Beastieball

I had a friend go on and on about Beastieball to the point where I did not want to play the game as I was sick of hearing him talk about it. I eventually relented and downloaded the demo and then about an hour later, I had the full game. This is a fantastic RPG, truly one of the best that I have played in the last year! To say that I was hooked is a massive understatement. Now, as I write this the game is technically still in early access so they are still doing some fine-tuning and adding stuff, but this already is an incredible experience.

You Wanna Be The Best

There are some very blatant parallels with the Pokémon games here, but I am not complaining about that at all! We play as a young Beastieball coach which is basically volleyball, but with creatures that are known as beasties and we need to find and train them so that we can defeat the other eight coaches in the land to try and make our way to the Crown Series where we can show people what an amazing coach we are. This is fun stuff and you do not have to be into sports to appreciate the story here at all! There is more stuff than just the volleyball aspect too, there are some fun twists, turns, and developments that happen as the story progresses.

Best Beasities

The whole beastie aspect of Beastieball is a lot of fun and something anyone who has played stuff like the OG Pokémon Red or the recent Pokémon Scarlet will appreciate. Each beastie has its own stats and abilities that make them unique as well as their own adorable design. The kicker here is that you need to have a team to play the game and certain beasties can build various bonds, it can be a bond based on friendship or even a rivalry, but no matter what, if they bond, they will be able to unleash special attacks. I loved this aspect of the game and could easily see them having some beastie merch at some point!

Getting Ready For The Big Game!

I had a lot of fun with Beastieball and the actual gameplay is awesome. You explore the land and you are free to tackle the 8 boss coaches in any order you want, the twist here is that they get progressively harder, no matter the order you play them in. You have two beasties on the court and then three on the sidelines and the volleyball plays out like a turn based RPG battle. You have three moves that you can make before you smash the ball over the net for your attack. When the opposing team has the ball, you get to make some defensive moves to try and lessen the damage. A match is over when you have either knocked out your opponents or when you get a certain amount of points. As you progress through the game, you will be able to add more beasties to your roster.

Now That Is Some Style With The Substance

The Pokémon Games, Digimon Games, and Yo Kai Watch games are known for their cute and interesting characters and Beastieball fits in with all of those franchises. These beasties are very varied in their design and it is so adorable how they run behind you as you head from place to place. The game has a very cartoon, I would say Cartoon Network look to it, think of a show like Steven Universe and you will have an idea of what I am thinking here. The whole game has a ton of personality and there is enough diversity to the locations and other coaches and of course, the beasties, that you never feel like you are just looking at the same thing over and over again as you progress through the game.

Pros:

• I got a kick out of the story being told here
• The beasties have such fun, cool, cute, and even badass designs
• The turn based gameplay is fun and just the perfect amount of challenge
• This game looks awesome, it has so much style and personality!

Cons:

• As I write this, the game is still in early access
• I really hope that this takes off and becomes a thing!