Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

20 to 40 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Just plain fun"

At first glance this game may seem like a Super Smash Bros Clone, but after getting your hands on it, you'll see that this game definitely stands on it's own. And it packs a punch.While Nintendo's Smash games seem to focus more on map placement avoiding the other players, and inflicting enough damage to your opponents to knock them out of the arena, PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale's main focus is to get in close building your super meter to destroy the other players with combos. Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale takes some of Playstation's biggest names from the past and present to duke it out. All-Stars runs a pretty diverse roster of 20 characters (with more coming as DLC) ranging from the PlayStation's classics like Sir Dan, to the PlayStation 3's latest stars like Cole.

At the core of PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale, this is a party game for fighter fans. It's fun and easy to get into, but takes time to master each characters moves. You won't find yourself performing small 1-2 kick punches all the time, unless you enjoy using Pa Rappa. If you're that gamer who's just looking for a fun time with not much of a challenge, this will satisfy. If you're that gamer who loves fighters and wants a deep fighting experience, this is for you too. In PlayStation All-Stars the goal to winning is getting the most kills in a match before the time is up. The All-Star Point system sets this game apart from the rest of the party fighters with the only way to kill an opponent is to use your super. In order to gain AP, you must perform combos on your opponent, or use one of the many weapons that spawn in a level, and as you earn more AP, you get the opportunity to use your super. Each character has 3 different levels of supers with different outcomes. For instance, you can save up all your AP for a level 3 super guaranteeing 3 kills, or you can take a chance and use your level 1 super to get those same 3 kills. Even though getting those 3 kills with a level 1 hold more risk, getting those 3 kills feels nothing more than rewarding.

Before I get to the different game modes PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royal has to offer, I want to get into where all the fights are going to happen. PlayStation All-Stars contains a collection of some of the most unique level design in a fighting game and are in no way similar to each other. These aren't just your normal levels with platforms, these levels are mash ups of two different games that blend so well with each other, it makes you wonder why no one else has thought of this before. Each level has something going on in the background during battles that effects the players forcing you to change your strategy and raising everyone's awareness on their surroundings. Using the surroundings in a fight can really help steal some your opponents AP giving you the advantage and in some cases, giving you the win.

PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale features single and multiplayer modes. Like every fighting game, All-Stars features an Arcade mode where each character has their own story to follow as you fight the rest of the games roster until you reach the end where you will face off that specific characters rival, then the final boss. I never expect a fighting game to have a great story and my expectations follow with All-Stars. It may get tedious sometimes fighting these characters over and over again, but getting to see who your specific rival is, is worth it. If you're looking for a fighter with a story, this isn't it. None of the characters have any legitimate reason for facing off which I was looking forward to finding out. And I wouldn't even consider the final boss fight an actual fight.

Online modes in fighting games have become quite a big thing this generation. And PlayStation All-Stars offers a tournament mode where you can take your skills online in ranked and player matches. Both ranked and player matches offer Free For All and 2v2 fights, but in order to play 2v2 ranked matches, you need to invite someone or have a second player with you to play. It didn't bother me too much but it would have been nice to play ranked 2v2 matches with a stranger and see if we can pull a win. Unfortunately, there is no 1v1 online matches offered in ranked or player mode due to balance issues, but if you do want to play 1v1 with a friend online, you can invite them to your versus lobby which is always a plus. Even though I found myself enjoying the online play, this game does have bugs, glitches and moments when the lag is terrible. It's nothing too harsh, but it does get annoying not knowing what belt rank you currently hold when its never accurate. Even with these small bugs that I'm sure will be fixed in a future patch, the online is still an enjoyable experience.

If you're the type of person who likes to perfect a certain character before taking your skills online, or maybe don't feel confident enough in your skills yet, you can practice and perfect your moves with one of the practice modes. The tutorials teach you the basics of the game and the basics of the character of your choice. When you want to challenge your skills and what you've learned, All-Stars also offers combat trials for each character, like scoring multiple kills with your supers in the time limit. Maybe you'll feel better going against the AI with a friend in versus mode. While choosing the characters before a fight, you're given the option to change the settings of the match from time limit to stock, map hazards on or off and what weapons you'd like to spawn during the match. A cool feature Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale also offers is the feature to play with a friend online while playing with a friend or family member in your home. This feature is great because, instead of having my brothers or friends watch me play online, I can have them join me in the match as I play against or with family hundreds of miles away.

Sony chose SuperBot Entertainment specifically to develop this game, and with the help of Sony Santa Monica, they succeeded in creating the mash up game Sony fans have been wanting. Looking for a mash up game to feed your fighter needs? PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale could possibly be one of your funnest experiences to date. If You've always wanted to kick back and mash Kratos's face in with Sackboy's cake gun, this game is the one you've been waiting for.