There is a reason Data East’s Windjammers is a cult classic. Itself an incredible improvement on the classic Pong, what made it so timeless was how you could test your mettle against your fellow human being. The two man team of ex-Activision staffers who make up high Horse Entertainment clearly understood that purity because Disc Jam is a love letter to both Data East’s Frisbee throwing antics and Midway’s Discs Of Tron.
The Switch release coincides with the game’s biggest update since the initial release on PC and PlayStation 4 with the most prominent new feature being the welcome roster addition of Lannie, a South American volleyball player who joins the otherwise small roster of available choices. You will not be surprised to find that each available character has different stats such as running speed and disc throwing strength, but none too unbalanced to brake the standard singles (1v1) or doubles (2v2) gameplay.
On the subject of gameplay, the tutorial mode does a fine job of explaining you the basics of as well as some advanced tactics on the craft of disc jamming. There are all kinds of subtle trickery you can apply to your disc throws in order to fool your opponents such as curved shoots and charged specials but timing, quick reflexes and the way you received the disc also play a big part of the strategy. A few minutes spent on the tutorials will certainly give you a decent what’s what of the game mechanics and you should definitely use them before jumping online.
The game supports online cross-play with PC players but not PlayStation 4 owners, which is becoming an unfortunate trend that hurts the online communities on both sides of the arena. Making the most out of Switch multiplayer design philosophy means that you can play up to four players on the same console or even have up to four consoles linked up in local LAN mode. This is vital to Disc Jam since it lives or dies by the availability of human opponents and due to the Switch’s unique portable nature you can’t always fully rely on having Internet opponents at any given time.
The game’s performs admirably on the Switch in both docked and portable modes, not surprising since it was built using the Unreal Engine. However, the competent graphic and aural offerings feel somehow sedated considering the fast action going on on the court; this is perhaps because we have been spoiled with Rocket League’s extravagant visuals and excessive over stimulation on all fronts. It is unfair to expect the same level of polish from a two man team, but we feel the game would benefit from a TRON Legacy style neon aesthetics makeover.
Conclusion
Disc Jam neither insults or excels in Switch game’s library and what it does, it does so in solid fashion. It is fast, fun, easy to pick up and hard to master, but as previously stated elsewhere on this review it lives or dies by its community; Will the current install base of Switch users turn Disc Jam into a runaway, enduring online success or the game future will be best remembered for it’s fast paced bouts with your friends on local multiplayer? To this question we do not know the answer and it will be up to the developers to continue to support their product with new features that will keep the game future proof. But the solid foundation for a great competitive eSport is already in place. Pick this up without fear if you know you have friends with whom you'd like to compete. Otherwise you might want to keep a lookout from the sidelines to see how it all plays out.
Comments 42
Haha, Sony not wanting to play nice, as always.
Ive heard of this game, can't say I've been too interested but it looks fun. I just have too many other games I want to get right now.
I'd love to try a very brief demo just to make sure I like it...
Had this for PS4. “Had”
Thing is, the developers can't do anything about the Playstation block, but it will probably make people think of changing systems so they can play their friends on a different console.
Keep it up SONY, keep shooting yourself in the foot
Sony just won't allow cross-play this time around. Before, it used to be Microsoft not allowing it with the 360... now Sony is all "nope!".
Disc jam? I've always preferred raspberry, but each to their own.
I love online competitive games, but I’m not sure how I’d like this. Wish there was a short demo.
@Fake-E-Lee Hey, the reviewer loves Disc Jam! But the reviewer is also cautious about the future of the franchise...
Looks kinda promising. I am not sure when I will get around to buying it but at least it is a solid tennis style game for Switch.
i've tried it out on, PS4. didnt like it very much.
@Fake-E-Lee Yup same here really. Had it when it was a free PS+ game and didnt give it more than 2 minutes.
Got it on the Switch Saturday and I think its awesome now. Super smooth online (cross play is a nice bonus), always finds matches quickly and you get some really tense matches played out.
Feels pretty badass to slide across half the pitch, nab the disc milimeters from the line, then lob it over the opponent standing at the net!
Another favourite technique of mine is lob the disc short, then rush the net, put your shield up and let them crash it into your shield.
Its a great 'sports' game and yea, I'd score it at least an 8, 8.5 if halves counted!
@Fake-E-Lee hey mate, how are you doing?
