8.5

PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale
Available on PS3  (reviewed) & PS Vita

It’s finally time to end the debates with your friends over who would win a fight between Ratchet & Clank and Jak & Daxter, because Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale has arrived. Featuring 20 of some of the most iconic characters from the Playstation universe and letting you battle it out on various themed stages, Battle Royale may look like a simple Super Smash Bros. Clone on the surface but in fact it is a much deeper fighting experience than what you would expect. Although it has some gameplay issues and a lack of features, Battle Royale is still a really fun and accessible beat-em-up game.

Gameplay

The roster of fighters included in Battle Royale has a decent variety. You’ve got the modern day classics like Kratos, Nathan Drake and Cole (both good and evil versions) as well as some long forgotten characters such as Sir Daniel Forsythe and PaRappa the Rapper. Each character has unique skills and abilities during battle, with no two characters punch or kicks looking and feeling the same. It can lead to some unbalancing in the gameplay though. While I was playing on the highest difficulty as Kratos against Toro (the Japanese Playstation mascot) I found that Kratos’ range on his attacks was much further than Toro’s, making it difficult for the AI to attack me in some situations.

For some players it can be easy to think that Battle Royale is merely a clone of Smash Bros. In a way they are right, but it all depends on how you play the game. There’s nothing stopping you from button mashing your enemies to death, but what Battle Royale does differently is introduce a combo system. While it can be a little tricky to get used to, thanks to some handy combo tutorials included in the game you can soon learn the best ways to win with your favourite characters. Combos are essential to filling up your ‘super meter’ which lets you pull off some awesome finishing moves and gain you points. Unfortunately this is the only way that you can defeat your opponents in Battle Royale; you only get stunned for a short period of time if you fall off a stage unlike in Smash Bros. This can lead to some further unbalanced gameplay as it is more likely that a more experienced fighting gamer will level up quicker and in turn get points quicker and much easier than others. Still, balancing issues aside, the game’s helpful tutorials will help you get off on the right foot in order for you to become a pro at the game. 

Graphics

Battle Royale runs at an impressive 60 frames per second without fail ever time you play, even with all the explosions and particle effects coming from both your characters and the arenas. Character models look great, but aren’t up to the standard you would find from the original source material. It makes sense why they had to lower the quality in order to improve performance, but it’s obvious at some times. If you play through each character’s campaign, towards the end you will be gifted with a cut scene in which your character will stumble upon their rival (another character in the game), and it results in some rather humorous and entertaining viewing; Jak and Ratchet’s confrontation is helped by the banter between Daxter and Clank, and Sackboy and Big Daddy’s standoff is fuelled by some surprisingly well executed charm.

When booting up my copy of Battle Royale, my first reaction to the game was, “oh, is that the menu?” It’s not a pretty sight, with big blocky text and dull greys making up most of the navigation. It gets the job done but it certainly doesn’t feel as cohesive as the rest of the game. The opening and closing cinematics of each character’s story is a little lacklustre as well. Instead of fully animated sequences we are given some roughly put together slideshows which aren’t engaging whatsoever. Feel free to skip those, but don’t skip the rivalry cut scenes. They’re totally worth watching.

Audio

The most impressive thing about Battle Royale is that they managed to get every single original voice actor to come back and reprise their roles for the game. Nathan Drake is as witty as ever thanks to Nolan North, and Daxter is as funny as ever thanks to the superb voice of Max Casella. It’s great to hear all your favourite characters’ banter as your fight your way to victory and helps make the game much more engaging. The game also features some of the original musical scores from the original games as well, which is a great inclusion. The opening track “Finale” by French producer Madeon is played constantly throughout the game as you navigate the menus, and while it is a really fitting song for the opening cinematic, it can get a little old after a while.

Final Thoughts

Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale is a great fighting game, and is a lot deeper than you might think. The combo and levelling up systems work well, although they create some balancing issues. While the current roster of 20 characters may feel a little small at the moment, DLC has been announced which will add two more characters (and it’s free for a limited time), and it’s expected that more characters will be added next year. Online play is an absolute blast especially with friends, and the newly implemented Cross-Play feature, which allows Playstation Vita users to play multiplayer against Playstation 3 owners, works surprisingly well, and a PS Vita copy of the game is included free with the PS3 version. If you’ve been looking for an accessible fighting game that’s also a worthy party game, Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale is your answer.