Thanks to FIFA’s lucrative annual assembly line , Electronic Arts can allocate budgets for original multiplayer projects whose chances of survival are in question. The recent Rocket Arena was fun, Super Smash Bros. in action format, only without popular heroes. But at the start, we made so many mistakes that attempts to recruit an audience again did not work. After several hours in the “beta” of Knockout City, it seems that the game can repeat the fate of the breathing Rocket Arena , but it still has a better chance of success.
Speedone
Easy to learn, but …
Two teams of three meet in a match and play dodgeball. Balls (both regular and special) are scattered all over the map, and the task of the participants is to pick up these balls and throw them at opponents. Each player has two health points, so it takes two hits to kill. Despite the presence of auto-aiming, skillful bouncers cannot be defeated by simple methods – there are enough mechanics to constantly learn something new and perform better in every match.
The character has a fairly large number of abilities, which are excellently described by a series of training levels. The ball can be thrown after charging the power of the throw. But you can not just launch it at the target, but do it beautifully by performing a somersault (for an overhead throw) or a turn (for a twisted one). In the first case, you can throw the ball over a high obstacle, and in the second, it will overtake a column or other obstacle.
The color of the symbol on the back indicates which team you belong to in this match.
The mechanics seem to be simple on paper, and all this is done with a couple of clicks, but the buzz after an accurate hit is huge. You wounded the enemy, dodged his oncoming attack (this can be done with a separate dash button – you push enemies with it), and he ran away behind the obstacle. You grab his ball, which he did not take away, charge the attack and throw it in time after a somersault, earning a point for your team.
These moments are very cool, and the size of the maps allows you to find yourself in exciting situations quite often. This is facilitated by other mechanics, including the ability to grab someone else’s ball on approach – an increasing red frame on the sides of the screen warns of an attack. If you want, exchange the ball with your opponent for a long time until a third player connects and ruins your holiday. And you can also make deceptive movements so that the enemy prepares to grab the ball ahead of time and becomes defenseless for a while.
Threw it – get it back.
But the most interesting thing is the ability to take the shape of the ball yourself. Curling up into a ball, you start rolling on the ground in the hope that someone will pick you up. Here Knockout City begins to reward for team play – the “human ball” is stronger (kills on the first hit), and it can be turned into a real bomb by holding the throw button for a long time.
A well-coordinated team is the key to success.
This mechanic works, and it works great. There are a limited number of balls on the map – some are already in the hands of the players, others are lying around in the corners, and others have reappeared in certain zones. Therefore, when a serious kneading begins, the shells may not be enough. And then you connect to the fight: you fold, roll to your teammate, he automatically picks you up (and often he is not ready for this – not everyone has figured out the mechanics yet) and with your help wins someone. You can repeat the process or run away and eliminate the new target yourself – there are plenty of options.
The enemy can also grab you while you are in ball form. Some try to throw the opponent out of the map, but the glider saves.
Your own director
The fact that the game allows you to generate interesting moments on the fly, when you quickly react to events and emerge victorious from them, is the main reason why Knockout League is unlikely to quickly lose its audience. So far, much of it seems thoughtful. The matches are short enough that there was a desire to participate in one more, eventually waking up in the deep evening. There are no heroes with unique abilities – everyone is equal, as in the Rocket League , so your knowledge is not spread over different characters that someone on the team can take earlier.
The conditions and rules also generally do not change – the only difference is in the special balls. They, like ordinary ones, appear in certain places. These can be bomb balls that tick in the hands and explode after a few seconds. Or cage balls – the target they hit, takes the form of a ball and cannot get out of it. Or sniper balls – they can be sent over long distances. There is only one type of special balls on the map, so matches do not turn into chaos with “randomness”, but it brings the necessary variety.
Among the maps there is a city with moving cars, a construction site, and the roofs of skyscrapers.
All of these mechanics work especially well in the duels of two well-coordinated teams that have been trained and do not get confused in the buttons. Therefore, I really want to wait for the launch of the full version and plunge into the rating mode – in the “beta” it is not available, but judging by the menu, they will not delay with it for a long time after the release. Plus, they will allow you to collect a squad in a special section of the menu – it is not necessary to look for allies on third-party sites.
In addition to the main mode, there are others. For example, a one-on-one fight, which is more suitable for finding out with a friend who is cooler. Or “Diamond Rush” – almost the same as the usual three by three, only from the defeated enemies fall diamonds that need to be collected. But the bonus entertainment is not as interesting as the standard mode, where the bulk of the players will gather.
The character is shown frequently, so customization is important. There are many options here.
So far, the only potential problem for Knockout City is the price tag. It’s lower than Rocket Arena ($ 20, like the Fall Guys ), but still needs a lot of support from streamers, otherwise the sad story will repeat itself. And you can’t do without microtransactions, albeit cosmetic ones. There are many possibilities for customization: faces, hairstyles, glasses, gloves, suits, gliders (open in the air), and all sorts of taunts and poses. The visual style, judging by the reviews, not everyone liked, but it is bright and quite suitable for a game with such a dynamic gameplay.
Comparing Knockout Citywith Rocket Arena (although this is not entirely correct – games have a different approach to gameplay), the former seems more promising. It is easier to understand it, you do not have to remember which hero can do what and for which card is best suited. And the price is lower (although in an amicable way it would be better not to have it at all). Exclusively because of the distribution model, it is difficult to predict the fate of the game – it can either go unnoticed and be sold for three kopecks a month later, or win the attention of the public, which will sit in the “rating” and have fun. I would like to believe that the second will happen, but for now we expect the release on May 21 on PC and all current consoles.
