Have Game, Will Play: SportsFriends on PS4

Sportfriends is a compilation of 4 different games: Johann Sebastion Joust, Hokra, Super Pole Riders and BaraBariBall.

BaraBariBall involes 2-4 players where the objective is to get the ball and submerge it into the oppsoing teams side of the water. The tools at your disposal are the ability to attack and jump many consecutive times. The small circles rotating around the characters correspond directly to how many jumps you have left. Landing on the platforms recharges the jumps. Recovering the ball from the water is your last line of defense and if you don’t jump out you die.

Super Pole Riders can be played with 2-4 people and the goal is to kick or push a ball tethered to a horizontal line to the goals on either side of the arena. The left analog stick controls your player and the right the pole. You do not have the ability to jump so you must use the pole to vault up and kick the ball or you can move the ball with the pole. Pole vaulting and kicking your opponents knocks them out of the game for a few seconds which can open up opportunities to score.

The least graphically intensive game, Hokra, is hardly at a disadvantage for delivering a fun experience. Four players pick a small colored square and must gain control of a small dot while standing in an area of a similar color. While you stand in your area it begins to fill in and when that is complete you win. That progress can be interrupted by the opposing team touching you and taking the dot or any condition by which the dot leaves the area. I’ll admit that does not sound very exciting but it is a lot of fun. Players can use their own controller or share a DS3/DS4. Movement is done with the analog while the boost and pass buttons are on L1/R1 and L2R2 respectively(I think).

Johann Sebastian(JS) Joust is a last person standing game for 2-4 players using any combination of the DS4 and Playstation Move controllers. You want all the other players to move their controllers fast enough to make the LEDs on them turn red; that means they’re out. The speed that you can move, safely, is dictated by the music. The faster the music, the more you can move without triggering the red light. Slow music works in a similar fashion. I should also add that this game can be played without looking at a display.

Sportsfriends is a collection of some very enjoyable multiplayer games. That also means that its greatest strength could also a weakness. There is no single player content. Sportsfriends is something that I can see myself playing from time to time with my immediate family. However I most look forward to subjecting guests to its brand of multiplayer madness.

Recommendation*: Worth a buy – if you realize it is multiplayer only
Full Disclosure: This game was provided to GameEnthus by the developer.
Genre: multiplayer game compilation
Developer: Die Gute Fabrik, Bennet Foddy, Ramiro Corbetta, Douglas Wilson, Noah Sasso
Publisher: Die Gute Fabrik
Platforms: PS4, PS3, PC, Mac, Linux
Price: $14.99

http://sportsfriendsgame.com/
http://GameEnthus.com
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/gameenthus-podcast-video-games/id286435007?mt=2

Scale:*
Worth a buy – paying full price for fans of the series or genre makes sense – often includes a caveat
Worth a buy on sale – not quite full price worthy but close, – often includes a caveat
Rent – rent before buying
No – borrow it if you must play it
Please no – Don’t waste any time and/or money on it

 

 

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