A recent adventure in Knockout City reminded me that the actual playground game of dodgeball rules. Dodgeball is the equivalent of a standoff in the Wild West, where you wait for your opponent to come out with full adrenaline and (hopefully) catch what he throws at you.

This is part of the reason why Knockout City is so outstanding. Having walked the hallowed ground of the elementary school blacktop myself, I can feel the rubber scratches deform my face as my little dodgeblower was gutted by a supersonic sphere. I experienced it. The same cannot be said, thankfully, about being shot and blown up thousands of times in Call of Duty.

But schoolyard nostalgia isn't the only reason I've been obsessed with "Knockout City" these past few days (my friends are no doubt sick of me touting it). Underneath the cartoonish exterior is an elaborate combat language with multiple ball types, throws, fakeouts, and team tactics. Nor is the game tied to a chalked rectangle with a line drawn down the middle; Knockout City has the skeleton of a team-based shooter, with large arena-style maps, a deathmatch mode, and mountains of cover, but its action is more shooter more akin to Chivalry's medieval combat than a game.

Every throw automatically locks onto the target, so the only option to avoid bonking is to catch or dodge at the right time. If you catch the ball, you can send it back even faster, and this catch-and-throw dynamic continues indefinitely as the ball speeds up. When the ball reaches its maximum speed, it flies so fast that the player must start catching the ball before the opponent throws it. These prolonged confrontations create a dramatic moment that stands out in any game and gets my blood pumping, whether I am in the middle of a match or watching.

It gets even more interesting when you throw Knockout City's trick shots into the mix. Like a baseball pitcher, players can vary their regular fastball with flips and spins, creating high lob throws that reach overhead targets or wide curves that bend the entire building to reach targets on the other side.

There are many ways to use these techniques: far, close, slow, fast, fake, pass, etc., but nothing is more satisfying than turning the ball full circle 30 meters around a corner and watching it beat up an opponent who is preoccupied with what is in front of him. Hundreds of KOs later, that excitement still hasn't died down.

Special ball types add further flavor to the standard 3-on-3 team deathmatch mode. Bomb balls, multiballs, and low-gravity balls are set up at the center point of the map and can be fought for by teams (the power weapon trick from "Halo" is perfectly replicated here). There is also an unusual cage ball, which, upon impact, traps the player inside the ball, which can be picked up by the enemy and used as a weapon (or easily KO'd by tossing it off the map). The most deadly is the sniper ball, an American football with laser sights that fires so fast that actually catching it feels like cheating death.

Besides, any player can curl up into a ball and become a weapon for his teammates. Ball form is the perfect savior when there is nothing around, and an instant KO if hit, but it comes with definite risks. While in ball form, it is helpless, and if caught by the enemy, it will remain trapped for several seconds. Long enough to be thrown back as a weapon against your own team or tossed off the edge of the map like garbage (ouch).

It would be criminal to talk about Knockout City's controls without mentioning the sound design. Inconsistency and lack of various sound feedback can hinder what otherwise feels like a great game (Biomutant's clunky combat comes to mind). Each and every important action in the game has its own unique sound: the catch, the dodge, the pass, the tackle, the slow ball, the fast ball, the curve, the lob, and every special ball in between. And all the sounds that need to be heard, such as the subtle sound of a ball coming toward you or the thud of someone catching the ball behind you, always penetrate the soundscape of music, announcer's barks, and shouts.

Other than juggernauts like CS:GO and Valorant, I can't think of another PvP game where sound effects are so carefully considered. As a test, I played the game with my eyes closed for a few minutes and still managed to time my catches perfectly and even scored a few hits. In addition to the tactical features, the sound is also delightfully expressive. Special kudos to whoever recorded the one and only bong sound of a red rubber ball breaking on your face. For us youth dodgeball veterans, it is both gratifying and traumatizing.

Despite an art style reminiscent of casual dodgeball, the competitive nature of Knockout City is very high. Like other throwing battle sports games such as "Lethal League" and "Windjammers," the volleys get intense. It is hard not to take the game seriously, especially once you start getting good at it. Fake-and-throw, pass-pass-throw, lob-and-fastball follow-up, and, surprisingly, all are perfectly viable strategies.

It took only a few days for me to sweat more obviously in a Knocked Out City match than I did when I started, but now that the Ranked mode has been introduced along with Season 1, serious players have a proper testing ground for demonstrating ball supremacy.

There are only two core modes available in Ranked, 3vs3 Team Deathmatch and 1vs1 Duel, each with brackets ranging from Bronze to Diamond. I've mostly stuck to the casual playlist when playing with friends, but in my spare time I've been playing through the Ranked 1vs1 matches. Things were going great until I got to Bronze and Silver, but as I got closer to Gold I finally started getting my ass beat. I'd like to pretend I've been keeping my cool the whole time, but I'm really starting to hit a wall, getting caught in fake outs and timing my catches wrong against higher ranked opponents. I've gotten used to this game quite naturally, but the past two days have reminded me that a deep game means a high skill ceiling, and you can't reach it by standing on your toes.

It is always difficult to gauge how successful such a service game will be, but from what developer Velan Studios has announced, it looks promising. At launch, there will be a huge number of contraptions that will challenge you to use all your dodgeball muscles.

There are no exact battle paths, but the basic level progression is similarly structured, with rewards at each level. After about 15 hours and at least 50 battles, I made it to level 60 and earned quite a few clothes, accessories, taunts, and premium currency in the process. Normally I don't care much about what my characters wear in multiplayer games, but I like this game so much that, regrettably, I've become someone who cares whether my sunglasses match the gloves I just unlocked. [Because, like everyone's oversized doll heads, some parts of the art style in Knockout City are a bit ugly. The neon-accented retro-futuristic aesthetic feels a bit generic, and the familiar flat lighting throughout the game suggests that Velan made visual concessions to accommodate all platforms (including the Switch). On the plus side: Knockout City supports cross-play and cross-progression around EA accounts in all versions.

The good sign is that Velan is already doing a lot of things well. Perhaps it was EA's backing that allowed Knockout City to release a polished and complete brawler from day one. No need to wait for basic features to appear (although we would like a way to honor the good work of our opponents). This week's launch of Season 1 gave us our first glimpse of how modes move in and out of the playlist. The quirky mode now in the deck is a ball-less 4-on-4 TDM where players must take advantage of each other on every KO. This fun variant has already led to some fantastic tragic plays.

EA's decision to offer a 10-day free trial period was also wise, attracting over 2 million early players. The game can be maintained for $20 and is free if you subscribe to Game Pass on console or PC.

I hope a healthy chunk of these 2 million will stick around. I am infinitely impressed by how much careful thought has gone into transforming a playground pastime that has been largely ignored by video games into a rich, competitive pastime. There is no other game out there as good as this one, and you should try it for free while you can.