Dodgeball Academia

 PC
User Score
8.2

Generally favorable reviews- based on 49 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 37 out of 49
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 49
  3. Negative: 7 out of 49

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  1. pmasterfunk
    Jul 13, 2022
    7
    I like Dodgeball Academia. I really do. But I wish I could say I love it. It has so much going for it, yet I somehow feel somewhat empty playing it.

    I feel like I'm staring into the abyss, and as the void stares back at me it screeches: "Terry, why do you keep doing this to yourself? Why do you keep nitpicking and slamming everything you watch and play? Can't you just enjoy yourself for    I like Dodgeball Academia. I really do. But I wish I could say I love it. It has so much going for it, yet I somehow feel somewhat empty playing it.

    I feel like I'm staring into the abyss, and as the void stares back at me it screeches: "Terry, why do you keep doing this to yourself? Why do you keep nitpicking and slamming everything you watch and play? Can't you just enjoy yourself for once?".

    And I always wonder: "Who's Terry?"

    DA is wacky through and through, and that's great. Character designs are amazing, both in their aesthetics and characterization. The animation is some of the best I've seen in any video game, ever. Characters twitch and sway with tons of personality, and even though characters aren't super deep, they're all memorable and I never felt indifferent to any of them. Otto should be bland and boring, but he manages to stay entertaining and likable. While not straying all that far from the traditional anime main character, he still feels unique. I liked (or enjoyed disliking) every character in the game. It's great.

    I do like the overall gameplay, though controlling a 3-person team with no AI is a bit of a pain. Certain characters can catch balls and some counter them, and because the timing and how to approach the game can vary wildly between these two moves, it makes team management a bit of a pain. Countering isn't all that useful against the CPU, though it probably works great against human opponents. It's honestly a bit frustrating facing an enemy that counters, and as far as I know it's impossible to tell if said enemy can counter until it does. I'm expecting enemies to catch, which they do 90% of the time, so the 10% of the time they counter it's a huge shock and basically a guaranteed hit.

    The main overworld theme kinda grates, but other tracks are pretty good.

    I wish there was a fast travel mode, I get it doesn't always work with the story, but sometimes it's just kinda boring walking from one end of the map to the other. A lot of main quest stuff involves walking to some spot, doing a few battles, walking back to a different spot, doing a few battles, rinse and repeat. So much of the main quest hinges around walking through the main area that it gets dull quickly. As much as I like the characters, the story doesn't do much with them. I mean, I like Otto and company, but there's no real development, the stakes are very low, there aren't any moral dilemmas, I just wish there was a bit more to it. And the last chapter happens, and the stakes are a bit higher, and we have some decent conflict, and I was really into it. And I wanted it to keep going, but it just ended.

    I can imagine this being a lot of fun to play with friends, 3v3 would probably be an amazing time, but I just don't have that many friends anymore.

    I feel like a few quality of life improvements could be made. There is no dedicated map button, which seems odd, especially considering the select/back button does nothing. There are so many types of items that they become a pain manage. Healing items are not that useful because the infirmary is free and practically always accessible.

    Also, the game gets a bit choppy in the main area. I've got a 6600 XT, it's not that starchy, it should run better than this.

    Can I recommend Dodgeball Academia? I dunno. It's pretty, funny, charming, and fun, but it also feels a bit empty for a large portion of the main quest.    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

87
#87 Most Discussed PC Game of 2021

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
77

Generally favorable reviews - based on 10 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6 out of 10
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 10
  3. Negative: 0 out of 10
  1. RPG Fan
    Aug 23, 2021
    84
    At the end of the day, though, Dodgeball Academia hits all the right notes to become a smash hit multimedia entity. Not only can I see an animation and comic book or manga series, but I can also picture a plethora of Dodgeball Academia merchandise like stickers, apparel, toys, phone accessories, dodgeballs, and much more. So you should enroll in Dodgeball Academia today and become the sports anime protagonist you’ve always wanted to be.
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  2. RPG Site
    Aug 19, 2021
    70
    Dodgeball Academia is simply lovely with all the little touches it puts forth to celebrate both RPGs and the sport of dodgeball. Many clever mechanics make the marriage between the two a natural fit in this game. Some unsatisfying character progression, late-game repetitive battles, and a needlessly prolonged final stretch do set it back, but I think it is still a solid attempt at such a novel concept.
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  3. The Indie Game Website
    Aug 17, 2021
    80
    For the most part, though, Dodgeball Academia is an unbridled joy with a lovely cast of wholesome characters, even though the narrative isn’t always that fresh. If it was merely fun and silly writing alone, I’d still thoroughly enjoy my time with it because it reminds me fondly of excitedly waking up on a Saturday to watch daft cartoons and play video games—back to simpler times. The fact that the act of playing dodgeball is also fantastic is a warmly welcomed bonus.
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