PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale Review

PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale is Sony’s answer to Super Smash Bros. The game features a wide host of iconic PlayStation characters who go head-to-head in this fighter.

It’s been quite some time since this title first launched, but thanks to PlayStation Plus it has been revived. I originally had no intention to download it, but decided to do so after a good friend also mentioned they were downloading it. As one who doesn’t typically play fighting games, I didn’t go into it expecting to really be good. Well, at least I was right on that part!

PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale features an offline Arcade Mode, character trials, an online tournament, and a versus mode that let’s you go up against friends or AI. Arcade Mode has 20 “different” stories you can play through, one for each character. I say “different” because really, they are basically the same.

Each character has an introduction and opening cutscene related to the game they are from, followed by a gauntlet of battles. This gauntlet of battle is the same format for each and every one, only varying in which characters you face. At the end, you’ll have another cutscene before you fight a specific character. These characters will always fight each other at the end in their respective stories. After that match, you have a boss fight where you face off against a giant head. The only thing that differs from story to story is which characters you have to go up against. Once you clear that fight, you get the previously mentioned ending cutscene related to their game. After your second or third time playing an arcade mode storyline, this starts to become a major drag.

Thankfully, the online mode can at least shake things up more. You’ll be pitted against random people, though unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be much balancing in how it chooses who you go up against. I was facing people who had clearly been playing for a very long time in my first few online matches.

The game looks great for a PlayStation 3 game, though that’s not very surprising seeing as it’s a Sony game. The voices are great, though a little more variety in the music would have been nice. The UI isn’t overly complicated which is nice. The game also features support for an arcade stick, so those who prefer to play their fighters with a stick instead of a controller may use that option.

PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale is a decent game with a nice varied cast. It’s not too difficult to get into, though anyone wanting to play at a higher level will find the challenge there. You’ll need to learn to dodge super attacks and how to land your own. The level 3 super attacks are flashy, though some are a bit lackluster. On the other hand though, some level 3 super attacks feel slightly cheap. For fans of fighters, I’d suggest picking up the game, especially since the online is now a bit more active due to it being on PlayStation Plus.

PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale Single Player Review Score

1.5/5

Extremely repetitive. It starts to drag on you trying to get through them all.

PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale Multiplayer Review Score

3.5/5

Much better than the single player, but a better tiering system so you aren’t randomly placed against someone who is just going to wipe the floor with you (high level player) would be great.

This review is based off the PlayStation 3 version, though the PlayStation Vita version appears to be very similar. The game is available for purchase on Amazon, GameStop, and PlayStation Network.