Dodgeball Academia

I love Dodgeball ! I was in school the last time I played, but the idea of a video game adaptation only brought back good memories. In Dodgeball Academia, I thought I'd get to create a team, customize the style and stats of my players, all while managing campus life on the side (relationships, training, side activities, mini-games...). Well, not quite. Dodgeball is still awesome though, and so is the visual style of the game. Colorful, with funny-looking characters and a clear interface : the presentation is top notch. As one of the new students and through the course of 8 chapters (between 10 and 12 hours of gameplay), your goal is simple : Win the championship, as you engage in school activities and hone your newfound ability to... Throw a ball really hard. I guess "engage in school activities" is a bit of a stretch, as both the main and the few side quests that exist are all solved the exact same way : by battling everyone in dodgeball matches. You can roam around (roll around, actually) the campus all you want, but not only is it not very fun, it's also quite pointless as there's nothing to do expect a handful of additional battles per chapter, and a few pieces of equipment to find... That's why my initial enthusiasm quickly whittled down, as the game was already showing its limitations. One of the most exciting aspects of this kind of game is recruiting new characters, but it takes way too long in Dodgeball Academia. You'll spend the first few hours on your own, and once you do finally get new characters, they're kind of a let-down. Some of them kick back or dodge the ball instead of catching it, their super moves are different... But there's no real point in changing team members, since there's no synergy between them... They simply gain a few fixed stats points as they level up, and can carry up to two pieces of equipment that have very little effect. Meh. The game is also way too chatty. Whether it's the main characters or the lunch lady, they all go on and on forever, providing pointless chatter that slows down the pace of the whole game. It's not even particularly funny ! The story is fine, but the dialogues and the humor just didn't do it for me. Deeper, or at least evolving gameplay could have made up for this, but Dodgeball Academia feels a little light in this department too. After a few hours, it's clear that no matter the settings, there's just one thing to do : throw the ball, and catch it when it comes back. Sure, sometimes the ball is faster, lobbed, or has a weird trajectory, sometimes grass makes it harder to see, or maybe it's a 10 on 3 match... But at the end of the day, you're just catching and throwing a ball, using one or two buttons. This is not necessarily the game's fault, maybe this is the best that could be done with dodgeball, and it's just not enough to make an interesting game out of it. It's okay, but not very exciting. I'll give Dodgeball Academia a [b] 5[/b] for its great presentation and charm, and I'll go play dodgeball myself instead. Juuuuust gotta find people to play with...