Stikbold! A Dodgeball Adventure was developed by Game Swing and published by Curve Digital. It was released for Xbox One on April 8th, 2016 for $9.99 and £7.99.
Stikbold! A Dodgeball Adventure is a fast-paced sports game in a groovy 70’s setting. Choose to play in campaign mode with 1 or 2 players or the CPU as the Superstars Björn and Jerome embark on a mission for love and glory. In campaign the two embark on 12 missions with the 12th being a twist that will surprise you. Or test your skills in these to the max 4 player brawl sessions as you take on some reckless hippies, bus bosses, and angry whales in sometimes bogus circumstances. It really can get chaotic in any mode while playing so the key is to stay focused and have fun!
What I Enjoyed:
Simple gameplay– Stikbold! A Dodgeball Adventure is a fun game to play and easy to learn. It walks you through a tutorial in the first few minutes preparing you to totally annihilate your opponents. It does not take long to figure out how to leap out of the way then scoop up a ball and knock your friends on their butts! The camera angles are great and not frustrating when maneuvering around the arenas. Fast-paced game play will keep you on your toes and may test your friendship on occasion. This is an easy game for any age or gaming level. The tunes are groovy too and keep you jiving your way through the levels.
Great variety– Thank goodness for variety! For instance in the first arena you need to destroy all the benches and you can use the beehives to hit an opponent. If or when you die in any level you do not need to wait for the next round to spawn. You can use the area specific-hazards to help your opponent to take down the baddies, such as slinging beach balls, taking a ride on a floor wax machine, and even wrangling your opponent with a fishing rod. Also watch out for arena specific hazards like man eating sand creatures, squashing buses, crashing waves, huge skeleton hands, raining balls of fire, and oil spills to name a few!
What I Disliked:
Not enough arenas – Don’t get me wrong I enjoyed the game immensely but there should have been more than 5 maps put in this game. It may be okay if you are just interested in annihilating your opponents with the dodge ball and your surroundings but variety keeps the gamer invested and wanting to play longer. I found I got a little bored by lack of scenery. With any game where arenas affect the mechanics it’s always nice to have a bit more diversity than was offered here.
Progress for player one – “Progress towards Achievements and Stats will only be tracked for player 1”. This statement is the first thing you see when you start the game. This is unfortunate as many gamer lovers out there are looking to gain as many achievements as possible. This could be a bit of a turn off when trying to recruit your friends to play local co-op. Maybe a game of rock, paper, scissors will have to decide who gets the first player stick!
Stikbold! A Dodgeball Adventure is a small game that has huge personality with groovy tunes, retro graphics, and very inventive ways to play dodge ball and take down your friends and family. Overall I really like the game and would recommend it, having said that I really wish this game had online multiplayer capabilities. Being able to only play with your friends in your living room hurts the experience for me.
Score:
3/5