Kabounce review code provided by publisher.
Created by Stitch Heads Entertainment, Kabounce is an eSports-style multiplayer game that mixes pinball with the frantic action of Rocket League. Playing as a pinball, gameplay involves trying to rack up as many points as possible by capturing bumpers and banking them at the goal to add to your team’s tally.
Featuring up to eight players online (four can be via split-screen from one console), Kabounce matches are fast and furious as you whizz around the areas attempting to out-point your opponent.
Kabounce Review: Action-packed competitive gaming
There are three modes currently available - Quick Match, Challenges and Custom, with Ranked Matches launching in late June. The bread and butter mode is Quick Match, in which two teams of four smash and dash through bumpers, flippers and hoops to capture points, increasing the score multiplier and then banking points whenever the goal opens at certain points in the game.
The real fun comes from adopting different strategies to not only rack up the points, but steal them from your opponent by capturing opponent bumpers, slamming them or electrocuting them for points.
In the Kabounce arenas, your pinball has different abilities, including the ‘slam’, which is used to hit other players and jump to other bumpers if you want a quick getaway. During a match, the enemy team can slam you, which makes you lose some of your points and shifts them across to your opponent, so this move comes in very handy!
Kabounce Review: Rinse the PC ‘master class”
Kabounce also supports cross-play between PC and PlayStation 4 allowing for fast match-ups. Due to how the games' targeting system works for abilities, it does not feel like mouse and keyboard have any sort of advantage over controller users.
When using the slam ability, you have a decent-sized target range which means you do not need precise movement to target opponents – also the game does feature a lock on system.
Other abilities include the speed bounce, which allows you to teleport to several different bumpers in a row, and an electrical move which you can apply to a bumper, which shocks the other team’s pinball if they hit it.
One of our favorite features is the ability to see the top player's score on the other team at all times. This means that you can target them specifically to steal their points, but also means that the chasing pack will often come after you, which leads to some adrenaline-fuelled getaways!
Kabounce currently has five different maps, offering various layouts that require adapting your strategy. Though we'd definitely like to see more maps, it's a good start as each layout gives you ample opportunity to easily put together 40-50 combos, which is incredibly satisfying.
Kabounce also includes a loot box-style system, named loot-balls. You can earn these in multiple different ways, from either ranking up or by completing challenges; you can even earn a few of them from doing the training missions.
From what we were told, there are no plans in the future to sell loot-balls for real life money, they can only be earned in game. You can customise your ball using these cosmetic items, but they have no stats linked to them, so if you want to be a hedgehog with a unicorn horn then the game will not punish or reward you for your choices.
The various challenges in the game are a great way to hone your skills, and earn extra rewards. Kabounce has 19 challenge stages, each one getting a lot tougher than the last to push your skills further.
Kabounce Review Summary
Overall, Kabounce is great fun to play, and matches are fun, fast-paced and have a layer of depth that should keep competitive gamers happy. The futuristic-style graphics, lovely lighting effects and top-notch soundtrack also add to its appeal. There's also plenty of content to get stuck into at launch with future content also in the planning!