To be honest, I have more good things to say about this game than I can fit in 2000 characters, so I'll keep the technical aspects brief and focus on what makes it so good in general. In short, this game is a Paper Mario/Pokemon overworld with a zany, OK KO/World of Gumball/Jet Set Radio coat of paint and the turn-based combat replaced with realtime dodgeball matches that people fondly compare to casual console sports/party games, which I personally have no experience with. What impressed me though is how much depth the devs managed to fit into the concept of video game dodgeball where two teams fling X number of balls back and forth, and the combat rewards planning as much as reflexes and timing in terms of which party members you bring to a match and how you equip them. In addition to stats, all of your party members have their own timed attack counter, charged "focus" ability and super move, and while I definitely had favourites I had a good time playing with them all. My main criticism of the combat is that while you can retry most fights as much as you want, if you were caught unhealed or want to change your party composition after a loss you have to reload an autosave which can frustratingly lose you several minutes of progress. Although the story will be familiar to anyone who's played a Japanese game or watched anime after the year 2000 (plucky underdog kid wants to be the best, wohoo!), there was more than enough humour, character and optimism in the writing to keep me invested, and every character down to the minor antagonists bleeds charm and creativity. That said, the map does feel small and the admittedly linear campaign short (at about six hours for me) compared to its inspirations, although from an indie studio that's easy to forgive. Offering genuinely fun combat, fair challenge and a really loveable cast and story, Dodgeball Academia was a simple but absolutely joyful gaming experience that deserves gamers' attention and, I hope, a sequel.
