Handball 17

Handball 17 is another installment of the most popular sports game series for PC, PS4 and etc. devoted to handball. Similarly to its predecessor, the production was developed by Bigben Interactive (the publisher of the IHF Handball Challenge) in cooperation with EKO Software, the creators of the How to Survive survival adventure game series.

Mechanics

Mechanics-wise, Handball 17 does not deviate significantly from its predecessor released the year before. The developers didn’t bother with the now-popular managing and non-sport aspects and focused on the game itself, putting emphasis on the incredibly important tactical layer. In the game, we can lead 82 fully licensed teams from the most prestigious European leagues of handball, namely the French Lidl Starligue and Proligue, the German DKB Handball Bundesliga and 2. Handball Bundesliga as well as the Spanish Liga Asobal.

Compared with the previous installment of the series, Handball 17 puts large emphasis on even more realistic recreation of movement and typical maneuvers of the players (e.g. shots from the hip, feints, combinations, etc.) and the way they move in accordance with the tactic set before the match. The last element became possible thanks to the significantly enhanced, dynamic artificial intelligence that controls both our teammates and the opposing team. The gameplay itself also became more user-friendly (especially for beginners) thanks to the completely revamped controls and new difficulty levels as well as helpful context hints that let us easily learn the ins and outs of the game and quickly develop our own unique playstyle.

Game modes

Handball 17 offers a large selection of both single and multiplayer modes. Lone wolves can play an individual match, a full league season, or try their luck at the extensive career mode. Lovers of competition, in turn, are able to play against other players, both locally and online (unavailable on PlayStation 3).

Technical aspects

From the technical side, Handball 17 for PC, PS4 and etc. doesn’t introduce any revolutionary changes and is still powered by the same graphics engine as its predecessor, although slightly modified and improved. Despite that, the game’s graphics are still high-quality and aren’t worse than those of most sports productions available in the market.

Last updated on 17 November 2016