Dunk Lords

 PC
User Score
7.2

Mixed or average reviews- based on 12 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 8 out of 12
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 12
  3. Negative: 3 out of 12

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  1. shockthetoast
    Apr 2, 2020
    10
    Welcome to the world of Dunk Lords. A world where an anthropomorphic strawberry isn't the strangest character you'll meet. A world where every disagreement is settled with an extreme game of basketball. A world that is completely ludicrous but somehow makes perfect sense.

    As someone who is neither a sports aficionado nor a sports game aficionado, I probably wouldn't have given this game    Welcome to the world of Dunk Lords. A world where an anthropomorphic strawberry isn't the strangest character you'll meet. A world where every disagreement is settled with an extreme game of basketball. A world that is completely ludicrous but somehow makes perfect sense.

    As someone who is neither a sports aficionado nor a sports game aficionado, I probably wouldn't have given this game a second look. But when I learned Laura Shigihara was doing the soundtrack I new I had to check it out. I'm so glad I did.

    I played through the story mode in one sitting, to the detriment of sleep. I just couldn't put it down. The artwork, game play, and music come together perfectly to create a fantastic world that kept hooked. Though to be honest, It took me a bit to get going - it's not a type of game I have much experience with, and thus the first few battles took far longer than they should have. But then something clicked. There were definitely battles that gave me trouble later, but even when I was frustrated I was still enjoying every minute of it. The last battle took me an embarrassing number of attempts, with my difficulties being compounded by the lack of sleep. But I refused to be defeated!

    I'm looking forward to trying the various other modes, and perhaps replaying the story in co-op mode.

    Oh, and that soundtrack? Amazing. It was good when I was playing, but I was really focused on the game. Listening to the soundtrack later, and then watching someone else play, I was able to more fully appreciate how each song perfectly fit the theme of the stage. The music definitely enhances the hype. And this game is non-stop hype, right through the credits and that incredible end theme.

    In summary, I came for the sound track and stayed for... everything.    … Expand
  2. metaplus12
    Mar 24, 2020
    10
    A great addition to the arcade sports genre. It's reminiscent of sleeping over at a friends house and spending all night playing NBA Jam. Dunk Lords is sure to be an instant classic!

    -Tight controls
    -Great characters
    -Feels like a lived-in world
    -It seems like the developers really loved making the game
  3. btballenger
    Mar 19, 2020
    10
    What a JAM! That means the amazing music (funky, bright and filled with old-school game nostalgia) and what my strawberry-headed boy Frank is dropping on a giant CHEATER of a LOBSTER PIRATE.

    Dunk Lords is frenetic, fluid, and funny! You'll be shouting out the silly special attack lines (LET'S GET DIGITAL!) and getting hyped up with every dunk, and even if you think you're not a    What a JAM! That means the amazing music (funky, bright and filled with old-school game nostalgia) and what my strawberry-headed boy Frank is dropping on a giant CHEATER of a LOBSTER PIRATE.

    Dunk Lords is frenetic, fluid, and funny! You'll be shouting out the silly special attack lines (LET'S GET DIGITAL!) and getting hyped up with every dunk, and even if you think you're not a competitive person, it'll get you amped up.

    The story mode teaches you that every problem in life -- including buying your deeply indebted friends' freedom from gun-wielding aliens -- can be solved on the court. An absurd cast of robots, bears, ghosts and nerds just rolls with every increasingly zany scenario. The victories are satisfying, the defeats are motivating, the berries are juicing. In the immortal dorky words of Marlon (who looks like the ICEE mascot straight out of the 90s), "Oh man oh MAN OH MAAAN!"

    Matches are short and sweet, making this very easy to pick up any time. It's great fun with friends or an audience. And you don't need any sports/sports game knowledge to have a blast.

    If you like Space Jam, NBA Jam, bopping to some jams, strawberry jam, or maybe peach chutney, grab this.

    Jam. JAM!!!    … Expand
  4. loparpanda
    Mar 19, 2020
    10
    TLDR: basketball, bears, and bops! get it, don't regret it!

    Dunk Lords offers a really satisfying blend of arcade basketball and over-the-top shenanigans. If you prefer ballin' with a giant bear, an alien pirate with a ray gun, and an anthropomorphic strawberry, as opposed to a purely realistic basketball simulation, you won't be disappointed! I've spent most of my time single-player    TLDR: basketball, bears, and bops! get it, don't regret it!

    Dunk Lords offers a really satisfying blend of arcade basketball and over-the-top shenanigans. If you prefer ballin' with a giant bear, an alien pirate with a ray gun, and an anthropomorphic strawberry, as opposed to a purely realistic basketball simulation, you won't be disappointed!

