playstaTion all-stars: battle royale
Publisher: Sony
Developer: SuperBot
Release Date: 21/11/12
Format: PS3/PS VITA
Players: 4(off/online)
I will admit, I didn't know what to expect when I entered this disc into my PS3 tray. And it's possibly for the best. I knew it had a fair few quote “iconic” unquote PS3 characters. And fair enough, a good 50% I recognised and enjoyed their respective games. I wasn't however, expecting this. All-Stars Battle Royale is a beat 'em up fighting game, my worst genre of the lot. I would rather play flight simulator than Mortal Combat or Tekken. But It will go on record I enjoyed some aspects of this.
The intro I have to admit is impressive, It is now one of my favourites, if at the very least watch it on YouTube, it's epic! It introduces the Rivals aspect. All of the 20 characters have been paired off with a bitter rival, some make sense, like Jak and Daxter verses Ratchet and Clank, others are not so obvious. Ratchet and Clank are my PlayStation heroes of choice and I was eager to play the story mode it offered. It started with the original voices and artwork, but no movie, instead just picture stills replacing the normal stylish look of R&C cutscenes. Then came my first taste of action, a fight against Raiden from Metal Gear Sold. The first thing you notice is no health bar, instead you rack up XP to fill your meter and then unleash your deadly weapons of choice. Neither character fitted well with the backdrop, Chop Chop Master Onion's Dojo from PaRappa The Rapper, but as the battle progresses the building goes and in the distance was the giant mech from Killzone 3. The combinations of all the games is just a distraction from the actual gameplay. I mashed as many buttons as possible, trying for the life of me to remember certain combos I leant in the tutorials. I soon dispatched my foe with a lot of Omni-wrench action finished off with the RYNO to the sound of its iconic music.
Victory was sweet and so onto the next fight, this time I battled two opponents on a different stage now containing hazards I had to avoid. More button mashing and the deed was done. Onto the next, now this is where my love of beat em’ ups starts to die, the same person beating the crap outta another guy, on the same boring levels. But to my amazement the new level was based on Little Big Planet. The fight started with a plain single-levelled floor, as the fight took place it built around us with the normal pop-up menus dotting around. After the fight it ended with a multi-levelled tree, with swinging branches and various colourful hills and the floor was covered in instantly killing toxic gas, claiming the life of any character that fell. This showed me that this type of game can be enjoyable.
As I rolled into the final boss battle and gave my rival another blast from my RYNO the fight was over. The story ended with more picture stills as Ratchet and Clank carry on from where they left off in the intro movie (if you can call it that). I was left feeling rather cheated and let down. Okay, I had 19 other characters to play as, but if all it offers me is more of the same, what’s the point in the story mode? I went back to the tutorials and tried the moves and weapons from some other characters I knew. From Drake’s exploding barrels and run and gunning AK47 to Sackboy's Pop-up menus placing hazards on the AI bot. These are all well thought out a well-executed, it's just a shame its gameplay is let down with random pressing of buttons that may or may not produce the desired attack in the heat of the moment.
I never got to play online, but there are tournaments and plenty of modes to keep the dedicated fans going for a while. There are plenty of unlocks of skins, taunts and short intros and outros for each character. For the rest of us playing with friends it's enjoyable and I'll leave it there. There are some really ingenious aspects in this game, and I feel it would have played better as a drop in, drop out platformer like any LEGO game or Ratchet and Clank: All 4 One released last year. The cross play with the PS Vita is really good, being able to save on the PS3 and carry on with the Vita is what we've wanted for a while. Glad to see Sony have finally nailed it.
If Tekken and the like is your thing, this is a worthwhile game, it offers something different to the standard beat this guy, because. Level design and the characters' attacks are definitely a highlight, but the look of the game doesn't sit right because of the different graphics the characters are made of and they all look out of place against each other. But with saying that, what other game can offer these “iconic” characters on one disc?
