![]() ![]() Maybe you pump-fake a few times, baiting out the enemy’s counter, before blasting them into oblivion while they’re hopelessly vulnerable in a botched blocking animation? Maybe you chuck your ball at the lowest possible speed - like a changeup from the pitcher’s mound - using the villain’s twitchiness against them to score an easy point? Maybe you stake out the high ground, blocking the other team’s sight lines, so they’ll have no idea what angle you’re aiming from? These subtleties are indelible, and they encourage you to keep digging deeper. That’s when you first see how Knockout City gives everyone the tools to truly break an opponent down. After a handful of hours online, the matchmaking apparatus will start to pit you against teams that are bringing strategies more intelligent than whipping balls out at the fastest possible pace. But like Rocket League before it, the more you sink your teeth into Valen’s creation, the more you’ll discover the nuances, feints, and shrewdness built into what initially appears as a featherweight dodgeball game. After all, one of Knockout City’s core appeals is its simplicity anyone can get the basics down, even if they’re five beers deep. You’d be forgiven if all of this sounds like a slightly more comprehensive Mario Party mini-game. Earlier this month, Valen Studios announced that Knockout City has already eclipsed 5 million players, as a global community becomes reacquainted with the glory they last felt during a distant, forgotten recess. With so many other multiplayer ventures on the Steam charts, as studios around the country beckon us toward yet another grim deployment into a war-torn Eastern European hamlet, EA has broken the code by purging firearms from the staid team death-match equation. This can continue - ping-ponging between competitors - until the ball is moving at light speed. If you snatch a projectile right before it connects with your face, you can toss it back at your assailant at a higher velocity. Occasionally, players will encounter special dodgeballs called “moon balls,” which allow them to float to sickening heights before raining down hellfire from above. With a well-timed toss, you can bounce an opponent into oncoming traffic, Matrix-style. ![]() There’s a map called “Jukebox Junction” set on a neon subway station where trains are constantly zooming by. But at every turn, Velan has amplified Knockout City’s premise to ludicrous, hysterical degrees. ![]() The overarching premise is simple: Two teams race to ten eliminations using basic dodgeball rules - find a ball, throw it at an opponent, hope they don’t catch it. Together, they benched torrid conflict zones and true-to-life stadiums in favor of a futuristic, Day-Glo utopia populated entirely by cocksure teenage punks who’ve transformed the world’s foremost middle-school pastime into a legitimate blood sport. The company recruited Velan Studios (the upstart team behind mixed-reality Mario Kart game Home Circuit) for the task. Knockout City, a three-on-three arena-dodgeball game, is a distinct outlier in the catalogue. No game does a better job at maintaining its strategic chops, while still indulging our silliest multiplayer fantasies.Įlectronic Arts is a publisher that specializes in steely military shooters like Battlefield and annualizable sports sims like Madden, F1, and FIFA. Knockout City is one of the surprise hits of the summer because of choices like these. It’s also one of the funniest mechanics I’ve ever seen implemented in a video game - your friend screaming in terror as they blink out into the middle distance like Wile E. Anyone who wants to get good at the game needs to master the art of catch and release. This technique is core to the Knockout City experience. In that scenario, they can jettison your poor, helpless human turned ball off the nearest ledge and into the sunset. An ally can pick them up and chuck them at the nearest adversary - make contact, and it’s an automatic KO … unless the opposing squad happens to intercept the toss. In Knockout City, your teammates can tuck their head into their knees until they resemble a dodgeball. ![]()
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