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Nailing a ball that’s pinging wildly around the screen and watching the game react with flashing lights and special effects is a fantastic feeling, and with each hit the tension grows. The trick is to judge when – and where – your opponent will hit it, and swing a millisecond early to ensure you make contact. When you hit a fast-moving ball, your character freezes for a moment, and a bar at the bottom of the screen tells you when the ball will start moving again. The joy of playing Lethal League is in mastering the timing of these simple actions. You can also bunt – which kills the speed of the ball temporarily, popping it up in the air to make it easier to hit – or grab it mid-air to fling it forward. It has no complex button combos to remember: you just get near the ball and swing away, changing the angle of your strike by jumping or aiming with the left stick. If you’re a newcomer, you’ll get the hang of it in minutes. It’s just a shame that Blaze’s peripheries don’t match up to the core action: the tutorial is half-baked, the computer AI is too easy, and single-player modes feel like an afterthought.įighting has an abstract feel as you fight against the ball rather than each other The formula is the same here, but the small changes – the new 2.5D visuals, the funky soundtrack and some mechanical twists – make matches even more frantic and enjoyable. It’s the sequel to 2014’s Lethal League, which introduced this bizarre fusion of baseball and Street Fighter. So as long as someone else is in control, you’re in danger of getting KO-d. Only the last player to hit the ball is immune to damage if it touches them. You and up to three opponents swat a ball around an enclosed arena, and every time you hit it, it gains speed. Part fighting game, part future sport, Lethal League Blaze is pure brilliance. So yes, Lethal League Blaze can always go faster. The boom grows louder, colours meld into a psychedelic haze and that streak of white, now impossibly quick, slams into the side of your character’s head, bouncing them off-screen. It’s usually when somebody swings so hard that an echoing boom shakes the ground, the entire arena turns red and the ball streaks away, a blur.Īnd then, somehow, another player will perfectly time their own strike, catching the streak of white mid-flight. There will come a point in your first competitive Lethal League Blaze match where you’ll think the ball can’t possibly go any faster.
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