Time Played: 4+ hours

Play Store: Badminton League

Dev: Red Fish Game Studio

Pub: Dev-published, I think

Graphics: Well-made “pseudo-pixelart” vector graphics. Animation is smooth, though not necessarily beautiful.

Sound: The squeak of sneakers on the gym floor will bring back memories for anyone who played badminton as a kid

Writing: There’s not really any to speak of. The tournament circuit sees you facing off against pre-baked opponents, but they all feel generic and same-ish. This is the area where the game could use the biggest upgrade.

Gameplay:

The gameplay is extremely simple – you play badminton in 2 dimensions, moving back and forth, playing one of three shots, but what Red Fish accomplishes within that is actually pretty amazing. Long and short shots, smashes, drop shots, and drives all make an appearance, and you never really feel the lack of a third dimension during play.

The game has gear, including upgrades, but they’re all of the +/- X% to a particular stat variety. Similarly, your character can learn new talents like Annoying Illusion of Multiple Birdies (that’s what I call it, anyway), which is hard to play against at times but doesn’t feel particularly well-matched to the rest of the game, tonally.

The “metagame” of endurance management is, appropriately, slightly exhausting. By the time you run out of endurance you just want the rally to be over.

Why I Stopped Playing:

I kind of want to say I stopped because the game is a little too good (I did spend 4 hours playing!), but that’s not the whole story. Badminton League is nearly perfect for what it is, but it’s incredibly shallow.

Opponents “unlock” particular shots on the same schedule as the player, so you’re always playing people who feel pretty similar to yourself. Special abilities like Illusion do add some variety, but it feels like the dev has missed an opportunity to give the game its own personality.

I think back to games like Super Dodge Ball and Super Spike V’Ball, both of which managed at least a small degree of differentiation between opponents based on playstyle. Style is in desperately short supply in Badminton League.

Nonetheless, one of my favourite mobile experiences, and I look forward to seeing more from this developer.