Well now, if I had to sum Double D Dodgeball up in two words, it would have to be 'Seriously Misleading'. I mean honestly, when I first heard about this game I thought to myself "Wow, the girls of Dead Or Alive gave up Volley Ball for Dodgeball? That's a bit of a stretch..." However, now that I have been presented with the reality, the prospect of Dead Or Alive characters playing dodgeball seems to be more preferable...
Double D Dodgeball attempts to recreate the PhysEd experience from our childhood, albeit with a few twists: The match begins with two teams on either side of the court, and three dodgeballs sitting in the center. Neither team can leave their side of the court, and players must race to the balls and try to hit members of the other players team in order to knock them out. Pressing the right trigger at the right time allows you to catch a ball thrown at you, not only knocking out the character that through it, but allowing one of your team members to come back from being knocked out as well. Now that the flashback to P.E. class is out of the way...
The twists include the fact that it is in space! And the game's characters look more like rejected sprites from Space Invaders that any type of intergalactic Dodgeball star. If you are playing for the first time, the game gives a quick tutorial in the form of six pages to scroll through, each explaining a particular facet of the game. I really disliked the fact that at least two of the slides advertised abilities not in the current game: The slides defined a cool ability, and then explicitly stated that it was only available with the addition of some more paid downloadable content. Did EA make this game?
The match begins with players allowed to choose from two to six different characters they want on their team; the player will control one character, while the AI controls the rest on their team. Characters are separated by classes, each with their own strengths and weaknesses, and uniquely original name, including the Runner, the Normal, the Shooter, the Catcher, and the Glass.
The controls are extremely simplistic, and while this is not always a bad thing, it is not a good thing in this scenario. The character sprites do not have any animation at all, so it is hard to tell when the "right time" to grab the ball is, or if you are doing anything else right for that matter. Your little Space Invader sprites cannot seem to get out of their own way; it is exceedingly difficult to turn them in a game that one would think would require at least 180 degrees of movement to aim. Some characters, like the Shooter, move extremely slow, and, quite conversely, others like the Runner or the Glass move exceedingly fast. This makes sense, however it is just all too difficult to control, and distinguish the difference between the two on the court.
Since Double D takes place in a space setting, the developers had the freedom to be a bit liberal with rules. Level mods in particular levels include hazards like Plasma, which is a level where every character moves at a much slower pace than when on the standard map. Others like Ice create a slippery Zero-G effect, and the dividing line at half-court can be electrified, stunning a character that gets too close to its field. These changes must all be made before the match, though. The game contains eight maps to play in, each with a specific set of rules based on real rules of dodgeball.
In the graphics department, the game does shine with bright particle effects similar to what you would get in Geometry Wars. This small fact, however, is far from a saving grace. Where the graphics are nice and colorful, the sound falls face first like the fat kid when the jock hits him in the back of the head with the dodgeball: Voices are barely intelligible, and the soundtrack gets old quite quick. I mean, a dodgeball game would be pretty cool with some Slayer in the background, don't you think?
Ah, the achievements: The one reason that some of those reading this review will pick up this game (either that, or you are a really big fan of dodgeball...and Ben Stiller). The game boasts 12 fairly easy achievements, including playing on every map and with every ball type, however less than half can be obtained offline. For the majority of points, players will have to enter the online game mode, which, as of this writing, there exists no matches in either ranked or player. Honestly, I did try on three separate occasions to get into a match, but it just was not happening. Listening to other players experiences with the online play, however, I may have dodged a bullet, no pun intended.
Double D Dodgeball is something that could have been really fun; a futuristic dodgeball game that you and your friends can pick up and join in on, supporting up to eight players in frantic combat. However the shallow gameplay, quirky controls, non-existant online matches, and the sheer fact that all the game seemed to be made was to sell these downloadable keys in order to unlock content that was already in the game will limit if not entirely stunt your enjoyment. I am not entirely sure what this game goes for now, but when it was released it demanded 800 Microsoft points, which is just plain wrong. Even at a 400 MSP Price point, it would be extremely hard for me to justify this purchase.
