Nintendo's hybrid console is literally built for local multiplayer, and there is no shortage of incredible competitive and cooperative examples to get everyone milking, racing, snipping or dancing. While FIFA or NBA2K have the simulation side sewn up for now, Danish developer Swing Studios brings its retro themed and completely zany sports title Stikbold! A Dodgeball Adventure Deluxe to the Switch with a few extras compared to its 2016 console release.
Assuming the role of dashing, happy go lucky Stikbold player Björn and his more serious team mate Jerome, you have to deal with the devistation of coming second place in a highly prestigious Stikbold tournament. Their tyrannical coach is understandably not happy, and vows to push the dynamic, ball hurling duo to superiority once again. No only that, but Björn's crush has been kidnapped. With regaining the highly coveted title of Stikbold champions and winning his damsels heart, Björn embarks on an adventure across sand, sea and even somewhere resembling hell.
In reality, Stikbold bears a striking resemblance to dodgeball, albeit with a few tweaks to the rules. Individuals, pairs or trios face off against each other in a circular arena, with the surviving team declared the winner. If a team mate is knocked out, you are able to bring them back with a trusty, if a little time consuming high five. Serving as a tutorial, coach will remind you how to use accuracy as well as defensive and offensive manoeuvres to be all conquering once again.
Despite Stikblod being a sports title, and a party game, for all intents and purposes it controls like a typical twin stick shooter. It works really well, being easy to pick up but offering a satisfying level of mastery, which can especially come in to play when facing off against other human opponents. Move your player with the left stick, aim with a combination of holding ZR and the right stick. In addition, there are environmental hazards to quickly avoid as well as structures to use as cover or other, level-themed objects to chuck. Learning more advanced moves such a catching an incoming projectile or being able to add curve to your throw sets you up to take on an increasingly tough array of rival teams, a variety of human and not so human bosses.
Spread across 12 stages and casual, professional or all star difficulty, the campaign might be short to some but there are three objectives to achieve in each level, which adds replayability. In the early exchanges, these are essentially incentives to learn the extra tricks, but become a mixture of utilising the environment, performing specific tasks with certain objects or avoid particular attacks. Rather than rehashing characters or stages, the number and variety in the campaign felt just right.
Some stage-specific hazards such as waves or a hippie's Winnebago are hilarious diversions, and later stages require strategy and concentration to recognise and counter enemy attack patterns. As well as being able to play the story mode cooperatively, your AI buddy when playing alone is pretty responsive, and if you get knocked out, you'll automatically switch players so you can revive your fallen teammate. Upon beating a stage, the NPCs become available to select in the game's multiplayer modes. While they don't have any specific special moves or other attributes, they are a fun and varied bunch.
Presentation wise, Stikbold's blocky, vivid world and instantly likeable range of wacky, fully voiced (and amusingly unintelligible) characters are exaggerated and expressive, if visually a bit on the basic side. While the amount of environments may be limited, they all have personality and specific themes, hazards and characters.
Where Stikbold shines is in its local, drop in/drop out multiplayer. Up to six human players can compete in teams or individually in straight up quick matches, one of four mini games or a random selection of everything in the form of new addition retro style game show Wheel of Rumpus. While it is possible to play alone and add up to three bots with four levels of difficulty, it's best to snap the Joy-Con off and get friends involved. The Wheel Of Rumpus can be set up to first to five, seven or nine points lasting roughly 20, 30 or 40 minutes.
Whatever you're tasked with or whomever you're team mate is, your goal is to win points to increase your own score. As a reward, you'll earn glamorous accessories to kit your character out with such as hats or sunglasses. Challenges include hitting someone with a particular object, avoid instakill water balloons and so on. In most instances, felled players can return to seek revenge and fling things at remaining opponents to keep everyone involved.
The mini-games are brief and objective-based but no less entertaining. Handyball is a team-based affair, with the side scoring the most goals in a set time emerging victorious. Pop Pop is a risk reward challenge, simultaneously trying to deplete your opponent's beach ball while keeping yours intact. Crate Escape allows you to lob rival's crates into the sea while safeguarding your own, and new mode Rainbow Rumpus is a no holds barred, last person standing affair. All of the multiplayer modes strike a great balance of being easy to understand and get started, but it's perfectly possible to lose a few hours to a tourney or two, if you're so inclined.
Conclusion
Stikbold! A Dodgeball Adventure Deluxe fully deserves a place among Nintendo Switch's already amazing line up of local multiplayer titles. It's accessible yet deceptively deep twin stick-based mechanics make for a decent amount of challenge in the solo campaign, even if it's a little on the short side. Even with no online, using bots or getting up to five other friends involved means that multiplayer matches are a joy and always thoroughly entertaining. Striking a great balance between cooperative and competitive play styles, Its combination of charming presentation and witty retro humour are sure to keep the laughs coming regardless of player demographic.
Comments 25
Seem okay
Gosh...
Minecraft style characters.
Nah....
