Gamer Unit

  PlayStation All Stars Battle Royale is Sony's answer Nintendo's wildly popular series " Super Smash Bros. " which consists of 3 games on the Nintendo 64, the Gamecube and the Wii. The premise of All Stars is quite simple, there is a total roster of 20 characters with 4 extra DLC characters added (We'll talk more about those later). Its a 2D brawler in which 4 players( either CPU or real humans) attempt to finish each other off with a variety of moves. The character roster of a fighting game is the most important part of this genre and PlayStation All Stars doesn't deliver completely on this promise. With a limited roster of 20, it was important that SuperBot Entertainment made sure that the characters do not resemble each other in their moves and it is here the game actually shines. Each character manages to feel unique and this adds to the depth of the game. However, the flaw with the roster is that, although the name of the game is PLayStation All Stars there simply aren't enough iconic characters. Big Daddy has simply no business being in this game when characters like Crash and Spyro have been excluded (Although Sony did give a reason for both exclusions). The same case applies for Dante from "Devil May Cry" and Raiden from "Metal Gear:Reveangance" . Although both characters are great in their own right, they don't have the history to belong in an All-Stars game of a console. Same applies for Toro and Fat Princess. Toro isn't even from a game (He is the Sony mascot in Japan) and Fat Princess is one game old. Somehow she made the All-Stars list. The rest of the characters however are great and the inclusion of long forgotten characters like Parappa and Spike is heartening.

 

Looking ahead of the character flaws though, We have a truly fun game on our hands. There are a variety of stages which are dynamically changing offering enough to keep us on our toes. One unique factor which distinguishes All Stars from Super Smash series is the method of killing off a player. While Super Smash Bros depends on damage % increasing everytime you land a hit eventually knocking off a player, All Stars gives us an A.P meter which fills once we land a hit. After getting a certain numner of hits your meter fills resulting in you getting a Super Attack. These Super Attacks can be used to kill an opponent. Every character has 3 Supers each increasing in intensity and each character has a different trio of supers. I personally prefer this method over Super Smash Bros. , this requires more precision and timing on the Supers. I can name so many matches where I simply wasted a Super attack and ended up losing a match because of that one mistake.

 

All Stars also has a single player mode, but its a joke to be honest. I mean, you simply go through a number of random fights with a character with a bunch of cutscenes in the middle. The concept of having a different campaign for each character was nice but it had terrible execution. Each campaign lasted around 30 minutes and were almost identical. If there is a second installment in the series, It needs a much better campaign for it to be taken seriously as a single-player game. All Stars truly shines where generally all fighters excel, the Multiplayer. It has both Local and Online Co-op and both are amazing fun especially local 4 player co-op. In Online mode you have to option to play either Ranked or Unranked matches and the connectivity and matchmaking is great, meaning you wont run into a pro and get your ass handed to you immediately.

 

The graphics of this game are nothing special but they aren't bad by any means. The character animations have been done well staying true to their original avatars. The stages are great but nothing exceptional. This actually defines PlayStation All Stars quite well. It sticks to the basics of a fighting game on a console which had a severe shortage of such games. It doesn't do anything exceptional but it manages to do everything a fighter should. It has a decent roster and has a unique method of killing. This review may seem harsh on this game but I believe that SuperBot can do much better. I will discount them for this attempt because, in the end this was a first attempt. The sequel however, I will expect to have a great single player campaign and maybe some better graphics. All Stars is a very fun game to play when with friends but that is likely the only time you will play the game. All Stars is a must play if you like fighters and own only a PS3 or own a PS3 and an Xbox 360. If you own a Wii, I still think that Super Smash Bros is a better and more well rounded game. If you don't, play All Stars and prepare to have a hell lot of fun.

 

 

Pros

 

+ Variety in character moves

+ unique combat

+ Dynamic environments

+ Robust online Mode

 

Cons

- limited roster

- horrible single player mode