Cartoon Network Punch Time Explosion XL is a weak Smash Bros. clone that fails to deliver the excitement.
Presentation - Like the Subspace Emissary in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Cartoon Network Punch Time Explosion XL has a story mode that has you unlock the rest of the characters. It's an interesting concept, but the plat forming levels can be frustrating especially the level where you try to jump on the rolling barrels. Keep in mind that I never actually played the story mode in this game, but I did some research on it by watching videos on YouTube.
The battle mode is a multiplayer mode that lets you play up with three other friends. The game type modes that are available in battle mode are standard, custom game, PTE, drones, arcade, and training mode. You can also change the difficulty level of these modes. Luckily, there is a way to turn off some or even all of the items off. However, you need to clear story mode to be able to play as the rest of the unlockable cast.
The other extra modes in this game have are options, vault, and the store. I saw that there are also cartoon clips from the actual show that are unlocked which is pretty cool for a diehard cartoon Network fan to watch. Another minor flaw that I saw on YouTube was that every time you fought a match in multiplayer mode, the screen goes back to the main menu again.
Graphics - Unfortunately, the visuals fail to become as sharp and clear as there are in Super Smash Bros. Brawl and PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale. Everything from the character models to the background landscapes is blurry and blocky.
Sound - George Lowe, who is the narrator of the Cartoon Network shows, is also the announcer in Cartoon Network Punch Time Explosion XL. I also found out that the voices for the rest of the characters are not the same as there were for the shows. The sound effects are spot on, but the music variety is pretty much lacking in main menu and game play modes.
Game play - The character set moves are very similar to Super Smash Bros. because your objective is to give your opponents a higher percentage which enables him/her to get knocked off of the stage. There is also a meter at the bottom of the screen that lets your character use a final smash like move. Unfortunately, there is only one super move instead of three super moves that are available in PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale.
The controls take a while to get used to because you can't use the analog stick to jump like you could in the Super Smash Bros. series. The responsiveness of the controls is decent, but they occasionally feel a bit loose and the character sets have weak set of moves. This makes it slightly more difficult to win some matches against the CPU opponents or friends.
Lasting appeal - A Subspace Emissary clone from Super Smash Bros. Brawl, a four player multiplayer, and unlocking cartoon clips and characters does extend the replay value. Unfortunately, there is no online mode, so that means you're stuck with playing this game with CPU opponents and friends locally. Die hard Cartoon Network fans might pleased with playing as their favorite characters. Other than that, I would recommend skipping this poor Super Smash Bros. clone. Stick to playing Super Smash Bros. Brawl and play a bit of the awesome PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale.
The Good - story mode keeps things varied to unlock a cast of characters, cartoon clips from the actual shows are available to please Cartoon Network fans
The Bad- some plat forming levels in story mode can be frustrating, poor visuals with character models and backgrounds appearing blocky and blurry, music variety is lacking and character voices are not the same from the actual show, controls feel loose and character models have weak set of moves, no online mode
Presentation -7
Graphics - 3
Sound - 5
Game play - 5
Lasting appeal - 7
Overall 5.4 out of 10 GameSpot Score 5.5 out of 10