PlayStation All-Stars: Battle Royale Review

schwitz

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It annoys me how there's nearly more characters that aren't even exclusive Sony creations on this list. Like Big Daddy? I mean, C'mon Sony, everyone knows BioShock started on PC and X-Box, it didn't even release on Playstation till the next year...

Nintendo's Games worked so well because all of the characters are conceivably from the same universe and have actually appeared in each others games before, eg Mario Kart. Each character has a motivation and relationship with the other characters, eg Mario vs DK is one of the longest running battles in video game history.

Sony's take on this was to grab a bunch of characters and dump them into environments from each other universes, none of these characters have existed with or next to one another and just don't make sense as to why they are there in the first place.
 

walrusaurus

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still pissed that it doesn't have spyro and crash.... not that i would buy it even if it did. noone else i know owns a PS3.
 

yunabomb

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schwitz said:
Nintendo's Games worked so well because all of the characters are conceivably from the same universe and have actually appeared in each others games before, eg Mario Kart. Each character has a motivation and relationship with the other characters, eg Mario vs DK is one of the longest running battles in video game history.

Sony's take on this was to grab a bunch of characters and dump them into environments from each other universes, none of these characters have existed with or next to one another and just don't make sense as to why they are there in the first place.
I have no idea where you got the bolded statement from. Ness, Samus, Mario, and Link exist in wildly different universes.

In regards to your last paragraph, Nintendo did the same thing. Capcom did it too.
 

schwitz

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yunabomb said:
schwitz said:
all of the characters are conceivably from the same universe
I have no idea where you got the bolded statement from. Ness, Samus, Mario, and Link exist in wildly different universes.

In regards to your last paragraph, Nintendo did the same thing. Capcom did it too.
Ok, to be fair you are correct on that. But Nintendo characters at least have a similar feel/theme/notSureWhatToPutHere.
In the new games Mario and Sonic work in the same game because they have been in previous titles together such as the Beijing Olympics, even though they originate from completely different systems. The only people that haven't are the Lone Protagonist type like your Samus, Link and Ness.

What I should've said was something more along the lines of this:
Tombsite said:
It is a thematic thing I guess. The SSB characters somehow made it all look like somebody had taken all his favourite action figures out of the toy chest and had a pretend fight. This... this just looks random and not at all... cohesive.
And I agree, this just looks messy with a clash of visual styles and backgrounds. Detracts from the game quite a lot for me.
 

FrioJenkins

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Apr 1, 2010
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Now if only Microsoft could do a smash clone, too bad all of their exclusives involve Master Chief, Marcus Fenix, and who else? Forza Motorsport cars? lol
 

DeManix

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Sylveria said:
DeManix said:
The only reason I may want to get this is to play as Nariko again. Man, I really hope there's a Heavenly Sword 2...
Well if you need a fix of shitty DMC ripoffs from Ninja Theory, their awful DMC reboot comes out in January. There's also that Enslaved garbage they pumped out a couple years back.
Hmm someone's not a fan I see... if you're going to call out Heavenly Sword on being a ripoff of anything, it would be God Of War. But I think it's still a fun game in it's own right, way too short but had an incredible look with some great graphics for the time, and if you're gonna rip off any game's gameplay and have it still be really fun, it would be God Of War.
 

TheEvilCheese

Cheesey.
Dec 16, 2008
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On the one hand, it sounds like Smash Bros with more organic combat. This is a good thing. It also has some very interesting characters and stages.

However, the win condition is effectively the final smash, albeit a tad less random, which was the worst part of Brawl for me.


Not for me, but I hope it does well. More crazy 4-way fighters are always fun.
 

jinroom

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Oct 3, 2011
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Well, now we know for sure that sony just copy/paste everything that nintendo do.
 

Baron_Rouge

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j-e-f-f-e-r-s said:
Mike Kayatta said:
j-e-f-f-e-r-s said:
TizzytheTormentor said:
Wow, one of my friends will be picking this up, I am definitely beating him up and stealing his PS3 going to his house to play it!

It is a shameless Super Smash Bros clone, but who cares since it was done well!
I dunno... I think there's far too much of this mentality in the industry, and not enough attempt at actual original creativity. How many games out there are just rehashes of more popular games? Think of all the military shooters that end up being COD-clones, or the MMOs that end up being WOW-clones.

If we want to get actual creativity back in the industry, then we need to send developers the message that we want original ideas, not rehashes of stuff we've already seen.
Originality is great, but I'm not sure it's the only measure by which to judge content. This game is actually a great example of that very idea. They took a beloved concept and tried to rebrand it for both a new audience (PS3) and a more modern one (we haven't had a good Smash game in over ten years, dude). Look, I want to see new stuff too, but I also just want to see good stuff.

The fact of the matter is that from a business perspective, "new idea" is synonymous with "high-risk endeavor", and will always be considered such as long as the people funding development are not the same as the people developing. So, accepting that we live in a world where the majority of creative output, movies and games alike, is going to be shackled to past success, let's at least be happy when something comes along that's actually well-made and enjoyable, "originality" aside.
Thing is, if we use PSA as an example, seemingly everything that's 'good' about it is something lifted straight from Super Smash Bros. From what I've seen at any rate, and reviews haven't exactly done much to argue that point.

Which means that you can't really credit the game for doing anything good at all, seeing as all the good stuff actually comes from somewhere else.

Imagine it like this: I could get a pencil and some tracing paper, and trace over the Mona Lisa. Hypothetically, anyway. And if I took long enough, I could trace a copy of the painting that has all the detail of the original. That doesn't mean my trace copy has any real greatness, however. All the detail, all the beauty comes from the original. The details I've managed to capture are simply taken from another source, and it is with them that inherent 'quality' lies.

