Pirates Vs. Ninjas Dodgeball Review for Nintendo Wii

System: X360, Wii	Review Rating Legend
Dev: Blazing Lizard	1.0 - 1.9 = Avoid	4.0 - 4.4 = Great
Pub: SouthPeak Games	2.0 - 2.4 = Poor	4.5 - 4.9 = Must Buy
Release: May 13, 2009	2.5 - 2.9 = Average	5.0 = The Best
Players: 1-2	3.0 - 3.4 = Fair
ESRB Rating: Everyone 10+	3.5 - 3.9 = Good

When playing solo, you have but a very small selection of options. There's the Exhibition mode, which offers two different types of gameplay - Dodge Brawl and Dodgeball - but after running each mode through its paces, we found no discernable differences between the two. There is also, of course, the story mode, and finally a challenge mode. The Challenge mode is merely more of the same with specific match rules ranging from "no melee attacks," "defeat all enemies solo," etc.

Pirates Vs. Ninjas Dodgeball screenshot

In addition to the single-player options, you can choose to challenge a friend locally. You can expect the gameplay here to be exactly the same as what's offered in the Exhibition mode, and if you didn't take to playing solo, chances are you won't find the multiplayer to be any more entertaining. The gameplay is clumsy, unbalanced, and repetitious. Little thought appears to have gone into the construction of stages or the elements therein. Additionally, there is no online interactivity whatsoever.

If the story is trite and the gameplay is a bust, the visuals in Pirates vs. Ninjas Dodgeball is the icing on this bitter tart. Barely a step above the fidelity of an N64 title, the look of this game is, quite simply, poor. The character design and style are fitting for what the developers seem to be going for, but in execution, the game is a mess of bland and blocky textures that come together to make featureless and boring stages. The aural complements are almost equally unremarkable, and there's really little reason to invest your time and money into this game; the publishers don't appear to have invested much of their own efforts into it, and you shouldn't either.

When all is said and done, it seems the battle will rage on between the pirate and ninja camps. As for Pirates vs. Ninjas Dodgeball, no one comes out a winner with this game. Were it a $10 WiiWare title, we'd still have to give it a thumbs down. There's almost no focus, there's little reward for your time and money, and the production exhibits an extreme lack of care. To add insult to injury, the game is being sold as a $30 retail product, and well, that's just not an investment anyone deserves to lose on.

By Tony Capri
CCC Freelance Writer

RATING OUT OF 5

RATING DESCRIPTION

2.4

Graphics
The character models are decent; everything else, not so much. Stages look haphazardly slapped together, and the game, overall, has no personality or charm.

3.7

Control
Controls work fine, though mapping the attack/throw to a waggle wouldn't have been our first choice.

2.5

Music / Sound FX / Voice Acting
There is music, and there are sound effects. Is any of it memorable? Hardly.

1.5

Play Value
Pick up the ball; hit someone with the ball; repeat ad nauseum.

1.9

Overall Rating - Avoid
Not an average. See Rating legend above for a final score breakdown.

Game Features:

Battle across eight visually breathtaking arenas that allow for teams to roam freely instead of being restricted to sides of a court

Full single-player story mode that offer over 10 hours of intense single-player gameplay.

Seven teams to choose from Pirates, Ninjas, Zombies, Robots, Aliens, Monsters, and Mushroom Men.