Final Score: 3.0 of 10.0
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Double D Dodgeball attempts to recreate the PhysEd experience from our childhood, albeit with a few twists: The match begins with two teams on either side of the court, and three dodgeballs sitting in the center. Neither team can leave their side of the court, and players must race to the balls and try to hit members of the other players team in order to knock them out. Pressing the right trigger at the right time allows you to catch a ball thrown at you, not only knocking out the character that through it, but allowing one of your team members to come back from being knocked out as well. Now that the flashback to P.E. class is out of the way...
The twists include the fact that it is in space! And the game's characters look more like rejected sprites from Space Invaders that any type of intergalactic Dodgeball star. If you are playing for the first time, the game gives a quick tutorial in the form of six pages to scroll through, each explaining a particular facet of the game. I really disliked the fact that at least two of the slides advertised abilities not in the current game: The slides defined a cool ability, and then explicitly stated that it was only available with the addition of some more paid downloadable content. Did EA make this game?
The match begins with players allowed to choose from two to six different characters they want on their team; the player will control one character, while the AI controls the rest on their team. Characters are separated by classes, each with their own strengths and weaknesses, and uniquely original name, including the Runner, the Normal, the Shooter, the Catcher, and the Glass.
The controls are extremely simplistic, and while this is not always a bad thing, it is not a good thing in this scenario. The character sprites do not have any animation at all, so it is hard to tell when the "right time" to grab the ball is, or if you are doing anything else right for that matter. Your little Space Invader sprites cannot seem to get out of their own way; it is exceedingly difficult to turn them in a game that one would think would require at least 180 degrees of movement to aim. Some characters, like the Shooter, move extremely slow, and, quite conversely, others like the Runner or the Glass move exceedingly fast. This makes sense, however it is just all too difficult to control, and distinguish the difference between the two on the court.
Since Double D takes place in a space setting, the developers had the freedom to be a bit liberal with rules. Level mods in particular levels include hazards like Plasma, which is a level where every character moves at a much slower pace than when on the standard map. Others like Ice create a slippery Zero-G effect, and the dividing line at half-court can be electrified, stunning a character that gets too close to its field. These changes must all be made before the match, though. The game contains eight maps to play in, each with a specific set of rules based on real rules of dodgeball.
In the graphics department, the game does shine with bright particle effects similar to what you would get in Geometry Wars. This small fact, however, is far from a saving grace. Where the graphics are nice and colorful, the sound falls face first like the fat kid when the jock hits him in the back of the head with the dodgeball: Voices are barely intelligible, and the soundtrack gets old quite quick. I mean, a dodgeball game would be pretty cool with some Slayer in the background, don't you think?
Ah, the achievements: The one reason that some of those reading this review will pick up this game (either that, or you are a really big fan of dodgeball...and Ben Stiller). The game boasts 12 fairly easy achievements, including playing on every map and with every ball type, however less than half can be obtained offline. For the majority of points, players will have to enter the online game mode, which, as of this writing, there exists no matches in either ranked or player. Honestly, I did try on three separate occasions to get into a match, but it just was not happening. Listening to other players experiences with the online play, however, I may have dodged a bullet, no pun intended.
Double D Dodgeball is something that could have been really fun; a futuristic dodgeball game that you and your friends can pick up and join in on, supporting up to eight players in frantic combat. However the shallow gameplay, quirky controls, non-existant online matches, and the sheer fact that all the game seemed to be made was to sell these downloadable keys in order to unlock content that was already in the game will limit if not entirely stunt your enjoyment. I am not entirely sure what this game goes for now, but when it was released it demanded 800 Microsoft points, which is just plain wrong. Even at a 400 MSP Price point, it would be extremely hard for me to justify this purchase.
Final Score: 3.0 of 10.0
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