Knockout City

Genre: Sports (Dodgeball)

Players: 6-8 Team Competitive (Online)

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Review:

(Note: This game is no longer available)

Knockout City is an unexpected but welcome release on the Nintendo Switch from Electronic Arts and developer Velan Studios, the folks behind Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit. Releasing on multiple platforms in 2021 including Nintendo Switch, this 3-on-3 (or supposedly 4-on-4) Dodgeball-inspired online multiplayer team competitive game is further indication that the massive publisher is at least attempting to throw some support behind Nintendo’s platform, bringing a new IP to the Nintendo Switch alongside releases on the other platforms.

Those expecting a massive downgrade to the visuals will be delightfully surprised – Knockout City looks great. Players have an option between Quality and Performance modes – the former runs at a 1080p resolution (720p in handheld mode) and 30FPS, while the latter brings the resolution down to 810p (540 in handheld mode) to bring the framerates up to 60FPS. Both modes were perfectly playable, but I found myself preferring the smoother look of Quality mode, which really showed off this game’s nicely-detailed slightly-cartoony 3D character models and fairly decent-size maps. The entire game has a sorta’ retro-futuristic look, like if the Johnny Rockets chain restaurants existed in the Jetsons universe. These visuals become somewhat blurred in Performance Mode, but even then, this is till overall an excellent-looking game.

The audio element of the game is decent too, with the game’s announcer being asorta’ pirate radio deejay in a way that reminds me a lot of the Jet Grind Radio series, and the music seems to reside in an area somewhere between electronic and surf rock, with consistently high-energy fitting for this sort of game. The in-game sounds are also pretty good, with the tell-tale “thwap” noise of a dodgeball captured perfectly for this game.

As for the gameplay itself, I feel like there are some good ideas here, but so much of it seems to get lost in the noise. Players have numerous options to throw, catch, or pass the ball, and can even roll up into a ball themselves to be tossed by a teammate. There’s definitely some nuance and technique here for players wanting to dig into it, and I can absolutely see how an organized team can benefit from coordination.

Having said that, when players start getting close to each other, and especially when multiple players pile into a small area, each potentially holding their own ball, the game becomes chaos, and it seems like any semblance of strategy goes out the window. I can blame at least a part of this on some frustrating design decisions, such as a lack of an option to snap the camera to a player who is targeting you.

The game also isn’t helped by a lack of maps and game modes at launch. I will say that the maps present at launch do offer a good amount of variety, but I’m not sure if this is the sort of game that benefits from varied maps – tossing a ball from a distance just gives an opponent more time to anticipate and catch it, and once you’re close to an opponent, how much is the map going to matter?

I can at the very least say that online play on the Nintendo Switch seemed to go off without a hitch, and unlike EA’s other online-focused release earlier this year, Apex Legends, this game doesn’t seem to be any worse for including cross-play with other platforms. On the other hand, there’s nothing about this game that’s particularly improved on the Nintendo Switch – no touchscreen or gyroscopic motion control support, although I’m not sure that either of those would help here.

One other thing I’ll note here is that the game allows players a pretty nice “trial” period where they can enjoy low-level play for free, only paying for the game when they’ve clearly spent enough time with it to determine that it’s their jam. So if this game sounds interesting to you, there’s no reason not to try it.

In the end, I appreciate that Knockout City is doing something fairly original here, and I absolutely appreciate that they have produced something with great visuals and an overall wonderful presentation. Having said that, the chaotic nature of the gameplay here makes it difficult for me to see myself getting sucked into this game for match after match online like I could with some of the other offerings on the Nintendo Switch. However, if you’re looking for something fairly unique, it may still be worth a try.

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tl;dr – Knockout City is an online-focused team-based Dodgeball-inspired game, and it’s fairly unique and has a fantastic presentation. Unfortunately, it’s so chaotic that it’s hard to appreciate the nuances in its gameplay. It may be worth a look based purely on its novelty alone, but it’s not likely to be a game-changer.

Grade: C+

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This game has been nominated for one or more of eShopperReviews 2021 Game Awards:

Runner-Up: Best Sound Design, Best Sports Game, Most Overrated

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