PS All Stars: Battle Royale
Reviewed By Ben McCredie
Certain titles are inevitably going to be heavily compared to similar releases - with this in mind, Playstation All Stars Battle Royale (PAS) is essentially Sony's take on the Smash Bros. series by Nintendo. Characters representing the Sony brand slugging it out with each other in arenas directly inspired from the Playstation's heritage is the basic premise for those upon whom the aforementioned comparison is lost. So, is this release the celebration of the Playstation brand that players have craved since the game's announcement? Or does the title fall short of it's mammoth potential?
PAS is essentially a fighting game presented on a 2D plane where up to four players can choose any one of 20 characters lifted from various titles in the Playstation's history. From Kratos (God of War), to Nathan Drake (Uncharted), to Sackboy (Littlebigplanet), there is quite a bizarrely diverse line up featured here. Furthermore, rather than attempting to keep characters visually consistent, PAS keeps the look of each character congruent with respect to the titles they hail from. For example, characters such as Radec (Killzone) and Sweet Tooth (Twisted Metal) opt for a more 'realistically' rendered visage, whilst others such as PaRappa (PaRappa the Rapper) and Fat Princess are presented in all their cartoony glory.
Battles take place upon arenas inspired by and lifted from prior titles in the various Playstation libraries. Generally, each stage is very reminiscent of a particular title (such as the "Hades" level from God of War), and as the battle progresses, environmental hazards are introduced via a secondary inspiration - in this case, after x amount of time the characters from Patapon take up position in the background and throw spears toward the foreground. Some of these combinations are pretty inventive and genuinely amusing, and the added stressors from the environmental obstacles help to make each battle progressively more intense as the countdown timer begins to dwindle.
The big point of differentiation between PAS and the Smash Bros. series is that rather than the goal being to knock your opponents out of the arena, PAS requires players to eliminate players with "super moves". By attacking other combatants, players progressively fill up a meter which when activated triggers a special attack - connect with this, and the unfortunate recipient is knocked out before respawning almost immediately. Points are awarded for knock outs, and subtracted when you are on the receiving end of such an attack.
The super meter can be filled up to three levels, and each one when activated will trigger a different special technique. Whilst it is much quicker to obtain a level one super, the more punishing and visually impressive attacks are achieved by filling the meter to its maximum level three point. Often taking inspiration from a game mechanic or gadget unique to the relevant character's history, the super moves are generally pretty creative and some will genuinely trigger a chuckle or two when activated.
In terms of base mechanics, varying attacks are achieved by the circle, triangle and square buttons, and each of these can be further modified via holding a particular direction on the control stick or d-pad. Players jump/double jump via the x button, L1 handles blocking, and throws can be pulled off by flicking the right stick in the desired direction. Items will also randomly spawn on the battle arena which players can pick up by pressing R1, all with varying degrees of usefulness. Another point of difference between PSA and Smash Bros. is that players cannot fall outside the bounds of a particular arena - points are only added or subtracted via either eliminating opponents or being eliminated.
Aside from the main arcade mode, players have access to either versus battle (on or offline), character specific challenges, and fairly robust training modes. On top of the basic tutorial, character specific move and combo tutorials are also present for those who wish to come to grips with the nuances of the game. A simple, yet welcome customisation system is also present, allowing players to progressively unlock new skins and entrance/victory animations - whilst nothing mind blowing by any stretch of the imagination, it does serve to add a dash of variance to one's favourite combatant/s.
Whilst i had some fun with PAS, I couldn't help but feel slightly disappointed. My biggest issue with the title is that I'm not completely sold on its very structure - the move to differentiate itself from Smash Bros. via the score/super move was admirable, but unfortunately it simply makes 90% of the game play in any battle redundant. In essence, the only attacks that mean anything are the super attacks....everything else is more or less inconsequential. To be more specific, you could be getting absolutely pole-axed by your opponent for most of the round, and if they miss their super attack (or possibly never even activate it), you are no worse off than you were at the start. What this often boils down to is that the majority of any given fight simply feels like busy work in the service of filling the super meter, that being the only way to affect the scoreboard
In addition, both the character specific intros and endings basically amount to a series of still images accompanied by voice overs, few of which are even remotely interesting. The menus themselves also look remarkably plain and unimpressive - whilst this is clearly a small issue in and of itself, you will be seeing them consistently and they definitely stick out as a sore point over time. With regard to the roster, I find myself split on my opinion....whilst there is an interesting mix of the characters and their visual styles, it does begin to look a little patchwork with so many stylistically different sprites all over the arena.
Furthermore, some of the inclusions do raise an eyebrow or two - some of the roster are far from being Playstation exclusive, and quite a few seem to have been chosen primarily for their marketing value, given several upcoming titles which feature said characters, i.e. Dante as he appears in the upcoming multiplatform Devil May Cry reboot and Raiden as presented in Metal Gear Rising Revengeance.
It should be pointed out however, that PS3 purchasers also in possession of a PS Vita get a download code for the Vita version with the PS3 disc, making the title a much more attractive buy to those who own both systems.
PSA is a decent game - there is some fun to be had here, particularly for those who have a long standing familiarity with the Playstation brand. Smooth animations, little to speak of in terms of control issues, and some amusing nods to the system's history make PSA a title worth at least trying. For some though, I can't help but feel the very structure of the game will put many off after an hour or two.
Game: Playstation All Stars : Battle Royale
System: PS3
Developer/Co-Developer: Superbot Entertainment
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment Europe