Have you had sone time to listen to La Dispute?
What kind of controller set up do you need for four-player action?
Online only makes this an instant pass
@Fake-E-Lee I will surely continue to play this for a while, it is the same kind of addiction as Rocket League: you always learn something new after each game.
I've added it to my radar!
I've had this game since day 1 on the PS4. I thought it was cool for about 3 days. If I were to give it a score, I would have given it a 5 out of 10. It's not terrible but it's not really that great either. But if others are enjoying it that's cool.
@Fake-E-Lee oh sorry man, I didn’t mean to put you in a rush, I was just curious! 😅
Also, hope your youngest gets his rest, I didn’t know you had such a busy life 😅
Back on topic, I’m glad you’re digging them as utterly love them and they’re really so unique in everything they do. They make pretty simple stuff but male it sound like no other band, and that’s a thing I love about them (and mewithoutYou too, though their firet album sucks lol).
Some of the band you mentioned I know, but I’ll make sure to check the others out! Thanks for the suggestions!
@Fake-E-Lee well if you say so then I guess you’re welcome ahahahahah
Have a nice night (or day, depending on where you live 😁)!
I kind of feel bad for some of these indies, there really isn't much of a shot for some of them succeeding unless they are well known or stays on the best sellers. I know there's a ton of indie success but I would imagine there are 2-3 times as many failures.
@Fake-E-Lee oh so I get it you’re American (ATL = Atlanta?) then? Have a good afternoon then ahahah
It’s almost 9 P.M. here in Italy 🤓
Does this game support motion controls?
@JayJ Nowhere in this review is it stated that this is an online only game...
“Never should’ve written all those tank programs.” I’m here for the Tron references! Cool that the developers were paying homage to Discs of Tron.
Looked cool then I saw the micro transactions, hard pass.
Is this game online only? Is there any single player content? Are there micro transactions? Did the review just skip over these important issues?
@CartoonDan There is only training or multiplayer offline. And training is either the tutorial of techniques or playing against a wall. Multiplayer is one on one if you have two, and two on two of you have four.
Online you can play against AI’s built around people’s Ghost data as one on ones, or against people in singles or doubles matches.
You can also play against friends online.
There are micro transactions it seems as they have a ‘disc jam store’. I think they get you things you can earn for online matchmaking multiplayer quicker by paying. And everything is default unlocked for offline multiplayer. Not sure about how friends multiplayer works.
I guess the review omitted it if you’re asking, admittedly I didn’t read it as closely as I should have mostly focusing on the closing paragraph and the score.
@Indielink A training mode hardly counts as a single player experience.
@JayJ It can still be played offline outside of the training mode.
@Fake-E-Lee the review was a little barebones for me so I'm hoping you can answer a few questions.
Anyone here a big Windjammers fan and has played this? I can see the obvious differences, but I'm curious how it compares as far as fun.
This is Mario Tennis with Frisbee.
Neogeo Windjammers is fun, but when you converted it to a 3d game with nice visuals... somehow that fun is lost somewhere.
I had a bit of a hard time reading this review, grammar errors and sentence structure was a bit jumbled and I'm not used to that from this site. I've read and quite enjoyed your articles before @Shiryu so I'm not sure what went wrong with the proofreading this time.
@Kalmaro Can't blame Sony for not wanting cross play with Nintendo. I hear Nintendo would rather have cross play with Philips instead.
I liked this one on PS4 when they gave it away. I think it's a 100% buy once it drops below $10, and even at $15 it is a decent deal. It plays like a pretty good tennis-ish game, so if you want something to last you until Mario Tennis or even something drastically cheaper than Mario Tennis, this is a great one. No story mode or anything though. This game has surprising depth to the ways to lob the disc back at your opponent. PS4 just suffered from a lack of players when I was on it.
A modern interpretation of Wind Jammers, not much else you need to know. This should be amazing.
Is this review a joke? The abundance of typos and bad grammar are basically to be expected by now, but the length is just ridiculous. What I take away is: It apes Windjammer and nobody knows whether the community will stick around. Honestly: Nobody would need a review for that.
@KeeperBvK I agree that this is more of a blurb than a review. Especially when compared side to side with other reviews on this site.
I saw the awful, dated 3D thumbnail picture and expected this review was going to be a 3 out of 10. I'm pleasantly shocked it's a 7. 😂
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@PLAYwithGregg Mind your language!
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