Destructoid Preview: PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale (beta)

Destructoid:

Clone. Ripoff. Copycat. Call it what you want, but PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale is a game that stands on its own. There have been a couple games that have aped the style of Super Smash Bros. in the past, but none of them attempted to rewrite the rulebook like Sony has with All-Stars.

This is a game that demos incredibly well at preview events. It’s easy to get lost in the novelty of seeing beloved characters on-screen, surrounded by chaos and overwhelming visuals. While the game didn’t play like junk, it was hard to get a sense at E3 of how much depth and replayability the game would have once it hits retail. It also was impossible to find out how good the netcode would be. Now that I got extensive time with the beta (to be released to the public soon), I have the answers I was looking for.

[prototypeknuckles]

if this game istill called a clone then smash bros is too, of outfoxxies, look it up.

[smashcrashbash]

Sounds like they liked it and it just needs a few tweaks and adjustments

[Larry L]

First of all, what happened to betas having NDAs? Not that I mind reading about betas, but it seems like every website talks about their experiences in betas. Do companies no longer use NDAs?

On the topic of this game, I agree with this articles one real gripe about the game. WHile I LOVE that there are no ring-outs like Smash has, and I LOVE that the game is far more deep and all characters feel and play differently unlike Smash. I think that on the surface the game looks like Smash, but when you actually play it, you see the similarity kind of ends there. And I LOVE that as well..................but I really think, after playing the game (though I thought this before too), that the game 100% needs at least a game mode that uses actual Health Bars for point and death counts, instead of just Super-kills.

I just know I'd prefer playing the game with Health Bar based deaths. I think that makes it more skill and strategy based, instead of just "who's got the most spammable Super" based.

And I'm not even saying it's bad how it is now without the Health Bars. I just know I want the option as someone who's going to be buying this game.

[telekineticmantis]

and I use to feel the same, but just go play SmashBros (preferably online) for about an hour if you can, and you'll see why they chose not to use health bars and ringouts.

Health bars are made for 2 player fighting games, not brawlers IMO, because with 4 players in a match, you can lose unfairly all the time. You could have someone in a corner beating the crap out of them, and all of a sudden someone just jumpps over there and gets the kill, now who gets the point?... not you.

That happened in SMashBros all the time, where you're using your quick attacks on someone, and someone walks up, charge attacks the guy and Ringout/KO's them.

Instead you have a system where you have to earnevey kill you get and have to use the lvl 1's and 2's well, and try to prevent opponents from going GOD MODE with lvl 3's by Knocking out their AP. Even with the GOD MODE lvl 3's they take so long to get, you can easily get alot more kills with your lvl 1's and 2's and win each game.

[Larry L]

I understand all of that, and as I said, I like that all stars doesn't have ring-outs. That's great.

But as I said before. The two games only look similar on the surface. The gameplay is FAR more deep than Smash. I don't think you can compare kill stealing in Smash to what it would be like in All Stars with a health bar. It would certainly still happen, and it's a valid strategy imo, but it would be less of a nagging issue because with all the attacks in the move-sets of every character, and the Supers on top of that, you have the opportunity AND ability to finish off your opponent in a single engagment. Any level Super hitting would take alot of health, at least half.

It's not as easy to finish off your opponent in Smash because of the limited moves and strategies. The longer it takes to finish of an opponent 1 on 1, the more of chance there is for someone to come in and steal your kill with a stronger attack than you can throw.

All that said though..........I just want it as an option. I don't care what the default setting for the game is when it comes out. And the whole single player can use that default rule set. I just want the ability to make a "room" with health bars if I so choose. Let the gamers decide which way they prefer playing.

It will help with reviews too at least having the option. One less thing for reviewers to use to bash the game when it comes out, which you just KNOW the reviewers are rubbing their hands and licking their chops in anticipation of ripping this game apart in any way they can in the final reviews regardless of how positively they talk about it in previews.

[Omar91]

"If Sony wanted a Smash clone, they have failed. Because what they have is something much more, unique and special with PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale."

well that says it all for me. simply cannot wait till this game comes out