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There was an enormous NBA Jam-sized gap in my coronary heart for fairly a very long time now. EA Sports activities managed to attain perfection with NBA Jam: On Fireplace Version again in 2011, and at any time when EA does factor, it’s often a mistake, and so they rapidly bury it underneath the crawlspace with all the opposite proficient builders. So, till the police handle to get a warrant and dig up all these our bodies, I’ve been looking out for a sport that captures the identical razzle-dazzle.

Jollypunch’s RoboDunk appears to be constructed solely on the identical philosophy. Right here now we have two-on-two basketball the place the dunk is king. Every workforce is comprised solely of Lego-like robots, and so they’re out to show that their abilities pay the payments. I’ve had my eye on it for some time now, and with Steam Subsequent Fest in swing as soon as once more, I lastly was in a position to get my arms on it.

Nipple armaments

To start out off in RoboDunk, you’re given an allotment of cash to purchase workforce members and a few upgrades that present up in random rotation at the beginning of and through matches. The workforce members have their very own strengths and weaknesses, most significantly when it comes with their offensive assaults.

There is no such thing as a actual capturing in RoboDunk. On this home, we worship solely the wonderful dunk. Nonetheless, there are added technique to dunking. Not solely do it’s a must to time your button presses appropriately, however you additionally should cost your dunk earlier than launching into the air. The extra you handle to fill the meter, the extra factors you’ll rating on a profitable draining. In single-player, you’ll be able to sign to your teammate to go in for an alley-oop, however I hardly ever noticed them going full cost with it.

On the court docket, you’ll be able to throw up shields to dam and ship out munitions to assault. You can even cost into your opponents to nudge the ball free and ship them to the floorboards. Regardless of the shortage of throws, it really feels rather a lot like NBA Jam to the purpose the place I used to be always making an attempt to press a turbo button that doesn’t exist.

Shut up and dunk

The sport makes use of a semi-rogue-like framework that has you progressing by means of a sequence of matches, making an attempt to not lose. Profitable one lands you an improve that your bot will keep all through your playthrough.

Whereas this works as a framework, the draw back of it’s that it provides to RoboDunk’s void of persona. There are a number of advantages by way of utilizing robots right here, and the toy aesthetic provides a layer of visible pizzazz, however it feels nearly essential to make up for the truth that a number of the design is slightly sterile.

Except for selecting your robots, there’s a dearth of personalization relating to creating your groups. As such, the robots are all forgettable and interchangeable. It’s laborious to root to your personal workforce when the gamers don’t have any worth or identification past what kind of rocket they shoot from their nipples. It’s laborious to get excited in regards to the violence when it’s being carried out by Roombas manufactured from Lego bricks. There’s additionally no viewers, so that you don’t even get a really feel for the significance of those video games. Battling Tops does a greater job of lending persona to its combatants.

Robotic

Likewise, I noticed after a couple of video games that the backgrounds are completely different however equally interchangeable. As soon as once more, these basketball courts aren’t anchored in actuality. It might have given toy-like courts that exist with kitchen desk backdrops or robotic stadiums with dumb advertisements bordering the courts, however as a substitute, they’re simply girders and sand and columns.

I did have a fairly good time with the RoboDunk demo, however my mind actually had nothing to chew on afterward. It’s an honest facsimile of video games like NBA Jam and Nekketsu Avenue Basket by way of gameplay, however falls quick in persona. It’s price making an attempt the demo out, and since no launch date has actually been introduced past “this 12 months,” the shortcomings I got here throughout might nonetheless be addressed. As it’s, nonetheless, it’s a bit wanting a slam dunk.

You may take a look at the demo for Robodunk proper now as a part of Steam Subsequent Fest.