26th January 2013, 10:14 AM
So Sony has decided to make a game to compete with the unassailable Smash Bros. franchise.
I'll say a number of things right off the bat here. It's not as good as Smash Bros. Not as good by a long shot, but it still can be some fun. If you can, pick up the PS3 version as it includes a download code for the Vita version right in there. That's great, but now the bad news. You can't link the PS3 and Vita versions together for multiplayer. Considering how much work they did to make the games identical, that's a rather stunning deficit.
The character roster is richer than I expected, but there's some real oddities in here. Firstly, the lack of Spyro and Crash Bandicoot is stunning. Sure they're 3rd party licenses now, but I'll explain why that's not a rule for exclusion soon enough. Their history of association with Sony, namely selling PS1s in the early days, should be enough reason to include them. Further, Wander and Ico should easily have been included. Not including at least one of them is like not including Link in Smash Bros.
So what characters DOES the game have? Well, Sony seems to have decided that "anything goes" as far as the roster is concerned. Like Nintendo, so long as the character has been ON the system at least once, it is fair game. Unlike Nintendo, 3rd party characters are less an anomaly than they are a sizable chunk of the cast. As a result, it feels less like a "Playstation" or "Sony" themed game and more just a brawl across a lot of franchises.
Big Daddy from Bioshock is in there. It's hard to really consider the PS3 port of Bioshock as ANY sort of definitive version. I got the PC version, and a number of my friends have the 360 version, but who really said "yeah, the PS3 version, that's the one for me"? So he's an oddity, but they wanted a heavy weight, so he's in. It's cute though.
Dante is in there, in his new rebooted incarnation. That's sort of a mixed situation. I really do wish they'd did what Nintendo did with Wario and provide both the old and new look as costume options.
There's Raiden, in his Metal Gear Rising incarnation. This one's odd. I was under the impression that that game was going to be a 360 exclusive. Has that changed?
They really dredge up a lot of obscure characters as well as ones with a solid legacy. Toro's a weird cat that I think almost no one will recognize. I only recognize him as that weird Sony mascot on my imported Pocket Station box, but apparently he's got a couple of games in Japan.
So how's the gameplay? I'll say what I like first. The stages themselves blend multiple games together. For example, you can go into Hades stage (from God of War) and eventually the Patapon characters from Patapon will show up to kill Hades, which is just hilarious. I'd love to see these sorts of mixed franchise stage mechanics in Smash Bros, like maybe an F-Zero racer flying along Sonic's stage doing loop de loops.
I also think building up a combo meter by hitting enemies and collecting the orbs they drop is an interesting mechanic, at least on it's own like that. Otherwise, the combat is very similar to Smash Bros, since you can knock people around, but, well, I'll explain now.
The big downsides? The stages mostly have boring designs. Generally, they are all big boxes. A few have SOME unique things going on, but mostly it's those limited boxes. You aren't trying to smash other characters out of the ring, you're going for a super move knockout. You see, normal attacks won't defeat anyone. However, if you build your combo meter, you get moves which, if they hit, WILL instantly defeat your opponent (then they return). There is a lot not to like about this, and most of the balance issues stem from it.
You see, there are 3 levels of super move, each one having wider and wider hit boxes. Some characters have a level 3 that will always kill everyone on the screen, every time. Spike is one. Others do NOT have this. There's a balance issue right away. Unavoidable attacks are no good. In Smash Bros, even things like PK Star Storm can be avoided, in principle. There's also the issue of an instant KO. In Smash Bros, even if you get hit by a super smash, it is at least hypothetically possible to survive it, if you are careful about your health level and where you get hit by it. Not so here. Basically the match breaks down to who gets their super meter charged first. That person wins. The other matter is that while I like building up a super meter in theory, there can be some unfair consequences. Smash Bros balances things a bit with the ball needing to be broken. Even if someone gets the smash ball, someone else can knock it out of them.
In short, I've given this game a bit of a try, though maybe not long enough yet, and I'm rather disappointed. The good news is I didn't pay much. The game has already had a major price drop, possibly indicating poor sales. I must unfortunately not recommend this game. Go back to playing Brawl and waiting for the next Smash Bros instead. (Maybe they'll remove random tripping on the next outing...)
