Just to put it out there in the open now rather than later,
SuperBot Entertainment’s PlayStation
All-Stars Battle Royale is not in any way, shape or form, a direct copy of
Nintendo’s Super Smash Brothers
series. It may borrow some of its core aspects and mechanics but it’s more of a
re-imagining of the concept rather than a direct rip-off. The only thing that
resembles Super Smash Brothers is the
games perspective, a two dimensional brawler. Ever since Sony revealed PlayStation All-Stars, the only thing
that the majority of people have been saying about it is that it would be a
rip-off of Super Smash Bros. without
of Nintendo’s flagship roster. Some may not see it but there’s definitely a lot
to love about this game. Whether it’s the user-friendly nature of Kratos’
combat or the complexity and timing of Sir Daniel Fortesque’s moves list,
Sony’s new brawler offers a ton of content and depth. Now that I have said all
of that, I will warn you that throughout this review, I will be comparing PlayStation All-Stars to it’s Nintendo
counter-part due to the fact that it’s the only other game like it.
SuperBot Entertainment is a brand new developer that was
hand picked and forged by Sony to create their new fighting game. Headed by the
lead game designer, Omar Kendall and assisted by Sony Santa Monica, the team at
SuperBot have done a stand-up job on constructing PlayStation All-Stars. The final product is a mash-up with some of
the PlayStations biggest franchises which are all wrapped into a game that
incorporates the best brawling gameplay that’s only rivaled by that in Super Smash Bros. Although this information
is all good and well, the biggest question about the game is ‘who made the
list?’
PlayStation All-Stars’ roster is made up of twenty
playable characters, some of Sony’s biggest names. Most of theses characters
are extremely popular (Nathan Drake, Kratos, Ratchet & Clank, Jak &
Daxter) and some are from games that have earned a cult following, games from
the earlier years of PlayStation (Heihachi, Sir Daniel, Spike), even the third
party characters get some time in the spot-light (Dante, Big Daddy). Each
character possesses very different and unique play-styles; Kratos is more of a
‘grapple’ character, using the chaos blades to latch onto other players, which
he then launches them across the map. Where as a character like Colonel Radec,
who comes from a first-person shooter and therefore uses guns and ranged
weapons, is more affective from a distance. Because of such character
diversity, PlayStation All-Stars
plays much like Street Fighter game in the way of strategy.
Aside from Good Cole MacGrath and Evil Cole MacGrath, no one
character plays the same. There’s no skin swapping, much like the majority of
AAA fighting games. The combat offers depth that one might find in a Street Fighter or Tekken game in the way that the player would choose a character
when they first begin playing and slowly master their move set to the point of
perfection. Where as a game like Super
Smash Bros. the player can pretty much pick up a controller and dominate
with whichever character they choose. That’s where PlayStation All-Stars rises above its rivals to be something new
and different. Obviously the player uses the same button commands to attack
such as forward & square. In addition to this, each character has their own
list of combinations they can perform. Each combination is different and
specific to that character.
The catch though, is that players can only kill other
players if they build up their ‘super meter’, a meter that fills up with every
hit the player lands on another player. From there, they can launch their level
one, two or three supers moves which cost different amounts depending on the
level. Obviously a characters level one super is the least expensive but harder
to kill with and the level three super is easier to uses but cost much more
than a level one or two.
Games are played out on one of fourteen stages that are
‘mashed up’ with two Sony franchises like Uncharted 3 & Bioshock Infinite
as well as inFamous & Sly Cooper for example. They’re wacky, light hearted
and fun although some of the environmental hazards, objects from the secondary
franchise in the background that directly affect gameplay, do get rather
annoying on some maps in a prolonged match. There are also plans for DLC that
offers players more maps and characters.
To be completely honest, I was pleasantly surprised with
this game. I’ll admit, when I first saw this game was announced, I thought it
was going to be a complete rip-off of Super Smash Brothers but the team over at
SuperBot Entertainment have really gone above and beyond with their debut game.
They COULD have copied the Smash Bros. formula and slapped PlayStation paint on
top but they didn’t. They went for something different and that’s where I think
this game shines. It’s not afraid to stray from the pack. There will always be
those who don’t like it but that’s not what matters the most, it’s the fans
that matter.
PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale gets an 8.5 ‘Muted
Microphones’ /10
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