GDC '08: Rocketball Hands-On

SAN FRANCISCO--Microsoft's XNA development tools are giving rise to a slew of interesting games from up-and-coming developers. To further increase interest in these tools and the resulting games, Microsoft is making demos for several of these titles available for download for a limited time. One of these games, Rocketball, makes the following disclaimer: "Game experience may change while playing on the couch with friends." Nevertheless, even those with the most foul-mouthed buddies will probably want to keep an eye on this upcoming 2D dodgeball title.

The demo allows up to four players to compete, two versus two, though the artificial intelligence does a somewhat apt job of filling in the empty positions. The setup is pretty simple: Press the A button to pick up a ball and to throw it; hit X to catch an oncoming ball (or deflect it if you are already holding one); and use the triggers to dodge. You don't get to roam free, however, since you are stuck on your own side of the court, and there are only two rows you can occupy. So while you can move back and forth on your side of the court freely, you have only two lanes in which you can do it.

The demo includes two courts: a cemetery and a suburban intersection. The gameplay remained the same on both, though there are some twists worth noting. Firstly, the game is to include several power-ups. The only one that appeared in the demo was the titular rocket. This power-up causes extra damage, and once a player's health bar is depleted, he's knocked out. A downed player is never out for the count, though. Should you get knocked out, you can revive yourself with a contextual series of button presses that appears next to an orange slice in the interface.

There's not a lot to Rocketball's gameplay, so it seems its key to success is in the power-ups and selection of courts available. We look forward to seeing what's in store for this promising game, and we'll bring you further updates, and a finalized release date, as they become available.