Game Info Platform PS3, Win, Mac, Linux, PS4 Publisher Die Gute Fabrik Developer Die Gute Fabrik Release Date May 6, 2014

Sportsfriends is the perfect game for people who don't enjoy sports — or video games.

Funded via Kickstarter two years ago, Sportsfriends is a four-part collection of local multiplayer indie games — BaraBariBall, Hokra, Johann Sebastian Joust and Super Pole Riders — from four different developers. Like most local multiplayer games, Sportsfriends is about getting your pals involved. The collection was billed as a party game that anyone could play or enjoy watching, and it's a promise that Sportsfriends delivers on beautifully. Sportsfriends feels completely natural as a compilation, thanks to its running hook: competition. In BaraBariBall, your goal is to score points while keeping your opponents down with kicks, punches and special moves — a simple premise that delivers a surprising amount of depth for a game with only three selectable fighters. While players ultimately want to dunk the ball in their color-coded side of the watery field, the trick is to do so without drowning. Each death comes with a point-snatching penalty, which prevents cheap suicide scores.

BaraBariBall made me shift my strategy depending on how many people I played with. When I faced off against one person, speed and incapacitating my competition with a well-placed smack were key. On a team, however, I was a different player. Cooperation became my focus; if I left my partner alone, it was easy for the opposing team to overwhelm him or her, steal the ball and score. I was constantly switching up my playstyle — a welcome alternative to settling in and getting comfortable. Sportsfriends feels natural as a compilation Hokra, the most "sports-like" of the bunch, kept me from getting too cozy as well. With teams of two-on-two, players catch, throw and carry a ball into their respective areas to gradually color it in. Although Hokra remains as approachable and understandable as its mates, I often grew bored during matches. I spent most of my time chasing down opposing players or bouncing them off while I waited for my square to fill.

The game feels more like a feeding frenzy than a match; I never felt any real challenge beyond one of a gut-reaction level. It also requires four people to play, which makes it more difficult to arrange a match than any of the other included games. With more friends around, I found myself spending the most time with Johann Sebastian Joust — one of the better known and bigger games with support for four players on PlayStation 4 and up to seven on PlayStation 3. Using a DualShock 3, DualShock 4 or PlayStation Move controller, players guard their remote from physical attacks. Each motion a player makes must be in time with the game's music, which speeds up and slows down to allow a variety of movement. Too much jostling will knock a player out, meaning that flailing or moving too quickly can result in an untimely end. The allowance for movement, depending on the speed of the music, always felt fair. If my arm was shaken successfully by another player, I knew my time was up without having to look. By keeping my arm steady, I could withstand being pushed, poked and prodded, and matching my dashes and other quick movements was easy to accomplish.

The more, the merrier With the exception of Hokra, every title within Sportsfriends can be played with just two people. This made it easy for me to squeeze in a quick round or two with a roommate or friend. In the case of games like Joust or BaraBariBall, however, the playing field felt a little lonely. I found myself laughing and shouting during one-on-one matches just as much, but Sportsfriends really shines with a full house.