the game is insanely fun. i grew to love the game and started longing for longer, more complex matches. i wanted more and thats a good thing. this was a lot of fun to play.
just a sad part is that pretty much the only way to score in some of the matches is with a spin. random mistakes and being able to outplay your opponent should also be an option. this makes the game harder than it has to be as you need to hit a spinnball to win. every other hit is just prolonging the match and giving opportunities to slip up. i would have loved more options for those fights. the offenders for this are the , im pretty sure, twins, radar and momoko. there is potential for being able to do more than just spinnballs. sheriff also suffers from this as he makes no mistakes. the only way to score is with one specific action. for him its more excusable as he at least has a unique scoring mechanic, but it is still very restrictive.
kip was easy to beat. he is a great first opponent. he isnt too hard and easy to beat. all you need to do is outplay him. no spinnballs needed. he is so easy that you can train on him, trying to hit spinnballs (i couldnt lol).
the twins are a match that i hated. you are doing a 1v2 with a obstacle on the left corner of the field. it is impossible to score with anything other than a spinnball. you also need to use the spinnball to the left, as the right twin will often be able to return them. they are an incredibly hard match for the second (third if you count dad) match as you need to hit 5 spinnballs at least, without missing more than 4. i couldnt even get one against kip. this took multiple tries and finding a somewhat consistent setup, like what i did with momoko. forced spinnballs at the start of the game, when you will be inconsistent at doing them incentivizes finding a setup, rather than winning normally.
hector is a lot more fun to face. his mechanic seems tough at first, but it was the easiest match by far. i only lost one round and mopped the floor with him in a short time. i actually think things should have gotten harder. not just one extra ball, but another extra added for every loss. basically making you have to hit 5 balls in the final round to get through. it would turn into a survival match of trying to not let any ball through and hoping that hector makes a mistake quick. it would still probably be a quick match and easy, but hector would feel a lot more like a lord. i kinda feel like i curbstomped a toddler with a neat trick that scores him one round, not a pickleball lord.
momoko on the other hand is insanely hard. as such a good setup to beat momoko:
hit the ball to the right, then move to the middle. a clone will hit it back straight and turn into a log. dashing from the middle will spinn the ball. return to the middle and repeat, as the log will bounce the ball back once before you win. this setup is consistant and will secure you the win, if you can get the timing down. i dont like to rely on such pattern executions to win, but nothing but a spinnball works and they are hard to do on the fly.
radar was a great miniboss. i started the game trying to fight him, but got mopped. the only way to score is with spinnballs, but after momoko i had gotten good at timing them and made quick work of him. his portal mechanic is fun to deal with, yet intimidating at the start. sometimes he doesnt use the portals which i kinda dont like. i like him being a check of reaction time. very fun fight. maybe he could have used portals defensively during the final rounds, or we could have been able to use portals. the mechanic could have been used to a bigger extent, but it was fun nonetheless.
the sheriff was an amazing lord. his fight is very unique. it is(to my knowledge, i never hit a spinnball so im not sure) impossible to score against him in a normal way. you need to hit him with the ball. he also sends the ball all over the place making it a stressful match. you need to keep up with the pressure he puts down while keeping track of his position and hitting him accurately. this was loads of fun. sometimes it was easy, other times he had me on the ropes, dashing around the field not being able to focus on hitting him. this was also the first time i hit a "out" shot. i didnt even know it was possible. thats how hard he pushed. yet in the end it was a fair fight and a winnable match.
i also loved the past area. it was a unique setting and was a fun place to be. there wasnt much, but there was enough to enjoy the area.
the champion, oh boy the champion. i love the atmosphere. he is insanely hard to beat. he returns all balls, even spinnballs. the only way to score is to return his chargeball. this is very fun. then he does something that no opponent has ever done. after 3 wins he will shoot a spinnball. like WHAT. i was not prepared to deal with those. i like that he uses them. they are incredibly hard to return, making it fitting for the champion match. turns out after restarting he can do those all the time, even in the first set. but then disaster struck. the game bugged out. i was locked to the right field, as if i hadnt served. i of course lost and then i couldnt even get back to the field as an invisible wall was blocking the entire path. this is incredibly sad. i put all this effort in and it bugs out. thankfully the game saves, but it is still annoying. every restart makes you run over from your house. it turns the final battle into a bit of an annoyance. also fun fact, on 4 wins he will launch three chargeballs, not one. it is increadibly hard to react to the first time and will almost guarantee a lost point. a bit unfair, but hey, its the champion. it also makes for a satisfactory ending, returning those shots for the win.
now a few complaints i had:
the order i tried to play in: radar(loss), momoko(cheesed victory), twins(hard fought victory), hector(curbstomped him), radar(easy, fun match), sheriff(tough but fair match)
i think the game would have been more fun with a set order of: hector, twins momoko, radar, sheriff to teach you how to play the game. i pretty much tried the game in reverse order of difficulty and had a hard time because of it. it would have been a lot more fun to learn with increasing difficulty, rather than being allowed to jump into the deep end of the pool. while the game guides you to the gym, the coins took me a bit to figure out and it guides you into the twins, which are a hard match so its not great.
also do you play with z,x keybinds? it hurts my hands. idk what kind of keyboard you use, but it is painful on a qwerty keyboard and hard to use. i keep hitting the wrong key and mistiming as i cant really use these keybinds.
all in all i loved this game. it was a fun experience. there is potential for more, but it has got to be on the level of Duel-it. it is an amazing game and dare i say a masterpiece. the characters expressions are amazing and the dialogue is very funny. i love the face our character makes when we are speechless. its such a nice touch to have all these funny expressions. it was just so much fun to play.
also before i forget. you set up dads gun like a chekhovs gun and are fully aware of that, yet it never fires. unless i missed something, which is possible in your games as you like to have hidden elements that arent needed to progress and need to be sought out to find, this was just another prank.