although i love this game, the only real grievances i have are to do with the character balances, specifically dungs off ball, i personally believe that it was fine as it was before, and id say im kind of the target audience for this change, as im a fairly new player, while i did play in the playtest for about an hr, i played the demo for a little over 30 hrs, and basically the entire time i did i played as dung, at first i thought him to be a really good introductory character, to teach players the mechanics while aiding them slightly, with his off ball having a short cooldown, it acted almost as a second headbutt, allowing you to have more freedom to move around, and if you mess up whatever you were trying to do, it was fine because you could use the off ball again in a very short period of time, for most of the time i played the demo (save for the last 7ish hours or so) i didn't even know that flutterdash was a thing, i played dung by mainly using momentum transfers and other non beetle specific techs like headbutt grabbing and also using his on ball, his abilities were really good for guiding new players through the mechanics, while not being too imposing to one specific playstyle. eventually, i did learn of flutterdash, as i was trying to find a new beetle to play as dung was starting to feel too simple, i was quite a fan of his abilites though, so i decided to ask people if there was any techs to learn for dung, and learned of flutterdash, it took a while to get the hang of using it to grab balls and in practice, however i came to love as it made dung more specialised towards going fast, while keeping his simple mechanics the same and his low cooldowns on his ability made using it for its old use case (as a second headbutt) still incredibly viable. now however, dungs off ball is far more punishing, and while the longer cooldown does play a part in this, part of it also is due to his ability sending him a lot further and being harder overall to undo a mistake, if you miss a grab off of this off ball, it takes a lot more to undo it, as just a headbutt in the opposite direction often isnt enough to fix your course, while before that would have rectified the issue. i do love the new beetles, however dungs off ball ends up being more punishing than it was before, leading to him being harder for newer players to use in a more broad sense, it does help him offensively in some ways, however it does hinder his defensive capabilities and role as an all rounder and teacher for newer players in my case at least, a way i believe might rectify this is make a way to switch dung's off ball? maybe make it a setting unlocked by finding something on the menu screen or inputting a code, other than that my experience with the full game was okay, i did enjoy some of the quality of life features such as the goal replays and the borders around maps making it easier to keep the ball in play, however i feel like the changes to dung almost feel like a nerf, it makes him have more air manouverability, but in exchange he loses his versatility in how he can be played, funneling him towards offense rather than acting as a teacher for the controls and giving players a sense of the game, as far as dung goes with flutterdash, he ended up being a more ground focussed beetle, who was able to go very fast, but was limited to just that, he was balanced and ended up being my favourite beetle by far, however now he doesnt feel the same to play. i do really enjoy the changes to the on ball, as it leads to more fluid gameplay, removing awkward moments of slowness i sometimes experienced with the ball, leaving me exposed to other players, however i personally find he would be better with his old off ball for newer players, as he would act as a sort of baseline, in which someone could find which playstyle they enjoy the most and maybe change to a beetle more specialised for that, other than that. love the game but i find this issue to be one i can't overlook personally. only other criticism is character unlocks, sure its fine for newer players, but it is a bit tedious at times considering i already have played as all of the old beetles before.
tldr : dungs was better at teaching new players before, as his off ball was less punishing in many situations, and he was a more jack of all trades type of character for newer players, however he also enabled players who put the time in to learn dung to play him as a specialised ground focussed speedster
love the game other than that, hope the devs consider this at some point and continue to work on the game as there are a few bugs i encountered
edit: changed the review to positive as i cant in good faith diss this game, js sad that dung doesnt play the same as bfr, its not that dung is worse he just isnt the same, he theoretically is better but he feels different to play, his role isnt really the same as before
