Playstation All-Star Battle Royale review

By Kyle Lawrence

Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale is a fighting game for the PS Vita and Playstation 3
featuring many prominent Playstation console stars such as Sly Cooper, Nathan Drake, and Parappa the
Rappa.

This formula gave Nintendo the highly successful Super Smash Bros. series, but leaves Sony
with a game that has mediocre sales and reviews. So what went wrong?

Originally the project was meant to be developed by big name Naughty Dog, the company behind Crash Bandicoot, Jak and Daxter, and Uncharted but dropped the project. It was then SuperBot Entertainment was formed specifically to work on the game. As development continued a lot of information on the project leaked such as characters, play style, and stages. Much of this information received a negative response from fans.

Some complaints were about the ill-fitting character roster which ranged from the Sackboy from the E-rated LittleBigPlanet series, to the murderous clown Sweet Tooth from the T to M-rated Twisted Metal games. Others complained about the combat system, mainly the fact that players could only knock each other out using “Super Moves” which must be charge up throughout the fight. A concept similar to this is seen in Super Smash Bros. Brawl where whoever breaks open the Smash Ball gets to use a special ability.The difference is that these “Smash Moves” are not required to knock out your opponent.

It’s hard to say what the definite reason for the game’s failure was, but from playing it I can say that the game really does feel like a poor man’s Super Smash Bros. To make matters worse, Sony allegedly has severed its ties with the company it created, SuperBot Entertainment, leading to layoffs at the company. All in all what should’ve been Sony’s answer to the Super Smash Bros. series will most likely be remembered as a flop that will leave Sony, SuperBot Entertainment, and all the players who hoped for the game’s success with a sour taste in their mouths.

 

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