[oddjob]

I don't dislike the game but I think it misses on a couple of points.

1. Dean likes to refer to ball bouncers as possessing no useful skills to tackle life. This years game relies a lot on the skills of the ball throwers. I'd rather the game was more dependent on the robot. If this is a way to get the roookie teams on more level footing with the veterans, I wish they had found a better way than by reducing the significance of the robot in the game.

2. The game is a dud to a general audience. Last year we had robots trying to get the huge ball off the overpass in autonomous, and putting it back at the end of the game. The crowds had great fun screaming at the end of the game as balls were almost on the overpass and would they stay there or fall off or get knocked off. Robots could race around at high speed. The year before, robots would try to get on ramps. This year - slow robots, no autonomous bonus points and I predict a deathly boring first 15 seconds as the robots crawl out of their starting positions, the supercell at the end of the game is much like any other cell and a casual observer won't know or care about it.

As the series approaches 20 years and wants to expand its support base, this game is a step backwards. It's not visually exciting and needs more spritz!!!