If NBA Jam taught gamers anything in 1993, it’s that basketball is most interesting when combined with violence, things breaking, and amazing slam dunks in the face of whomever dares oppose you. Rocket League brought about tight-paced 5 minute matches where squeezing in a couple of matches is plausible daily for even the busiest among us. Adding in two of your closest friends makes the experience that much more enjoyable as you zoom from game to game, against both pleasant humans and racist gamers. Highpoint looks to combine all of this together in a fantastically interesting package, mixing basketball, physics, and light-hearted robot-on-robot violence.
It’s still early in development, but it looks impeccable thus far.
The premise is simple; two teams take to a platform to attempt to outscore each other in a floating goal while attempting to stay on the platform. The floating goal is sizeable; not much finesse is necessary to get the ball in, allowing stylish dunks and making defenders get physical to protect their goal. And physical defense very much seems to be a core mechanic for the game Highpoint.
Clips show the ability to juggle enemies (not for long; you won’t get combo-juggled for thirty seconds while you wait helplessly) with an uppercut, then blasting them off the platform. Dashing into enemies and hitting them with an air-strike sends them flying off the platform; you can also dodge attacks from overzealous opponents, allowing them to fly to their own demise.
Various clips have been circulating around YouTube and Twitter under various names; the studio has recently renamed their project from BotBattleSport to Highpoint, and neither of those titles are necessarily claiming much digital territory yet, making it a difficult game to sniff out. Yet it’s been under development for roughly a year so far, and there’s no sign of stopping.
The studio (that is not named currently) hosts Jonathan Criner, a lighting artist at Epic Games that has done work on the ever-popular Fortnite.
Beyond this, it’s difficult to gain more information besides impressive clips on Twitter being uploaded. The game appears fast and beautiful, with noticeable details put in on reflections and shadows drawn across the various courts that host the robotic battle. Emotes have already been seen as well, allowing you to flaunt your style before jamming the ball into your opponents’ goal.
With Rocket League in an iffy situation after its transfer to Epic Games, fans are hungrily looking for a new title that will fill the sport-shaped hole in their hearts. Highpoint seems to be the ideal filler.