    I've spent most of my time single-player in the story campaign (which also supports local co-op). I found the challenge level to be really good for me. I think I beat about half of the story stages on the first try (not necessarily the first 9 stages but more distributed throughout). The difficulty curve does ramp really fast, but I found there was a good balance between tilting at losses of certain stages and the payoff of figuring out how to outsmart different characters and ultimately prevailing. It really does give a triumphant sportsball feeling when you finally win a match. One match I lost pretty frustratingly 4 times in a row, then I DOMINATED and won by 40 points, and that was so worth it. That was the biggest turnaround, but there were many similar moments of triumph throughout the game. The story itself is just the right amount of ridiculous fighting-game improbable shenanigans that all the characters take for granted, ranging from alien pirates to the supernatural plane.

    The soundtrack by Laura Shigihara (Developer/Composer of Rakuen, Composer for Plants Vs. Zombies/many others) is a HUGE highlight. The tunes fit the themes of the courts really well. There are so many nice stylistic touches that are just super satisfying. If you blended up Mega Man boss themes, hip-hop, and of course a touch of PvZ to taste, then added someone who genuinely cares about the game and making it sound great, well, this soundtrack is an insert-great-sports-metaphor better than that. Most of the OST is instrumental, but make sure you play through the whole story, as the credits song at the end is epic and serves as a perfect reward at the end of the challenging story mode. Like all of Laura's soundtracks, I expected this one to be great, but this one really raises the bar and shows Laura's compositional range. I'll be playing these tracks a lot for motivation. A fantastic soundtrack that adds so much atmosphere to a great game.

    At initial release Dunk Lords is really solid, and I'm sure the few rough edges are going to be polished out pretty quickly. As far as improvement suggestions, I think there were a couple things unclear in the tutorial, where I had to go through it a second time to catch some of the nuances. Also, (and this may help with the first as well) I would love to just have a practice mode where I could try out moves without an enemy or other constraints (or with a stationary AI). Finally, the dunk slowdown cuts out the music temporarily, which made some of the awesome tracks harder to hear fluidly. I know the silence helps sells the time-stopping effect, so I'm not sure what could be done with that, but that's just a very minor issue I had.

    Overall a super fun game. I'm looking forward to trying co-op and competitive local multiplayer modes, as I think there's a lot more depth to the moves I could get out of it than just from the story mode. They really slam-dunked this field goal right out of the hockey park!    … Expand
  5. akira100
    Mar 19, 2020
    10
    This game is an absolute gem! With the big companies making basketball games designed to swipe your wallet, this indie NBA Jam (but amped up to 11) like game comes out and is a complete breath of fresh air.

    It's a total love letter to the golden era of 90's gaming and culture even - the music, the gameplay, the over-the-top hilarious and zany effects, the aggro silly one-liners -    This game is an absolute gem! With the big companies making basketball games designed to swipe your wallet, this indie NBA Jam (but amped up to 11) like game comes out and is a complete breath of fresh air.

    It's a total love letter to the golden era of 90's gaming and culture even - the music, the gameplay, the over-the-top hilarious and zany effects, the aggro silly one-liners - everything together brings back the entire old school blissful feel of that era while also feeling contemporary in its polish and quality. While playing the game you can easily tell that this was a labor of love - the gameplay mechanics feel 'just right', the pacing of the gameplay is perfect, the game is quite challenging but never cheap, and the story mode is varied enough with twists and turns that make it a very engaging experience. The characters are inventive and unique, the one liners are superb (I just love Marlon the bear's voice clips, especially when he goes Mega). I felt so much nostalgia and joy playing through the story mode - which even as a single player experience is worth the price of admission! - and the game really shines playing it with a buddy or in a group, bringing back the couch co-op fun and camaraderie of the old school era.

    The soundtrack deserves a huge shoutout - from the title song, a chill hip-hop groove filled with ear candy, to the absolute treat at the end credits that is so good I don't want to spoil it - it is all a really fantastic achievement. The blend of hip hop / jazz / 16-bit era tunes accompanying the courts keeps you grooving along, each song being melodically rich and memorable, perfectly accompanying the feel of each of the varied stages. There are too many goodies to list here, and on top of the great intro and credits themes, special shout outs to the miniboss court theme, boss court theme, rooftop court theme - alright there are truly too many to list, but each fit so well and at times I wanted to just stop the action and appreciate the music by itself.

    I can’t recommend this game enough.    … Expand
  6. metaplus12
    Mar 24, 2020
    10
    A great addition to the arcade sports genre. It's reminiscent of sleeping over at a friends house and spending all night playing NBA Jam. Dunk Lords is sure to be an instant classic!

    -Tight controls
    -Great characters
    -Feels like a lived-in world
    -It seems like the developers really loved making the game

Critic Reviews

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Critic score distribution:
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  1. Gaming Age
    Apr 15, 2020
    91
    While professional sports have been cancelled indefinitely, something like Dunk Lords arrived just in time to help with social distancing (I mean it doesn’t even have online play…although I hope they implement it at some point otherwise it might prevent the title from having serious legs). That said Dunk Lords is close to a total package for an arcade sports game. Great gameplay, fun gimmicks, colorful cast, I certainly look forward to a console port.
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