Pass
Seems like something I’d like, but it’s hard to find people to play with locally.
Looks aight. Releasing close to launch would have made a world of difference but by now we have tons of local multiplayer silly games... might pick it up at a discount just for the nice aesthetics
Seems like a fun party game. I can't wait for it to come on sale!
I would buy for half the price, but for $20, I'll pass.
Switch games are pathetically expensive, no excuse for digital games and especially lots of the trash on e-shop that are priced up compared to same sh#+y games you can buy cheaper on other hardware. Bloody disgrace, no wonder piracy is a thing
@WhistleFish I would buy very few of these indie games based solely on the price. Much too expensive for what you're getting.
I'm intrigued by 6 player gaming.
Most everything is 4, but my family measures 8, so this might be interesting just for that.
@BezBot I feel the same way for a local multiplayer game I feel the pricing should be encouraging impulse purchasing.
@BezBot @loyalroyal1989 @KirbyTheVampire @WhistleFish Don't take offense when I said this, but the exact reason your opinions are irrelevant is sales. Just look at Enter the Gungeon while it is priced 5 dollars lower than this, they sold a little over a million dollars in just two weeks. And that's happened to several other indie games that have appeared on the Switch. They know all they have to do is come in have a good 2-3 weeks, and boom they're set. Not to say it's worth $20, but if you can get just 50k people out of the millions of switch owners to download it it's easy money.
@Nintendoforlife I am not offended at all seems like you have proven our point that this game seems over priced and maybe it should be cheaper as a game 25% cheaper made really good money so there is no need to price it this high.
This game is just... okay. I would give it a solid 6/10.
@loyalroyal1989 Actually the point I was making was the game will probably still make bank simply because it's a decent quality indie. But what you said is a valid arguing point I guess.
Nice review. Now I'm sure that I'll have a blast playing this one and won't regret buying it. I like the art direction they went for, although it reminds me of Runbow. Not that it's a bad thing.
@WhistleFish : Agreed. I have bought very, very few games from the Switch eShop for this reason (plus nothing looks particularly interesting to me, and the few that do appear to be of substandard quality). Too many indie titles are priced close to, if not the same as retail releases (publishers are bonkers charging AU$40+ for digital only releases). I'd rather put that money toward a high quality retail release instead.
I played this on my stepson's PS4 - and I can vouch that it is a total blast! The humor is fantastic, and the graphics are perfect for this game. The fact the players who are knocked out can do crazy things like cause a shark to attack other players is so incredibly fun! I agree with a 7.5 or even an 8 score on this one.
@Eigotaku
"winning his damsels heart" Damsel's
"If a team mate is knocked out, you are able to bring them back" A team mate, but bring THEM back? Bad grammar.
"come in to play" Come INTO play. Your neighbor can come IN TO play.
"more advanced moves such a catching" Such as.
"in the games multiplayer modes" Game's.
"its best to snap the Joy-Con off" It's.
"whomever you're team mate is" Even two mistakes in one! It's WHOEVER here, not whomever, and it's YOUR.
"a la bomb karts" It's à la.
"trying to deplete your opponents beach ball" Opponent's or opponents'.
"allows you to lib rivals crates" Rival crates or the rival's crates or the rivals' crates. You've got three possibilities, yet go for a wrong one.
"but its perfectly possible" It's.
"It's accessible yet deceptively deep twin stick-based mechanics" And now ITS. Are you doing this on purpose?
"Striking a great balance between cooperative and competitive play styles, It's combination of charming presentation and witty retro humour are sure" What the? Why is there a comma right in the sentence? And why is the I in It's capital? And why is it ITS instead of IT'S again?! You're finishing off the review with three mistakes combined into one.
Why doesn't anybody proofread these things?
@Galenmereth Yeah I honestly love what digital gaming has done to the video game economy. It has made it so deep discounts and sales are now a common thing, back in the physical era I was paying a lot more for games.
@KeeperBvK Happy new year!
@KeeperBvK This was partly my fault, as I was the one that proofed it. Thanks for the feedback.
@Eigotaku Thanks. Your reply shows me that not only did you not respect your readers by at least attempting to write a proper review, but also you not respecting my constructive criticism.
By the way: Happy New Year is written in capital letters.
@Dom: Thanks for your reply.
@KeeperBvK What I am writing, I mean honestly and sincerely. I can definitely not call myself a perfectionist, but I am incredibly hard on myself when I make mistakes. I made a lot of grammatical errors in this review, and I should have taken extra care to proof read it myself, and not relied on my editors. My personal circumstances notwithstanding, I will take extra care in the future. Please accept this as an acknowledgement of my mistakes, gratitude for your constructive criticism and a sincere apology.
Ugh, another interesting game ruined by dual-stick controls! Since you have to hold ZR anyway, there's no reason they couldn't have just used the left stick to aim as well. Then you would just need something like ZL to hit if you need to cancel your throw in order to block or move out of the way of an incoming ball (or just to feint).
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