Definatley a renter.

Author's Rating:

Pros: Simple fun.

Cons: It gets more complicated than fun.

The Bottom Line: 
Rent it before buying.

Author's Review
This is one of those titles that I can not recommend for or against. When I got my new Gameboy Advance I was hungry for any game that came my way. Since there were few to choose from, I was hoping something I had never seen before would come along.

When I read about Dodgeball on Amazon.com I got excited. It is truly a Japanese idea to make a professional sport out of Dodgeball and set it in the future. The idea was so silly that I bought the game without trying it out before buying.

What I got in the mail a few days later was a game with great graphics and fast action.

I particularly found the Japanese anime style characters to be fun, refreshing and a tad on the generic side. I was disappointed by the team captain. She seemed to be missing part of her cute face. However, in the action part of this game, it looked fluid and smooth. I could see the ball coming my way and defend my guys most of the time. I liked how there were many countries to play against, but I found it difficult to tell what was going on during one level where the ground looked like a chain linked fence or something.

I also found it fun to be strategic about the formation of your team and how you can adjust the statistics of your guys. While I found this fun, I did not notice any difference when adjusting the statistics of my team members. On the flip side, changing formations can win a game against a good computer team.

As the initial novelty wore thin and I beat the game in easy mode I started to become increasing bored with Dodgeball. There were computer teams in the more difficult modes that I could not easily beat because I did not know how to execute the complex "super" moves.

I have never been a fan of games where you have to remember button pushing patterns to complete power moves. Games like Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter come into my mind as examples of this. If you like games like this then perhaps you will enjoy Dodgeball.

This is a great button masher and a super value for those who like multi-button mashing moves memorization.

If you like this game, you will love Mario Tennis even more. If you like Mario Tennis, you might have a fleeting interest in this game.

Not a bad game at all, but not my style.