PixlBit

So last night - after finishing up a project with some friends for our class, we decided to grab some brews and have a game marathon. Naturally, we gravitated over to playing Super Smash Bros. A couple hours and several drunken trash talk sessions later - we put down our controllers to figure out what to play next and one of my friends suggested Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale. Before this moment, I had no interest in trying this game. I saw it as a bad knock off of a very successful series, but while game has it's flaws I found it surprisingly polished, fun, and addictive.

Combat is fast and fairly easy to pick up. Like Smash, characters have one button that deals with up close physical attacks and another for semi-special attacks. I say semi-special because, unlike the SSB series, players also have a special bar which fills up and they attack with moves and items. Depending on what level the bar is at, the player can unleash one of three different character-killing moves which incidentally is the only way to kill another player (minus the Medusa Head item). This results in cat-and-mouse, tactical gameplay where you must decide whether you can rush in and gain energy or approach move cautiously in case you have to avoid a special. The inclusion of a very polished dodge, roll and block system makes combat exhilarating, though I disliked the fact that the jump button was not up on the control stick but rather the X button.

Each character's playstyle is unique and it was a lot of fun to expirement and find the character that fit into my prefered playstyle. Unfortunately, balance is a little bit of an issue in this game. There are some characters that are extremely easy to control and have ridiculous special abilities that can kill other players multiple times in a row.

Stages are exciting and colorful. Each stage reprosents a single Playstation game but throughout the course of a match - other game's themes will explode into the forefront of your view. It was a "blast" to play through and see the creativity that was put into each stage. However, I do agree with some reviews that the quiz section on the LittleBigPlanet level asked really obscure questions - but I still had a fun time. Unfortunately, the stages are so bright and interactive and it is easy to lose track of your character. I found myself accidently stepping into one of my friend's special moves multiple times when I thought I was somewhere else.

I can't speak for the single player since I did not have a chance to try it but, all-in-all, I would recommend this game for anyone who wants to have friends over and settle some game supremacy desputes (lol) -- or to just have a great time with an entertaining party game.

-thEdeRpMaSTer