During a Nintendo Direct that some of you may not have found very exciting, a surprise hides for those who remembered their young years playing catfish, tomato, but most importantly prison ball. It’s a sports game so beautifully presented in a memorable 2004 comedy that the developers of Mario Kart Live Home Circuit, with the support of the EA Originals label, took a look at it. It’s called Knockout City and it could be one of the most competitive titles of the year.
First news: No question of whether the prisoner should take the original enumeration pattern, which was used during the 8 and 16-bit resolution of time vacuum cleaners such as Super Dodge Ball or Dodge Ball Kuy Kid. That’s because we want splendor and variety in 2021. And if possible, don’t look too far from Fortnite’s. A clash of two teams in half of the field may not be eye catching. Here is the concept that is projected in futuristic and colorful urban arenas, open and vertical, in which everyone can move at will and send more or less regulatory areas into the head of an inattentive opponent.
Not a prisoner
Mode available on PC only during our session, Team knockout mode, in which teams of three Zouaves come together to take out their opponents ten times in less than five minutes, and that in two rounds. In short, GST per team. No question from the prisoner just to automatically aim with the balloons that were distributed in certain places and reappear after use. To draw the two life points of an enemy, do not miss the opportunities. Your avatar, which you can customize from head to toe, the experience of unlocking cosmetic items, doesn’t just walk around and toss around.
Very agile, jumping, soaring thanks to a foldable wing that came out of nowhere. He has other strings on the bow, like the wrong throw or the pass to a better placed teammate, ideal for surprising someone who thought he was calmly catching the ball intended for him. Not to mention recording styles that can confuse the timing. A tackle allows you to stabilize or lose the ball, and after all, it is always possible to transform into a human ball, because why not? No difficulty in the grip, the games can be dynamic quickly. And as long as the agreement with your partners is good, you risk chaos. Team play to balance the need for skill – not too busy. It might work.
Chuck Norris Bastard
But while there is another subtlety, the presence of special balls ranging from a time bomb to a spherical cage, it cannot be said to feel pressured to play games. Without being soft as it is Knockout City It lacks a bit of percussion, speed, and things to do in this particular mode. The two cards tested, visually very simple, have no particularity, no complexity. Unfortunately, one of them is empty and out of date, despite the appearance of traffic intended to annoy us. In the heat of the moment, we don’t necessarily pay attention to it, but the generic artistic direction with models of cartoon characters who would swear to have seen a thousand times elsewhere doesn’t help get excited. We feel that there is something that itches if we manage to be damaged or intercepted. We’re just telling ourselves that it could have more mouths.
We’re waiting for … a little
Right now it’s difficult to ignite when indulging in a generic TPS that we would have chosen to put balloons into. If the grip is barely violent and we feel comfortable quickly enough, this single proposal quickly shows its limits with no additional aim of spicing up the parties. We need to see what the other game modes that promise to bring in up to eight players to get a better idea of the potential of this Knockout City that will hit PC, PS5, PS4 and Xbox Series X | S is expected to be Xbox One and Nintendo Switch on May 21st.