I'll say a number of things right off the bat here. It's not as good as Smash Bros. Not as good by a long shot, but it still can be some fun. If you can, pick up the PS3 version as it includes a download code for the Vita version right in there. That's great, but now the bad news. You can't link the PS3 and Vita versions together for multiplayer. Considering how much work they did to make the games identical, that's a rather stunning deficit.
The character roster is richer than I expected, but there's some real oddities in here. Firstly, the lack of Spyro and Crash Bandicoot is stunning. Sure they're 3rd party licenses now, but I'll explain why that's not a rule for exclusion soon enough. Their history of association with Sony, namely selling PS1s in the early days, should be enough reason to include them. Further, Wander and Ico should easily have been included. Not including at least one of them is like not including Link in Smash Bros.
So what characters DOES the game have? Well, Sony seems to have decided that "anything goes" as far as the roster is concerned. Like Nintendo, so long as the character has been ON the system at least once, it is fair game. Unlike Nintendo, 3rd party characters are less an anomaly than they are a sizable chunk of the cast. As a result, it feels less like a "Playstation" or "Sony" themed game and more just a brawl across a lot of franchises.
Big Daddy from Bioshock is in there. It's hard to really consider the PS3 port of Bioshock as ANY sort of definitive version. I got the PC version, and a number of my friends have the 360 version, but who really said "yeah, the PS3 version, that's the one for me"? So he's an oddity, but they wanted a heavy weight, so he's in. It's cute though.
Dante is in there, in his new rebooted incarnation. That's sort of a mixed situation. I really do wish they'd did what Nintendo did with Wario and provide both the old and new look as costume options.
There's Raiden, in his Metal Gear Rising incarnation. This one's odd. I was under the impression that that game was going to be a 360 exclusive. Has that changed?
They really dredge up a lot of obscure characters as well as ones with a solid legacy. Toro's a weird cat that I think almost no one will recognize. I only recognize him as that weird Sony mascot on my imported Pocket Station box, but apparently he's got a couple of games in Japan.
So how's the gameplay? I'll say what I like first. The stages themselves blend multiple games together. For example, you can go into Hades stage (from God of War) and eventually the Patapon characters from Patapon will show up to kill Hades, which is just hilarious. I'd love to see these sorts of mixed franchise stage mechanics in Smash Bros, like maybe an F-Zero racer flying along Sonic's stage doing loop de loops.
I also think building up a combo meter by hitting enemies and collecting the orbs they drop is an interesting mechanic, at least on it's own like that. Otherwise, the combat is very similar to Smash Bros, since you can knock people around, but, well, I'll explain now.
The big downsides? The stages mostly have boring designs. Generally, they are all big boxes. A few have SOME unique things going on, but mostly it's those limited boxes. You aren't trying to smash other characters out of the ring, you're going for a super move knockout. You see, normal attacks won't defeat anyone. However, if you build your combo meter, you get moves which, if they hit, WILL instantly defeat your opponent (then they return). There is a lot not to like about this, and most of the balance issues stem from it.
You see, there are 3 levels of super move, each one having wider and wider hit boxes. Some characters have a level 3 that will always kill everyone on the screen, every time. Spike is one. Others do NOT have this. There's a balance issue right away. Unavoidable attacks are no good. In Smash Bros, even things like PK Star Storm can be avoided, in principle. There's also the issue of an instant KO. In Smash Bros, even if you get hit by a super smash, it is at least hypothetically possible to survive it, if you are careful about your health level and where you get hit by it. Not so here. Basically the match breaks down to who gets their super meter charged first. That person wins. The other matter is that while I like building up a super meter in theory, there can be some unfair consequences. Smash Bros balances things a bit with the ball needing to be broken. Even if someone gets the smash ball, someone else can knock it out of them.
In short, I've given this game a bit of a try, though maybe not long enough yet, and I'm rather disappointed. The good news is I didn't pay much. The game has already had a major price drop, possibly indicating poor sales. I must unfortunately not recommend this game. Go back to playing Brawl and waiting for the next Smash Bros instead. (Maybe they'll remove random tripping on the next outing...)