Circle of Sumo: Online Rumble!

Genre: Arcade / Party Game

Players: 2-4 Competitive (Online)

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Review:

WARNING: THIS GAME HEAVILY PUSHES MICROTRANSACTIONS AND LOOTBOXES

Circle of Sumo: Online Rumble! is a free-to-play online-focused version of 2018’s Circle of Sumo, with Online Rumble being released on the Nintendo Switch in 2020 and currently in early access on PC. This is a game that has you playing as a sumo wrestler in one of a variety of odd arenas, looking to be the last one still standing within the ring.

In terms of presentation, this game gives us pixel art-style visuals that are fairly simple but get the job done, along with a fairly minimalist soundtrack inspired by traditional Japanese music. Nothing truly impressive, but it works well enough.

For the gameplay, players use the left stick to move around the ring, and the four face buttons enable the player to run, charge (which can be held down to be stronger), perform a dodge maneuver, or a counter-attack that deflects a charging opponent back the way they came. This results in gameplay that’s easy to learn, yet provides enough variety that it makes for a good test of wits between opponents, although not enough that you’ll want to play it for hours on end. More variety is added into the game with various odd arenas that have pieces of the arena falling off, traffic rushing through the area, or debris littering the arena and getting in the way, to name a few examples.

The online play here is good, and seemed pretty responsive without any problems. I’m actually a bit more frustrated with the menus, which don’t seem like they were designed with the console in mind – players must manually move a cursor to select menu options.

Another frustration here comes in the form of this game’s monetization, which charges players money to unlock specific wrestlers, arenas, and aesthetic items, or has them slowly unlocking these things with in-game currency that takes an extremely long while to earn through play. Players can of course simply select random wrestlers and arenas for free, but this means that they’ll be delegated to random chance unless they plunk down cash or play for an absurd amount of time. It also bears mention that this game has no local play, although players can use in-game menus to purchase the original Circle of Sumo, which does.

It’s a bit frustrating that Circle of Sumo: Online Rumble locks much of its variety and options behind some pretty ugly monetization, essentially forcing them to randomly select all of their options unless they plunk down real money. If it wasn’t for this, this game would have been a fun, if a bit shallow, online Party game. As it is, it’s still worth a try (because free), but without built-in local multiplayer or any worthwhile options that don’t require money to unlock, don’t expect it to be something that keeps your attention for long.

tl;dr – Circle of Sumo: Online Rumble is a free-to-play online version of 2018’s Circle of Sumo. It’s a decent competitive Party Game, but the simplicity of the gameplay, lack of built-in local multiplayer, and heavy-handed monetization make it a game you’re not likely to play too long before moving on.

Grade: C+

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