| “ | PlayStation® All-Stars Battle Royale is free-for-all brawler showcasing the best and brightest of PlayStation's characters and worlds.
— Press Release
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An upcoming fighting game from SuperBot Entertainment, Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale is a massive cross-over event taking characters, stages and items from numerous Playstation franchises. Taking clear inspiration from the Super Smash Brothers franchise, All-Stars features up to four player free-for-all fighting for supremacy. Rather than simply a game about Playstation exclusives, but about characters that contribute to the overall "Playstation experience", bringing in numerous third party characters closely associated with (or with strong fanbases on) the Playstation history.
Playable Characters[]
- Kratos (God of War)
- Sweet Tooth (Twisted Metal)
- Fat Princess
- Sly Cooper
- Colonel Mael Radec (Killzone)
- PaRappa the Rapper
- Nathan Drake (Uncharted)
- Big Daddy (Bioshock)
- Heihachi Mishama (Tekken)
- Toro Inoue
- Cole MacGrath (inFAMOUS)
- Jak (Jak and Daxter)
- Ratchet and Clank
- Spike (Ape Escape)
- Dante (DmC: Devil May Cry)
- Sackboy (LittleBigPlanet)
- Evil Cole MacGrath (inFAMOUS)
- Raiden (Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance)
- Sir Dan (MediEvil)
- Nariko (Heavenly Sword)
Cole MacGrath's voice actor Eric Laden confirmed on his twitter that he was working on Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale with Nolan North and David Hayter, the voice actors of Nathan Drake and Solid Snake. Nathan Drake was confirmed at E3 shortly thereafter, along side Big Daddy. As a result, Cole and Snake are all but confirmed as members of the roster. During the San Diego Comic-Con 2012, Cole MacGrath was finally confirmed to be in the game, defaulting to his good karma inFAMOUS 2 appearance. He was confirmed alongside Jak, of Jak and Daxter fame. On July 5th 2012, during the major fighting game tournament, EVO, Sony confirmed the prescence of Heihachi Mishama from Tekken and the Japan Playstation mascot, the cat Toro Inoue, who previously appeared in Street Fighter X Tekken as a PS3 and Vita exclusive character.
When the Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale closed multiplayer beta was released, players began to dig around the game files, and discovered numerous assets for characters that had not yet been confirmed. Metal Gear Solid's Raiden, Ratchet and Clank's Ratchet, Heavenly Sword's Nariko, the upcoming Devil May Cry reboot's Dante, LittleBigPlanet's Sackboy, Ape Escape's Spike, MediEvil's Sir Daniel Fortesque and an alternate version of Cole MacGrath with evil karma. Superbot later confirmed that these leaks were not faked, but do not necessarily represent the final version of the game and some of the data had been scrapped. Ratchet and Clank, Sackboy, Dante and Spike were confirmed as playable at Gamescom a few months later. During the weeks that followed, Evil Cole MacGrath was confirmed quietly on the Playstation Blog. The next day, Raiden was confirmed to be in the roster at a PAX coverage video on Gamespot, to tie into a Metal Gear themed event being held at the Expo. The final two members of the leaked roster, Sir Dan and Nariko, were confirmed the day that followed that at PAX 2012.
Gameplay[]
Playstation All-Stars works very similar to many other fighting games. Each character has a distinct style and move-set that governs their movements and attacks, as well as an arsenal of super moves that allow them to deal extra damage. In All-Stars, unlike most other fighting games, characters attack to build meter in order to perform special attacks, similar to Hyper Combos from Capcom games, but with the key difference being that only these special attacks can knock out an opponent and score a point- they can't be knocked off screen like in Smash Brothers nor can a health bar be depleted like in most other games. This unique feature allows players to rack up numerous points in an impressive fashion, and adds another layer of strategy to the gameplay- though this has not gone without controversy from a number of fans.
All-Stars will also be available on the Playstation Vita, allowing the player to play the game anywhere, anytime. Like Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 before it, the game has no missing content, and has not suffered a reduction in graphics or content for the handheld port. It also feature cross-play, allowing players on the Vita to battle players on the Playstation 3 seamlessly. As an added bonus, players who purchase the PS3 version of the game will recieve the Vita version of the game for download at no additional cost.
Plot[]
All-Stars has been confirmed to have an extensive story mode, but there has currently been no word on what it may contain as of yet.
DLC[]
- Playstation All-Stars: Pre-Order Costume Pack
- Playstation All-Stars: Emmett Graves Character
- Playstation All-Stars: Kat Character
- Playstation All-Stars: Minion Pack 1
- Playstation All-Stars: Zeus Character
- Playstation All-Stars: Isaac Clarke Character
Reception[]
PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale has received generally favorable reviews. Critics praised the game's multiplayer and fighting mechanics, but criticized its lack of content, still images in campaign mode and few cut scenes. The use of super moves as the only way to defeat a player had mixed reception. While some critics thought it lacked depth, others believed that filling up the meter to land a knock-out added strategy to an otherwise only decent fighting experience. The game currently holds a 74 score for the PlayStation 3 version and a 75 score for the PS Vita version on Metacritic.
Video game talk show Good Game's two presenters both gave the game an 6 out of 10. While the game's combat mechanics were praised, criticism was drawn towards the "flawed" Super Moves mechanic, saying, "In most fighting games each attack you do is chipping away your opponent's health bar. Or in Smash Bros it's adding to their damage counter, and the higher their damage the further your attacks knocked them, but in this game all you have is the super meter! Each attack adds fuel to it. But if you miss with your super, all the attacking you did for the last few minutes amounts to nothing. Essentially all your progress is erased". The selection of playable characters also drew criticism, as the hosts felt many of the characters were added due to their marketing appeal rather than appropriateness for a fighting game.
IGN gave the game an 8/10, declaring "It combines characters, environments and ideas into a tight package that’s worthy of consideration for anyone who owns a PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita and considers themselves a brand loyalist or simply a longtime fan ... I know it’ll be hard for some skeptics to believe, but PlayStation All-Stars is its own game, and it even happens to do some things better than what inspired it." GameSpot gave the game a 6.5/10, commenting "There are better, more fluid games out there for the serious fighter, and there are more accessible ones for those interested in a bit of silliness. In attempting to mix the two, PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale merely ends up being competent at both and the master of neither." On December 21, 2012, the game was nominated for IGN's Best Overall Fighting Game and won the IGN People's Choice Award. The game also received Fighting Game of the Year, at the 2013 D.I.C.E. Summit's Interactive Achievement Awards.