Game Or Pass? Dodgeball Academia

 Welcome to a new series for the blog called Game or Pass where I pick a game from Gamepass on Xbox and decide if I enjoyed it, will continue it if the game is longer and is a larger title, or maybe purchase it if it is leaving the service. I got an Xbox and Gampass is one of the best deals to come with it, there are so many indie games, day one releases, and more to discover with the service. So, it's time to put that to use and see if today's title is worth a download, or a purchase if it is available on your console of choice. Today's game is Dodgeball Academia, a dodgeball game with RPG elements, and more than a few surprises up its sleeves. 

This game puts you in control of Otto who has come to the Dodgeball Academy, meet friends, form a team and compete to become the best of the best. But that is just scratching the surface, this game is full of whacky, unexpected moments which end up being just different excuses to play dodgeball. That being said the writing is fun, entertaining and is akin to that of a Saturday morning cartoon in the best way possible. The writing made me laugh more often than not and the matches you play are not all standard, shaking up both the environments, gameplay, obstacles, and situations for the matches. 

The cartoon fell also applies to the way the game looks and sounds, each character and animation is fantastic and expressive looking incredible. It looks and feels like playing a cartoon while also having a high energy soundtrack to fit the environments. All of the presentation of this game is simply splendid and had me smiling ear to ear. The game has a fun a simple story with comedic writing that lands most of the time not always but mostly, plenty of surprises, a great look, and fun music. The gameplay also led to me enjoying that game for more reasons than one.

When you are in the hub world you can run around, grab a throw a dodgeball, interact with environments and characters, and my personal favorite roll around. This method of travel made getting around quick and also pretty hilarious to see. When you enter a match for whatever reason you take control of your characters each with their own perks and abilities. Each character can throw the ball, do a charged throw, swap to another player, and do a special move. But some can dodge, counter, or do moves the others can't, some members can heal, many of the characters have an elemental attribute, and so much more. Sometimes you may lose all your HP and if you do one of your party members is either knocked out or sent to the sidelines in certain matches to fight from the outer ring.

This leads to some crazy, high-energy matches in the best and sometimes worst way possible, as well as the only real complaint I have with this game, sometimes you may fall into trail and error with a few difficulty spikes here and there. That being said the game lets you save whenever you want, has autosave and is very gracious with checkpoints, there were just a couple minor frustrations here and there when I encountered an enemy with a way higher level then me in the story, only to be followed by a much weaker challenger right after. As just mentioned after every match your party will be given money and earn EXP to level up your moves, and there is gear to be found with different perks or purchased. Be mindful of healing items though, characters will show if they like or dislike the food or drink and if they like it, the item in question may heal more, if not it could lead to negative effects.

This game is about ten hours long with multiple chapters, there is also multiplayer, but I did not do that. That being said it is a decent RPG length and has plenty of main line story quests, side quests, and enemy encounters to fill up the game. The chapters do not drag out and this game works in either short bursts or longer sessions. A tip I will provide for those who do end up trying this game is seek out random encounters and side quest, essentially level grind some, it will pay off in the end and it helps you not get stuck when you want to advance the main story.  

This game is packed to the brim with charm and has amazing gameplay, if you have Gamepass it is definitely worth a look and this game is available on other consoles as well for those who want a fun sports game with RPG elements. The game is all around a great time with only a few small hiccups along the way but is worth playing for those who love the charm of earlier Mario sports titles akin to the ones on the Gameboy Advance that were essentially sports RPG games. Thank you so much for reading and have a great day!

Overall Thoughts: Amazing Presentation, Fun Gameplay, Tons To Do, Some Difficulty Balancing Issues, Overall Super Fun Experience With Tons Of Charm.