want to praise FinalBoss Games for? Is their graphical execution. The animations look and feel smooth! Never did I get the feeling as if the anime-style art didn’t flow correctly with the music. The colors are lively and keep you focussed. The animations are nicely executed and every character has its own personal touch. Which I really liked! Add to this that some of the in-between scenes look hand-drawn? And you’ve got yourself wonderful combination of absolute winning numbers! It’s unfortunate that not all of their numbers were of the winning variety…
- Best enjoyed on a small screen: I’ve got a fairly big television, which means that everything gets spread out all over the screen. That also means that you’ve got to look everywhere if you’re playing on a static field like this. And this is where it became obvious that it doesn’t feel as if Super Dodgeball Beats was really meant to be played on the big screen. There is a lot of stuff going on on the screen, and your tap mechanics are really hard to discern from other details. So you’ll be constantly looking everywhere, up down left-right… I just couldn’t help but shake the feeling that this would’ve been way better on a mobile device.
- Not a lot of variety: When it comes down to pure content? There isn’t a lot for you to do. It’s always the same. Start the match, listen to the rhythm and hit the corresponding buttons. That’s it. Sure you can mix it up with a special ability from time to time, and there are unlockables. But… That’s it. It’s best to enjoy this game in short play sessions, to maybe break away from a long FPS session to unwind. But for a longer playthrough? Yeah… I think that’ll become tedious and just boring.
- Mechanics: In a rhythm game, this is one of the most crucial, if not THE crucial part. And this is where Super Dodgeball Beats seems to have missed the ball. Since everything is so widespread and a lot of things are going on at the same time? The tap indicator gets lost in the entire hubbub, making the search for exciting and enjoyable gameplay? Really tough. To add to this fact? Is that the time that you press the button and it finally registering? Seems to be on a slight delay. And mind you me, I am fairly on-beat when it comes to these things! I hope this is just some kind of weird bug or glitch on my end and that this can get patched. Because for a rhythm game? This truly does suck.
CONCLUSION
Score: 62%
If I am fully honest? I am a bit split in twain. On one hand, I enjoyed the experience since there was an amazing soundtrack backing up the game and the art really was well done, but the most crucial part was absent and just, well, missing in my honest opinion. Though FinalBoss Games did hit the ball out of the part, it didn’t stick the landing. I just hope that their next game will have a bit more final polish!
Developer: FinallBoss Games Publisher: Playstack
Played on: Xbox One X Also available on: PS4 – Switch and PC
Alexis spent 3 hours playing the 5 D’s of dodgeball! Dodge Duck Dip Dive and… Dodge.
Achievement difficulty for 1000 Gamerscore: 5 to 10 hours.
Perfect for: Rhythm gamers, anyone who wants a quick break from a long playsession.
Xbox Game Store link: Click here
