I love a good spectacle crossover fighter. The action a fighting game brings to the table is only enhanced when the fighters are from different franchises or mediums, altogether. This is why it would not take a rocket scientist to guess that my favorite fighting game series ever is “Super Smash Bros.” There is something inherently grand about seeing Pikachu beat the tar out of Star Fox, and I find that infinitely amusing.
By the amount of recognition Smash Bros. gets these days, it was only a matter of time before Sony or Microsoft got the nerve to release their own crossover fighter, and Sony beat Microsoft to the punch with “PlayStation All-Stars: Battle Royale.”
“Battle Royale” lets the player take control of a variety of popular PlayStation characters and beat the ever-loving snot out of each other. Because of the obvious comparisons to Smash Bros., you might assume Sony just ran it through the photocopier, replaced all the Links with Jaks, and called it all a day. Well fret not consumer, because Sony actually put some effort into making this game not feel like a knock-off.
The first major difference is the victory condition. Whereas Smash Bros. has you catapulting your enemy into the sides of the screen, “Battle Royale” prefers a more tactical approach to winning. The more the player fights, blocks and combos, the more the AP bar at the bottom of the screen fills. Once it is full, the player can then perform a super move to kill opponents and win the match, somewhat like fatalities in “Mortal Kombat” games.
The roll call for “Battle Royale” is well-rounded, and each character feels unique. Unlike “Smash Bros. Brawl,” all the characters in the game are available from the get-go, which earns it massive kudos from me and everybody else tormented by endless hours of “Subspace Emissary” grind. There are a few hiccups in the casting, however.
The first: Cole McGrath of “Infamous” shows up twice as good and evil versions of himself, which I am sure the developers will play off as being clever. But it looks like they either got lazy or ran out of ideas for characters. And let us not forget the stunning lack of X-chromosomes in the cast. There are only two female fighters at this point. A free downloadable female character is on the way, but I feel like there could have been more done to alleviate that, and do right by female characters more than Nintendo has done in the past.
“Battle Royale” manages to be fun, visceral and is a great start for Sony’s newest spectacle fighter. It is the perfect game for anybody looking for an interesting mix-up in the fighting genre, or looking to see Nathan Drake slapped in the face with a fish by Sackboy.