By Chris Sowry 6/10
Developer: SuperBot
Release Date: 21/11/12
Format: PS3/PS VITA
Players: 4(off/online)
I will admit, I didn't know what to expect when I entered this disc into my PS3 tray. And it's possibly for the best. I knew it had a fair few quote “iconic” unquote PS3 characters. And fair enough, a good 50% I recognised and enjoyed their respective games. I wasn't however, expecting this. All-Stars Battle Royale is a beat 'em up fighting game, my worst genre of the lot. I would rather play flight simulator than Mortal Combat or Tekken. But It will go on record I enjoyed some aspects of this.
The intro I have to admit is impressive, It is now one of my favourites, if at the very least watch it on YouTube, it's epic! It introduces the Rivals aspect. All of the 20 characters have been paired off with a bitter rival, some make sense, like Jak and Daxter verses Ratchet and Clank, others are not so obvious. Ratchet and Clank are my PlayStation heroes of choice and I was eager to play the story mode it offered. It started with the original voices and artwork, but no movie, instead just picture stills replacing the normal stylish look of R&C cutscenes. Then came my first taste of action, a fight against Raiden from Metal Gear Sold. The first thing you notice is no health bar, instead you rack up XP to fill your meter and then unleash your deadly weapons of choice. Neither character fitted well with the backdrop, Chop Chop Master Onion's Dojo from PaRappa The Rapper, but as the battle progresses the building goes and in the distance was the giant mech from Killzone 3. The combinations of all the games is just a distraction from the actual gameplay. I mashed as many buttons as possible, trying for the life of me to remember certain combos I leant in the tutorials. I soon dispatched my foe with a lot of Omni-wrench action finished off with the RYNO to the sound of its iconic music.
Victory was sweet and so onto the next fight, this time I battled two opponents on a different stage now containing hazards I had to avoid. More button mashing and the deed was done. Onto the next, now this is where my love of beat em’ ups starts to die, the same person beating the crap outta another guy, on the same boring levels. But to my amazement the new level was based on Little Big Planet. The fight started with a plain single-levelled floor, as the fight took place it built around us with the normal pop-up menus dotting around. After the fight it ended with a multi-levelled tree, with swinging branches and various colourful hills and the floor was covered in instantly killing toxic gas, claiming the life of any character that fell. This showed me that this type of game can be enjoyable.
As I rolled into the final boss battle and gave my rival another blast from my RYNO the fight was over. The story ended with more picture stills as Ratchet and Clank carry on from where they left off in the intro movie (if you can call it that). I was left feeling rather cheated and let down. Okay, I had 19 other characters to play as, but if all it offers me is more of the same, what’s the point in the story mode? I went back to the tutorials and tried the moves and weapons from some other characters I knew. From Drake’s exploding barrels and run and gunning AK47 to Sackboy's Pop-up menus placing hazards on the AI bot. These are all well thought out a well-executed, it's just a shame its gameplay is let down with random pressing of buttons that may or may not produce the desired attack in the heat of the moment.
I never got to play online, but there are tournaments and plenty of modes to keep the dedicated fans going for a while. There are plenty of unlocks of skins, taunts and short intros and outros for each character. For the rest of us playing with friends it's enjoyable and I'll leave it there. There are some really ingenious aspects in this game, and I feel it would have played better as a drop in, drop out platformer like any LEGO game or Ratchet and Clank: All 4 One released last year. The cross play with the PS Vita is really good, being able to save on the PS3 and carry on with the Vita is what we've wanted for a while. Glad to see Sony have finally nailed it.
If Tekken and the like is your thing, this is a worthwhile game, it offers something different to the standard beat this guy, because. Level design and the characters' attacks are definitely a highlight, but the look of the game doesn't sit right because of the different graphics the characters are made of and they all look out of place against each other. But with saying that, what other game can offer these “iconic” characters on one disc?
By Chris Sowry 6/10
|
Single player on this game is a little monotonous and there are more bad than good characters to pick from, however this game shines when you grab a buddy and play it party style. Then the game shines, it’s a great laugh with friends and at the prices you can buy it for now worthwhile.
Scott Maynard 7/10 |