Sportsfriends review - (PS3)

Sportsfriends is an independent game released for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3, and will come to PC and Mac via Steam. The game features five different minigames, each created by a different developer, but all with the focus on local multiplayer.

Check out the full review of the game on PS3 version.

Rescuing the local multiplayer

Sportsfriends was created by four independent developers, each responsible for one of the minigames in the game. In common among them was the desire to rescue the local multiplayer games, that is, all the people playing together in a single device without connecting to the Internet.

This was something quite common in past generations of video games such as Super Nintendo / Mega Drive and Nintendo 64/PlayStation where friends met and spent afternoons playing together. Today, unfortunately most games have only playable online multiplayer modes.

Each of the Sportsfriends minigames toured the world before joining the collection. Some of them even won awards from festivals games for their innovations. Developers, united by their passion for local multiplayer, got together and created a design that called for funding by Kickstarter, a website that is a kind of virtual kitty where anyone can contribute an idea. Over 4000 users eventually contributed to the project, leading to reach the milestone of $ 150 000 (about 334 thousand dollars) required.

Minigames

Sportsfriends offers players four different minigames (plus one hidden): Barabariball, Super Pole Riders, Johann Sebastian Joust, and Hokra. The fifth game, Get on Top, is a bonus, and can be accessed through the main menu by running the following sequence of buttons: Up, Right, Down, Left, Up, Right, Down, Left, X. In it, two players move their analog sticks trying to make the other lean his head on the floor.

In Barabariball each team must throw the ball in the opponent's area. Each player has seven jumps that can be performed in sequence to achieve greater heights. When the ground these jumps are recovered automatically. Win the team scoring first set amount of goals. 2 or 4 players are required.

Already in Super Pole Riders is designed to bring the ball to the target opponent. This ball is caught in a wire, and can only be achieved by performing jumps with stick. Can also be played by 2 or 4 players. Hokra minigame in which alone requires at least 4 players, the goal is to let the "ball" (or square pixel in reality) a certain time the penalty box until the background color is all filled. This game also allows the player to build new arenas.

Johann Sebastian joust is a game that has no images, and should preferably be played with a PlayStation Move (can be played only with Dual Shock 3 or 4, but is less precise). The goal is to make friends chacoalhem Move while music is slow at the same time it tries to move its accessory as little as possible. When music is fast you can move with greater speed, is to reach out to friends or try to distance.

Fun (only) with friends

By its focus on multiplayer mode, Sportsfriends minigames can only be played by more than one person, ie, no singleplayer mode. Furthermore, gambling is all location without the possibility of playing onlines games. This could be considered bad, but as the game raises the flag "anti monopoly of online games," is a point in favor of not going against the discourse of the creators.

Despite this requirement, Sportsfriends is very fun, especially with matches between four players. Each minigame has some feature that makes it unique. For example, Super Pole Riders in the ability to launch (and also lay friends) over long distances is nice, especially when the "landing" could be a mortal blow against an opponent. In Barabariball, each team needs to create strategies to get points, but the game will end by time and not by the score.

Fun vs charts

All games of Sportsfriends has extremely simple graphics. During testing with friends, some even joked that we were running an Atari emulator on the PS3. Nevertheless, the controls are very well calibrated, making it easy to play each minigame, allowing new players to play with veterans without frustrate.

Each minigame has several configuration options, for example, the duration of the match will lead to or what someone is sagre winner. Developers also were careful to include a tutorial on how to play each minigame, making it easier for gamers. Sportsfriends also has a screen with the name of all the users who helped fund the project, registering these names in the history of the game.

Conclusion

Sportsfriends is an extremely fun game, and gives a clear shot at search redeem with local multiplayer matches. All minigames are simple and easy to play, ideal for fun among friends. Unfortunately, the amount of games is small - only five - leaving the player with a taste of "I want more".