REVIEW - Knockout City Season 5 Is A Prelude To Future Evolution
Awww riiiight, lets go dowwwnn towwwwn.
By Jonathan Garrett
02/0/22
Reviewed on Xbox Series X.
Knockout City has been a consistently enjoyable surprise since its launch last year. It has a precision to its primary gameplay focus that ensures it never stretches itself too thin, whilst maintaining a steady stream of updates which keep the game modes and special events both varied and regularly rotated.
To summarise our review and our feelings post launch, it continues to be a barnstorming good time. KO Royale, Basketbrawl, Snowbrawl Fight, Superpowers; there have been a lot of interesting tweaks to the formula, and Season 5 (aptly subtitled "Greatest Hits") is all about revisiting those tangents, updating some whilst merely resurrecting others.
Superpowers+ now features visual cues for each ability, which sits nicely alongside other minor changes like the quality of life improvements to respawn transition time and spawn locations. The Sniper Ball is now slightly less effective, with reduced range and slightly slower speed, while the Soda Ball has an extended fuse and reduced visual distortion. They’re conservative but welcome adjustments.
However, despite the jolliness of returning to this madcap spin off, there is a sense that Season 5 is a tad slight. The impending switch to free to play in Season 6 has meant developer Velan Studios has made some concessions for this “Greatest Hits” event in terms of new content. There's no new map or special ball, and while Season 5 of League Play has kicked off as expected, the lack of a new Brawl Pass is particularly disappointing.
There might be some old classics and a few new bits rotating into the store and bundles, but the lack of premium progression with dedicated unlocks (especially after several seasons of winning Brawl Passes) has left Season 5’s opening gambit without a marquee addition. Furthermore, in an attempt to ensure new players don’t get the option of jumping in to the ranked League Play too quickly, a 10 regular games completed requirement has been added (which addresses the issue of folks using challenges and XP bonuses to gain access faster). This has unfortunately meant that seasoned players who’ve put in the hours now have to reunlock access to ranked action, which seems a bit odd.
I’m a huge fan of Knockout City’s blend of tight competitive play, banging soundtrack, and varied game modes. And despite the potential of the upcoming free to play transition in Season 6 (as well as the recently confirmed new Special Ball), Knockout City Season 5 remains a thoroughly reliable albeit overly familiar update.
They continue to absolutely nail this key art.
WORTH IT?
At the bottom of every game review, we ask the question: Worth it? And the answer is either “Yeah!” or “Nah”, followed by a comment that sums up how we feel. In order to provide more information, we also have “And” or “But”, which follows up our rating with further clarification, additional context for a game we love, or perhaps a redeeming quality for a game we didn’t like.
YEAH!
Knockout City has remained consistently enjoyable with a dedicated following.
BUT
The lack of new content this Season may be a bit disappointing for veteran players.
TARPS?
At the bottom of some of our articles, you’ll see a series of absurd looking images (with equally stupid, in joke laden names). These are the TARP badges, which represent our ‘Totally Accurate Rating Platform’. They allow us to identify specific things, recognise positive or negative aspects of a games design, and generally indulge our consistent silliness with some visual tomfoolery.