Obviously, a lot of developing games is taking ideas from other games and mashing them together in different ways. But when a game sticks so rigidly and clearly to the template set by another game, then I honestly believe that anything that the former does well is purely reflective of the quality of the latter.

The worst thing that can happen in any creative medium is homogeny. Homogeny is indicative of a lack of free thinking, creativity and inspiration. Even worse, homogeny creates boredom in the eyes of the viewer. If the only things being offered are variations on the same idea, then eventually the viewer will bugger off to find originality somewhere else, in another creative medium. You can argue that homogeny serves the interests of business, but we have seen time and time again that business interests, especially in the gaming industry, are short-term, short-sighted and have almost no concern on quality. Claiming that homogeny makes publishers more money doesn't negate the fact that it's a short term approach which focuses on making a quick buck over engaging the long term of gamers.

We're seeing this already. Game sales, especially console game sales, are heading downwards, and console sales aren't doing too hot either. The reason, partly, is to do with the fact that everything just looks so damn similar now. What's the point of buying a game, however well made it is, if it doesn't do anything different from all the other games out there?

Sorry, but as far as I'm concerned, originality and creativity are the only things that make great games what they are. You look at any 'Best games of all time' list, and it will be populated by games that were made with fresh, creative ideas. That is what we should be encouraging developers to aim for, not simply making identikit versions of already succesful games.
Ahem. I'm afraid I must take issue with your statement, sir. It's actually quite different to Smash Bros. While the concept is similar, the gameplay isn't, except in the sense that it's part of the same genre. The focus on super attacks means that aggression is key; you can't have defensive characters or strategies like in Smash Bros. It's much less about trying to survive and much more about trying to inflict as much damage as possible, especially because you can't step in and finish off a weaker character after someone else has done most of the damage. It's more of an arms race type of thing. Additionally, in Smash Bros, the focus in on spatial awareness; where you are in the level makes a huge difference. In All Stars, there are hazards, but few are game changing, so it's more about how much damage you can do than where you are. It also has an extra button for attacks, meaning that there's much greater potential for combos, and to me at least, it seems more technical and less accessible than Smash Bros.

Now I've only had the game for about 6 hours, but those are two things I've noticed already to differentiate it from Smash Bros. It feels tangibly different, and so far the more I play it, the more I realise how different it is. It has a similar premise to Smash Bros, but it's most certainly not a clone.

Just to clarify, I love Smash Bros. It's fantastic, and was easily my most played Wii game. However, this is fantastic too, I even prefer it in many ways, and it'd be foolish to dismiss it as just a Smash Bros clone, just like it'd be foolish to dismiss Mortal Kombat as a Street Fighter clone, or Uncharted as a Tomb Raider clone, because just like those two franchises, this game has stepped out from the shadow of its influences and offered a completely new experience, despite the surface similarities.
 

cainx10a

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second vita game I purchased. Hoping there will be "more" characters later. While I did not exactly keep with the game previews and what's not, I am genuinely surprised Solid Snake is missing from this game. Hopefully, Snake, Gabriel Logan and other PS heroes/villains will show up. And I want a damn Wanzer or Armored Core in this game too. :s
 

putowtin

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Jul 7, 2010
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I must have missed something
I played the beta of this and really wasn't all that impressed
And you know me, I'll praise anything that has Cole MacGrath in it!
 

captnb2thep

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Dec 30, 2010
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People here keep saying that MOST of the roster is multiplatform. Here is a COMPLETE roster list and I am counting 16 out of 20 (or 15 out of 19 because of two coles) that are 100% exclusive to Sony games OR owned by Sony Computer Entertainment*

Evil Cole
Good Cole
Nathan Drake
Colonel Radec (Killzone)
Fat Princess
Jak and Daxter
Ratchet and Clank
Sly Cooper
Kratos
Sackboy
Sweet Tooth* (Twisted Metal 2 had a watered down PC port, but Sony owns Twisted Metal)
Toro Inue
Spike (Ape Escape)
Nariko
Parappa The Rapper
Sir Daniel Fortesque (MediEvil)

First DLC Characters (free for a week after they are released):
Emmett Graves from Starhawk
Kat from Gravity Rush

The multiplatform/third party characters are:
Heihachi Mishima
Big Daddy
Dante
Raiden from Metal Gear

So that is only 4 out of 22 confirmed characters that ARENT exclusive to Sony platforms. Sorry, that was just getting to me and I wanted to clear that up lol.
 

Mike Kayatta

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Aug 2, 2011
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The Tall Nerd said:
Mike Kayatta said:
(we haven't had a good Smash game in over ten years, dude)
i call shenanigans
brawl was great, also had a better roster, that i could appreciate, and i could hack the hell out of it and make the roster even better.
also no one can give me a valid reason why brawl was bad? besides nostalgia
but if you have one go for it
:D
So, let me preempt this by saying that this is all personal opinion, and I totally understand if you dug Brawl. My issue is that Melee was designed with extremely tight controls, and with the exception of a few characters (Pichu comes to mind) had an extremely balanced roster with only a few clones. Brawl had this amazingly sweeping score, an awesome assortment of stages, and yes, a cool roster ... on paper. It was neat seeing those characters, but actually playing them? Not so much. Controls were floaty--much more geared to the casual fighter crowd--and lots of characters were just too weak to play competitively. And then there was the Wii Remote as primary controller. I know you could hook in a Wavebird, etc. but I'm not a fan of needing 15-year-old console accessories to enjoy a modern game. On top of that, the online mode was broken (granted Melee didn't have one at all).

Regardless of if you agree or disagree with that, if you liked Melee, and even if you like Brawl, I would totally consider trying Project M. http://projectm.dantarion.com/ It's a mod that does not require you to hack/mod/or otherwise tamper with your Wii in any way. Play a few rounds using Project M and I think you'll see the difference.