Videoball – PAX East 2016 Hand-On Preview

<p>From <a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;actionbutton&period;com&sol;"><strong>Action Button<&sol;strong><&sol;a> and <a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;irongalaxystudios&period;com&sol;"><strong>Iron Galaxy Studios<&sol;strong> <&sol;a>comes another contender in the blossoming &&num;8220&semi;alt-sports&&num;8221&semi; genre&comma; <em>Videoball&period; <&sol;em>The game follows <em>Rocket League<&sol;em>&&num;8216&semi;s formula of asking players to perform an uncomplicated task &lpar;put the ball in the end zone&rpar; by unconventional means that could only exist in a video game&period; While visually much simpler than <em>Rocket League<&sol;em>&comma; <em>Videoball<&sol;em> borrows concepts from hockey&comma; football and basketball&comma; instead of just one single sport&period; &&num;8220&semi;Why does NBA Jam even have to look like basketball&quest;&&num;8221&semi; asks Lead Developer Tim Rogers&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;105304" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-105304" style&equals;"width&colon; 1024px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"wp-image-105304 size-large" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;04&sol;03185155&sol;screen03-1024x576&period;png" alt&equals;"videoball - bagogames" width&equals;"1024" height&equals;"576" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-105304" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Videoball &sol; Action Studios &amp&semi; Iron Galaxy Studios<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In <em>Videoball<&sol;em>&comma; you control a triangle from a top-down perspective&period; While the basic map resembles a football field&comma; there are currently over 30 different maps&comma; varying in size and shape&period; The objective is to simply put the ball in the opposing team&&num;8217&semi;s end zone by shooting at it&period; As your projectiles are triangles themselves&comma; skilled players can use them to angle shots and bank off walls&period; You can also shoot your opponents&comma; which destroys them and causes them to respawn after a brief moment&period; That last major dynamic of the game that allows for another level of strategy is that by holding down the fire button&comma; shots can be charged up to three different power levels&comma; making them stronger&period; By holding down the fire button past the 3rd charge level&comma; you created a large&comma; solid block&period; The block can then be moved and placed around the map for the purpose of blocking an area&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"p1"><span class&equals;"s1">Frustrated by a lack of modern sports arcade titles&comma; the 4-person development studio&comma; Action Button Entertainment have attempted to create a type of game more akin to pool or ping-pong than your average&comma; narrative-filled video game&period;  &&num;8220&semi;The characters in Videoball are the players&comma; the game itself is just the play space&comma;&&num;8221&semi; says Rogers&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><iframe src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;youtube&period;com&sol;embed&sol;9IR67E2bSZY" width&equals;"560" height&equals;"315" frameborder&equals;"0" allowfullscreen&equals;"allowfullscreen"><&sol;iframe><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Games can range from 1v1 to 3v3 and various rules&comma; such as goal size&comma; number of balls&comma; time&comma; final score&comma; barriers&comma; and different points for varying shots &lpar;3 points for distance shots&comma; for example&rpar; can all be tweaked by players&period; The final game&comma; which should be available for a &&num;8220&semi;very low price&comma;&&num;8221&semi; will also include ranked modes and leaderboards&period; All modes will be playable online&comma; but of course I was only able to play locally during the show&period;<em> Videoball<&sol;em> is very easy to grasp&comma; but provides players with enough nuanced abilities to create the dynamic situations that make arcade sport games great&period; Look for it late this August on Steam&comma; Xbox One and PlayStation 4&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;