Oddballers Review – by Fletch (Xbox Nation)

Oddballers is the second title coming from the indie team Gameswing and published by the incredibly well-known game giant Ubisoft. This game seems to be a spiritual successor to Gameswings previous game called Stickfold which is another dodgeball style video game. Now this time their new game has a much bigger budget and sprinkled with all things Ubisoft and that can certainly be for good or for worse. So does this grab life by the balls or miss its target of being a great multiplayer experience? Lets find out as we dive into the review.

GAMEPLAY

So as many would have guessed by the artwork and trailers oddballers is a chaotic multiplayer dodgeball-based party game and is a massive improvement from the developer’s previous game Stickfold. Up to 6 players will face off in dodgeball-based battles, earning points over several games and ultimately being crowned the winner. Now this is what I call a dodgeball inspired video game as not all the modes consist of hitting opponents with flying objects. The game includes a total of 18 different game modes to choose from ranging from traditional dodgeball, mowing down SHEEPS WOOL to moving platform style mini games. As you would expect there are some that are better than others, but this variety really makes the game feel fresh throughout your playthroughs. There is the ability to make custom games which can be played locally or online with friends. Alternatively, you can let the game randomly choose for you.

Ultimately this is a multiplayer focused title and that has always been touted from the get-go, so don’t expect any story mode in this game. This does make it slightly light on content outside of the multiplayer, couch co-op and local play modes so do keep that in mind when diving into this game.

The gameplay on offer is very well balanced and technically it feels incredibly smooth and intuitive. The bold colours and unique art style really do the game wonders as it’s always throwing some sort of visual flair at you. Throughout my entire time with the game, I managed to play with friends and family alongside online opponents and never found a lull in the excitement of trying to win. You can see a lot of effort was put into the gameplay and that is ultimately where the game shines.

PROGRESSION

No matter the game mode or style this all ultimately feeds in very well with a local battle pass that has been included. This battle pass is what players will be aiming to level up to gain extra cosmetic items such as outfits and emojis. At the time of this review all currency, rewards and battle pass are all free however the existing framework does mean that Ubisoft could dump in a paid currency if they feel a need to do so. I do feel that this game was originally designed around being free to play especially with the different currency systems but instead was pulled to be a more traditional paid release. This certainly makes the interface awkward and unnecessary and provides a significant reduction in quality. I do get worried we will see a premium currency being added in the not-too-distant future.

TECHNICAL ISSUES

Whilst playing through the game I didn’t come across many issues at all and experienced next to no crashes. I was playing this on the Xbox Series X for my entire playtime however after speaking with others there has been significant performance issues on lower end systems such as the Nintendo switch and regular Xbox one consoles. The only minor issues I found personally through my playthrough was an odd stutter on a loading screen and the odd replay after winning a round wasn’t working properly but that was about it. I have no doubt that on PS5 and Xbox Series Consoles that the performance and stability is rock solid.

MULTIPLAYER

Now in terms of online functionality the game features full crossplay with all consoles and PC and this can easily be turned on and off in the menu screen. This is a great addition especially as a smaller release for Ubisoft and means games can be searched for no matter the platform. I did have a few issues trying to find matches and that is quite worrisome for a brand-new release especially with full crossplay. I expect the lack of marketing by Ubisoft for this title plays some part into this, but I expect it will naturally grow a player base as time goes on. I was playing during work hours for most of my review but even in the evenings I still found it bare and not many players were about. If you do find a game with another person and you don’t have a full lobby you can fill it with AI. This also happens if players back out to the menu whilst a game is on-going, so you don’t lose time or progress. The multiplayer is hilarious fun when against human players and really makes the game shine. There were so many points where I was laughing to myself when me or my teammate would mess up a shot in team modes.

CONCLUSION

So, does Oddballers hit the ball out of the park, or does it stumble over itself? Well, you can certainly see that this game has the basis to be a fantastic party game and when in games it’s an absolute blast to play. Couple that with a pretty good progression system and great online play it all feels ultimately like a well-crafted package. However, the overarching issues with the clunky and odd interface makes for a poor experience when navigating between games and the overarching worries of a premium currency being introduced does create a lot of skepticism. Overall, I will give Oddballers a 70% out of 100 and there is certainly room for this score to go up if consistent updates bring more fantastic content.

Game played and reviewed by Fletch (Xbox Nation) , who we are welcoming to the Completexbox family as a staff writer. You can interact with Fletch more by following him on twitter, or by heading to his fabulous youtube channel Xbox Nation

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