A new competitive title with a cool soundtrack has arrived in digital storefronts titled Knockout City. The game takes the time-honored schoolyard game of dodgeball and aims to create a PvP experience capable of holding its own with longstanding industry favorites. Can a dodgeball game pull player's interest from titles like Valorant or Fortnite?
So far, critics have been very pleased with Knockout City. The title is generally being received positively, with critics praising Knockout City's gameplay. Specifically, they've enjoyed the game's learning curve and subtle layers of complexity.
CJ Andriessen, Destructoid: "Last year, EA released Rocket Arena, an online multiplayer competitive shooter from developer Final Strike Games. If you don't remember it, I don't blame you. It dropped off the gaming radar faster than its price dropped in stores. When Knockout City was first revealed earlier this year, I was pretty pompous in my assurance that it would face a similar fate. It just didn't seem like something anybody would be talking about after it dropped. But now that I've played it, along with at least two million other people, I don't think that's going to be the case. I think this one has staying power. I'm shocked with how well Knockout City turned out. It's easily the biggest surprise of 2021, something everyone should give a go while it's still free to try."
PJ O'Reilly, Nintendo Life: "If you're the type of player who tends to shy away from online competitive action, not one for the constant deaths, steep learning curves, lengthy match times or complex meta of many of the currently popular squad-based offerings, this bright and breezy effort could well be something worth dipping your toes into. Getting started, having a measure of success and, most importantly, enjoying yourself in Knockout City really is as simple as picking up a dodgeball and throwing it. It's clear that Velan Studios — the developer behind Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit — has thought long and hard about how to make this one accessible on a very basic level and the decisions they've made have paid off handsomely here."
Jarrett Green, IGN: "Knockout City isn't the dodgeball from your childhood. It's an intense team-based multiplayer take on the grade school sport that combines simple, easy to pick up controls, with deceptively complex tactics and strategies that may be surprising coming from a game featuring this type of Saturday morning cartoon aesthetic. Its crisp, satisfying gameplay and multiplayer duels deliver all of the highs of gym class sports without the smelly uniforms or the anxiety of being picked last. Knockout City is one of the best team-based PvP games to come out in years...Every match has the potential to be a dynamic "combat" experience that even the most hard-boiled shooter fan can appreciate, all thanks to the clever balance between throws and catches, exciting special balls, and well-designed maps to brawl through."
Morgan Park, PC Gamer: "EA's decision to have a 10-day free trial period was also smart and has attracted an initial pool of over two million players. The game is $20 to keep or free if you're a Game Pass subscriber on console or PC, which is exactly how I'll be playing for months to come. I hope a healthy chunk of those two million stick around, because Knockout City is simply excellent. I'm endlessly impressed with how much careful consideration has gone into turning a playground pastime mostly ignored by videogames into a rich competitive romp. There's nothing quite like it, which is why you should really give it a shot for free while you can."
Owen S. Good, Polygon: "It's refreshing to see a game rely so much on cooperative play right off the bat, among people with whom I am not communicating with over voice chat. And it's remarkable that this happens in a sports-style game whose fundamentals and tactics are largely unknown to everyone. Credit a well-balanced design from Velan Studios, whose developers have built a game that doesn't just suggest that folks work together — it genuinely makes that easier."
Alessandro Barbosa, Gamespot: "Knockout City's greatest strengths lie in its simplicity, but also in the ways it remixes traditional multiplayer elements to create something distinct. Its easy-going nature and straightforward mechanics reduce the time it takes to feel invested in each match, but it's really the subtle complexity underneath that keeps the action engaging and compelling over long play sessions. There's certainly room for improvement with the game's rotating match modes and some of its special ball types, but Knockout City nails the fundamentals to create multiplayer fun that will likely hook you for a long time to come."
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