As I may have mentioned in the past, I play dodgeball. It’s a schoolyard “sport” that I have carried with me into my mid-twenties and will hopefully carry on beyond that.

There’s something about the competitiveness, coupled with the frantic nature of the game that make it truly enjoyable no matter what age you are. It’s those same aspects of the game that publisher YUKES is hoping to capture in their upcoming Xbox Live Arcade release “Double D Dodgeball.”

Developed at YUKES’ Yokohama studio as a break from their standard fare of THQ wrestling titles, “Double D Dodgeball” is set to offer gamers a slightly different take on the video game version of the sport.

It will be a bit jarring for fans if they have grown accustomed to the gold standard of dodgeball video games, the Nintendo Entertainment System’s “Super Dodgeball.” It’s much faster, more chaotic, and overall more reminiscent of the feeling of a real life dodgeball game. To use a classic cliché, it’s basically a whole different ball game.

The most striking, difference between “Double D” and any of the other dodgeball games that have ever been released is the visual style. Borrowing a bit from the bright neon color scheme that “Geometry Wars” revived a few years back, and mixing in retro looking characters, it basically looks likes a top-down view of gym class at a “Space Invaders” elementary school.

The top-down view of the court works well, allowing the players to see the whole court at one time. This is helpful since, unlike “Super Dodgeball” there’s more than one ball being thrown around the court at a time. The players need to keep their eyes open for three separate balls that could knock them out, and, depending on which style of the game you chose to play, East or West rules, they could be coming from all directions.

Each of the playable characters looks like it could have bleeped its way out of “Galaga,” but they are all visually different, and all have different specialties, as well as specific throws that are available after you catch a ball. For example, if you are playing as a “catcher” character and you catch a ball, you have the option to charge your follow-up. That charged shot causes the ball to go a short distance, stop, and then continue on, throwing off the other player. It may sound a bit confusing, but it works well.

I experienced a bit of a learning curve while playing, but it wasn’t anything that I wasn’t able to overcome after a couple of matches. The controls are simple to use, with most of the action taking place on the analog sticks and the trigger buttons. That makes sense since the only thing you really need to do in the game is throw and catch.

YUKES was trying to create a game that stayed true to the sport of dodgeball, and, at the same time, offered gamers a unique multiplayer experience, and they have managed to do both surprisingly well. “Double D Dodgeball” will be out later this month exclusively on Xbox Live Arcade.