Super Dodgeball Beats

Great game, this game definitely deserves more attention.
The game feels well polished, and the art is really nice. It only has a few song, though it has just enough for a rhythm game. But the music is really energetic, catchy and really fun. But some songs are only playable in certain difficulties, which limits the amount of song even more. It would be great if these songs were available for each difficulty. There are 3 difficulties and each difficulty has 12 songs. But in total there are a actually 18 playable songs.
My only real problem with this game are the power ups. They make the game feel more luck based. And they lose their quirkiness rather quick. It would be really great if a option was added to disable them. (at least outside the campaign mode.) After some time playing they even become annoying and limit the amount of fun I'm able to have in this game. If it weren't for those power ups, I probably would've put more hours in this game already.
But if it's in the sale sometime, definitely worth to give it a try :D I'd say there is around 2-6 hours of contend available depending on how much you like the game. I recommend this game.

Super Dodgeball Beats is a tap-to-the-rhythm game at it's core, with a heaping load of personality in design, animation, and artistic styling. The basic flow of the game is not exactly a game of dodgeball as we typically know, since the win/loss conditions of each match plays out more like tug-of-war, having a meter at the top of the screen that sways to either your team or the opponent depending on how well each team performs. Powerups are gained by filling a secondary meter, which increases as you hit notes with good timing, and are used to hinder the opposing team, or help your own when they unleash an attack on you. The goal of each match is to finish the song with the central meter leaning on your side of the bar, leading to victory by dealing one massively stylised killing blow and knocking out the other team and progressing up the points ladder to reach a bracket style elimination tournament, and eventually win the finals for each level of difficulty.
Basic Gameplay:
Using the controller's face buttons, the left analog stick, and triggers on either side, you can tap beats as the note circles zone in on a character from your team, each aligning with a face button on your controller. I found the timing very difficult at first compared to other "Tap to the beat" style games like OSU!, Guitar Hero, and Muse Dash, and there was not any apparent way to adjust the latency, so I find it best to defocus your vision to the center of your character space and rely on the sound of the music to hit notes more reliably. Sometimes you will need to tilt and hold the left analog stick into an arrowed direction instead of tapping, again similar to OSU!, and release the stick once the beat reaches the end of it's stream. All of the incoming notes feel fairly telegraphed and aren't too difficult to see or mechanically difficult if you are adept at straddling 2 opposing face buttons for some of the more complex tap-stream combos in later tournament difficulties. Powerups will also greatly affect how you play, forcing you to work around their effects or allowing you to give a huge "F*ck you!" to the opponent in a difficult part of the track. There are no life bars during gameplay, so you cannot technically fail a song, only just lose to the other team after the match concludes. The difficulty does increase rather quickly, with some teams having vastly harder or easier songs, even in the same tournament difficulty. It is sometimes jarring to struggle on a qualifying song from one team, only to easily blow past the next team's song the following round.
Powerups:
This one is tricky. I am a believer that rhythm games should rely solely on the skill of the player and their own preferences, but I will set most of the sentiments aside to look at this fresh take on a niche genre taking such an interesting approach. Powerups feel a little all over the place, since you unlock and encounter them with only basic explanation of how they work. The descriptions tell you exactly what they do, but I personally found them more aggravating to work around and manage than a fun addition. I do not hate them by any means, and I feel they have a perfectly well-deserved and relatively balanced place in the game (Although I always do question the validity of powerups against an AI opponent). They can be launched at any time once you have one charged, and timing certainly is the key for maximum effectiveness. The only powerup I wish I had the option to turn off is poison, since it essentially forces you to drop a combo to avoid a "miss" judgement for a poisoned teammate. Some of the other powerups are simple interrupters that can disguise parts of the court, freeze a character unless they hit a perfect beat, steal some of the opponent's powerup meter, or even plant a bomb that will punish you/them for missing a beat. They feel fine, but I just personally wish I could turn them off entirely, since learning tracks can be a pain to practice with them on.
Everything Else:
The tutorial level in the beginning of the game feels like it throws way too much at new rhythm game players, but still lacks the depth to understanding how to master it's mechanics. I'd love to see the tutorial broken down into multiple sections to nail how every powerup works, simultaneous tap/sliders, and on/off beat strums. Granted that many other rhythm games don't do this either, I give it a "Good Enough!" pass in that regard, but it still caught me off guard when I saw a new powerup used against me that I had never experienced before and didn't know how to play against, since the most info you'll likely see beforehand is the brief description when you first unlock it and quickly tap past. Matches load like a fighting game, with the splash screen blasting the characters up against each other in bright and bold colour and action poses with an announcer calling out the team names. Its a fun intro and definitely adds to the sporting match vibe. The match court themes and designs all back the opposing team, and feels right for each one. The team designs as a whole range from individual characters like that of your base team, to single entities that can control their entire side of the court themselves. Each team design is unique, full of personality, and many are fun references to other pop-culture and real life (Power Rangers, Godzilla, and... retirement home?). The art and animation team on this game was really putting their all in this and it shows with just how expressive, flashy, and pronounced their vision was!
Music:
Well, this is what the whole game is about, right? The tracks are solid and fun to play to, but not particularly memorable in my few hours of playtime as of this review. I couldn't hum any of the tracks if I were asked, and I can't say i'd want to load them up on my phone and listen to them while i'm not playing. That said, however, they are snappy and the major parts that correspond with beats in-game are pronounced enough to help you align your timing. I honestly thought I was going to have a lot more to say about the music here, but they simply do their job during the game, and don't a whole lot more than that. If you like upbeat electronica or music that follows a pretty standard rise and fall formula, then it should be right up your alley
Overall:
Super Dodgeball Beats is wacky, fun, and a breath of fresh air in this revival age of rhythm. A sure standout in design and gameplay, it can easily be overwhelming to people who have never played a rhythm game before, so I can't easily recommend it to a beginner. However, if you have a good understanding of how these games work, then I wholly and recommend you give SDB a go, and try something new in the realm of music games. Excellent art, familiar concepts, and a twist on older mechanics mish-mashed together make this a must-own for those who love to groove and hit notes!

Fast, fun and frenetic ~
This is a neat twist on rhythm action genre.
You control four characters ( each one is represented by one of the four face buttons on a controller )
And you hit the beats t o " dodge the balls "
You also gain powerups which have a variety of functions, and the opponent does, too./
You can play single player tourney mode, which unlocks higher difficulties as you progress through each cup.
An average playthrough is a little over an hour or so, and you can always quit out and save your progress, you don't have to do it all in one sitting.

Fantastic artwork in this game! Really impressive. But, the theme doesn't match up with any of the mechanics. I really wanted more dodgeball rules to be included.
It's also a casual game. You're forced to play through easy mode before getting to a difficultly I found enjoyable. Which is unfortunate it.
Where I expect the game to shine is at a party. The power ups are there to block your view and make a lot more sense against a human opponent. I can imagine this being a lot of fun since no one can get too far ahead too. The matches can come down to the final seconds of a song.
No thumbs down though, even with the negatives I found. It's still a solid game that I hope more casual players get into.
Video review:
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It is obvious a lot of time and effort was put into this game and that it was made with care. The devs were nice enough to send me a free key for this early and i have enjoyed my time with it so far.

Now this is a really good rhythm game right here!
Super fun gameplay, banging soundtrack and great visuals!
Highly recommend it!

Great rythm based console style game. With it's fun characters, design, and music makes it so much fun! I rate 9/10 overall!