Rating of
2/5
Smash by Committee
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 11/17/13
Sony has a well-deserved reputation for copying other companies instead of coming up with their own novel ideas with regard to their gaming division. The latest use of Sony’s IP Xerox had Nintendo’s insanely popular ‘Super Smash Bros.’ series of party fighting games squarely in its sights, with the release of “PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale” (“PSASBR”). Unfortunately for Sony, the carbon copy nature of their attempt is blatantly obvious and lacks any of the actual charm and fun of Nintendo’s original take on the idea.
Presentation
“PSASBR” is a thoroughly average-looking game that, like Nintendo’s ‘Super Smash Bros.’ franchise, mashes-up a bunch of characters and styles from a wide range of Sony’s exclusive IPs… and since Sony is far more devoid of original first-party content, “PSASBR” includes a significant number of characters from multi-platform franchises. Unlike Nintendo, Sony focuses more on the ‘realistic’ and ‘M-for-mature’ end of the gaming spectrum, so the characters are mostly a variety of drab and boring-looking humans. The few cartoony characters in the game’s roster are well-rendered (the transition of PaRappa the Rapper from a flat image to a barely 3D polygon model is somewhat amusing), but feel out of place among the majority of the cast of brown-and-gray, plasticky-looking muscle men.
The soundtrack is utterly average as well, featuring tunes from the multitude of franchises included in the game. The voiceacting features return actors from the individual franchises, in many cases, but feels phoned-in.
Story
Each of the game’s 24 characters (including 4 that must be purchased as over-priced DLC) has an individual story that plays out in the game’s sole single-player mode: Arcade. These ‘stories,’ and I use the term loosely, begin with an unanimated cutscene, end with an unanimated cutscene, and by-and-large include no cohesive structure or progression. Characters are simply thrown into battles against other characters from different IPs with no rhyme, reason, or explanation. Each character’s story ends with a dramatic confrontation with Mr. Polygon, whose hubris and self-confidence are a mirror of Sony’s own.
I found these arcade ‘stories’ to be a complete joke, utterly boring, and completely pointless. I only managed to struggle through Ratchet’s story, since he’s my favorite character, and I watched as one of the other MJ crew played Big Daddy’s story. With the ‘quality’ of these stories, I felt no desire to continue playing.
Gameplay
“PSASBR” copies ‘Super Smash Bros.’ in that it is a 2D fighting game with 3D character model and environments. Each character has three attack buttons, which can execute different special attacks when combined with the directional buttons. Characters also have a jump button and a dodge/guard button, which enables blocking and air-dodges. In each of the game’s stages, items appear at random for characters to pick up and use, but the number of such items is incredibly small and none of them are particularly interesting.
The way in which “PSASBR” deviates from the ‘Super Smash Bros.’ formula is that characters don’t have anything resembling a life bar or damage meter. Characters also don’t die by falling or being knocked off the stage. Instead, each character has a Super Meter that fills as they beat on other characters. The Super Meter has 3 levels, and a single button press unleashes the entire meter as a Level 1, Level 2, or Level 3 Super. Supers are the ONLY way to kill opponents, which makes the entirety of combat leading up to the execution of a Super utterly pointless. It also means that the only real skill involved in the game is memorizing the various ranges of each character’s Supers so as to avoid those launched by enemies and ensure those launched by the player actually connect (which can be much more difficult that it seems).
There is very little point in actually playing the game alone, as “PSASBR” lacks the single-player diversity of the ‘Super Smash Bros.’ series. There are no event matches and no adventure mode: Just the boring arcade mode. And since all of the characters (except the ones that must be purchased) are available from the outset, the only unlockable goodies are pointless customizations, like introductory battle poses or bobble-head style ‘minions’ that simply look cute during cutscenes but do nothing else.
Overall
“PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale” smacks of a game that was designed by committee… which is actually true, if the 45-minute-long game credits are indicative of anything. It’s a dull, lifeless copy of the far superior ‘Super Smash Bros.’ games that shows just how much Sony relies on third parties for content instead of housing a stable of truly iconic characters and franchises of their own. It’s simply not a fun game in any way. Even desperate Sony fanboys should cave and buy an old Wii or Gamecube if they want to play a REAL party fighting game.
Presentation: 3/5
Story: 0.5/5
Gameplay: 2/5
Overall (not an average): 2/5
