The cringey trailer might've turned people off but I played the closed beta and was surprised by its layers of strategy. I've seen Twitter folks describe it as Splatoon meets dodgeball. The Knockout City devs clearly added the right mechanics to make a fun dodgeball video game. What I enjoyed:

1. Special balls- Not gimmicks but helps enhance gameplay. Moon balls give you gravity powers to jump way higher. Bomb balls is like a ticking grenade; throw it at the last second and if the enemy catches it...kaboom.

2. Glider- The glider is amazing for strategy. Fly to quickly escape, take a shortcut, or flank. If a dodgeball is nearby, the glider can be a great way to quickly get there before the enemy.

3. Strategy- Can't just keep throwing balls every time. Timing matters, so gotta learn how and when to throw. You can also pass the ball to teammates. Glider and special balls keep matches interesting.

4. Caged ball- throw it at the enemy and they turn into a ball. Then you can grab the enemy and throw them off the map.

5. Short matches- between 5 and 10 min I believe

Cons:

1. The trailer should've been better. Just confused or upset people

2. Maybe a bit too much Fortnite-like as far as visuals and character behavior

3. Not sure if people will "get" it. Yes, it's dodgeball but the gameplay has layers. There's a bunch of tutorial messages in-game you can read about; that might be a minus to some players.

Will check it out when it pops up in May. I would watch Giant Bomb do a quick look or stream of this game. I'm sure one or two of the staff will not like it lol

That trailer definitely didn't do any favors since everyone just wanted to shit on it just from viewing the CG interview portion of it. The actual gameplay though looks pretty simplistic in good way similar to something like Samurai Gun or Towerfall but from a 3D perspective. I dunno how well it's going to do with EA charging money for it but I'd hope it doesn't end up like that Rocket Arena game they put out.

As someone that enjoyed Robot Roller-Derby Disco Dodgeball, i'm down for dodgeball. But when i think back on my enjoyment of that game, it was mostly how high speed it was, the importance of leading your shots, the frenzy of having to dodge a ton of balls at once and how it encouraged you to do all kind of neat trickshots, like 360 no scope shots or bouncing it off a few walls before it hits the opponent.

The Knockout City footage made it look like a midspeed shooter where you're not using guns but balls and the spectacle has to come from the special tools they have put into the game, instead of giving you some fast paced acrobatic moves to pull out of your sleeve. It just looks like there's not all that much depth to Knockout city. I'm almost wishing it had some sort of weird `analog-stick = your arm` controls instead letting you simply throw the ball where you want it to go with one button press. But maybe i'm mistaken and this can get really hype. Players hiding behind walls waiting to knock opponents over and steal their ball, that kind of stuff.

I guess i want a dodgeball game to be more like Fifa Street or Gunz: The Duel than Fortnite.

At first I thought this was a generic sports game chasing the Fortnite dollars. There's an upcoming free trial and I think some will think different once they experience the game.

I did not like my time playing the first few matches. Once I figured out some mechanics the game just felt different. It looks like Fortnite but it's not that game. Some have described it more as Splatoon or Ninjala.

Not sure if this game will have success. The marketing has to succeed (the trailer did not lol). The $20 entry might turn some off.

There's so little to go on in that trailer. Even if the game is great, there's, what, 30 or 40 seconds of gameplay in little disconnected bits?

If there IS a good game in there and I helped make it, I'd be pretty mad at the marketing folks right now.

So they've now actually shown some more gameplay for this thing...

I dunno. I have a better idea of what this game is about now, but it still seems kinda slow. And a little dull. Maybe the open beta will prove me wrong?