I’ve always been open to weird sports. While I enjoy mainstays like Hockey and Football, I also engaged in Lacrosse and Volleyball in my school days. So when I heard that the sport of Handball was getting a video game, I thought “why not?” I’ve had experience playing Jonah Lomu Rugby for the Xbox 360, so I’m open to everything so long as it makes for an entertaining video game. So, how does Handball transition into the realm of the joysticks?

The answer is (unfortunately) not very well. While handball is a fast-paced sport, it is an absolute test of patience in video game form. With hockey being my favorite sport and handball being one of the closest in the family of sports, you’d think that hot off the heels of an NHL 21 review, I’d be eager to dig into something similar. Sadly, the wide breadth of control exhibited in the hockey title is not present in Handball 21.

In Handball, you control a team of six players plus a goalie. When one team is on offense, the other must defend behind a spherical line. That means the defense is reserved to blocking shots and can’t make a move to steal the ball like in, well, any other sport. This give-and-go makes playing this side of the game a downright slog. You feel as if you have little to no control over the impact of the offense’s shots on the goal. By extension it feels like you have no real control over the flow of the game. Only during a missed shot can you make the switch to offense.

Shooting the ball on offense feels pretty solid though. You get some slowdown frames when preparing for a shot so you can aim it where you want it to go. The AI defense doesn’t make much of an effort to stop you on easier difficulties, so it’s basically a shooting gallery with only the goalie to stop. I’m sure in tougher difficulties the shots become more of a trial, but as a newbie I had to stick to something easier because the opponent was stacking up to me in score.

I don’t expect every sport to enter the fray of video games perfectly, but there’s certainly a lot of potential in the way of handball past Handball 21. I would have preferred having more of a say in defensive control, as you influence the entire team with your control sticks/mouse. I don’t want to grind in a game with an inherently-troubling control scheme to get proficient. I’d prefer if I had a certain comfortability from the get-go.

Handball 21 sits at a “mixed” rating on steam with only 14 reviews. I knew it was a niche sport, and there was definitely effort put into this title, but I just can’t figure out who this appeals to if even handball fans don’t like it. I gave it the old college try and I can’t say I was as pleased as I was with the other sports title Nacon published, Tennis World Tour 2. I’d stay away from Handball 21 and opt for a more conventional sport with more fine-tuned controls.

A PC Review copy of Handball 21 was provided by Nacon for this review.

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Handball 21

$39.99

4

Score

4.0/10

Pros

• Decent graphics

Cons

• Baffling controls
• Dimwit AI
• No longevity