Who wouldn’t want to play a game where you play as a Sumo Wrestler and you only have to press one button?
The premise is great but it’s also its limitation too. Sumo Battle places you and up to three friends or AI in a small sumo ring above water and charges you to push everyone else out to gain points. First to ten wins. Your sumo wrestler will constantly spin like a clock hand and you press your button when you want to stop and spring forward. The longer the press the harder and further you’ll run and bash others. Problem is, everyone else is doing the same thing! Do you stay out the way? Do you try to fool others to falling off? Do you ram everyone and hope for the best? There’s no right way to play the game with others and the best way to get a handle on the initially strange control set up is via the single player mode where you must collect food before the clock reaches 12 each time. Only then will you feel comfortable playing the game.
Sadly beyond this there’s little else the game has to offer. It’s perfect for a quick funny mini game with friends but there’s no extra modes, variations or hidden extras. That’s a shame as it’s already light content then doesn’t go any further and while Sumo Battle looks and sounds good, only silly mini-game lovers will really get a kick out of it.
Positives
-Good multiplayer bashing action for light playing
Negatives
-No variety in modes
-The one button concept really holds the game back from being anything other than a five-minute job
Conclusion
I laughed, I lost, I won and then I found its charm had dimmed somewhat. With friends you can enjoy the game for a bit longer but there’s not enough here to really get your teeth into and the sheer lack of variations on the game and control system is a crying shame.