PlayStation All Stars beta impressions

When PlayStation All Stars Battle Royale was first announced I had said that I was hoping that it was more like Marvel vs Capcom, now that I have played some of the beta, I still retain that belief. This is a blatant rip off of the Super Smash Brothers games with very little that makes it unique from that Nintendo franchise. The beta, released for PS+ members and a public released next week, is well made, and from the few matches I played didn't see any hick ups. I just don't think that the game itself is very exciting. In Smash, it's a controlled chaos where you knew where you were at the whole time, in Battle you can't really see what you are doing. This is mostly caused by the camera being as far from the battle itself. It does get close when the players are together, but not as close as Smash. To make matters worse, when you and another person pick the same character your user name is not hovering above that character you had picked. This makes the fights more about finding yourself than actually fighting the other players.

It plays much like Smash, but in Smash you had combos you can do, but for Battle it has a three button layout and the difference between the characters are just to minimal to notice. I was planning on writing about each character in the demo; Kratos, Fat Princess, Sly Cooper, PaRapper the Rapper, Sweet Tooth, and Colonel Radec, but they don't really have anything different between the. Kratos will uses his blades as you would expect to, and Radec will use weapons as you expect to. The problem with using Sweet Tooth and Radec is that they use weapons like guns and rockets. They don't go that far, but I can see it being abused. There are power ups that relates to the map, like in the God of War map Kratos weapons from the games falls from the sky and anybody can pick it up. In one match, I played as PaRapper the Rapper and I picked up the Boots of Hermes and it does what it should. While the attacks wasn't fast, he was. It can get you to the other side of the map faster, but not much else. There are other weapons and boosts to pick up.

It's all not like Smash though. The more unique stuff is the highlight of the beta. The are two maps you can play from. Metropolis from Ratchet and Clank, and Hades from God of War. During the match the map would change. In Metropolis, it would change from Ratchet and Clank to the three Hydra stage from God of War. The music would start as Ratchet and it would seamlessly change to the God of War theme with out a misstep. It's pretty cool that they did that. While this is a beta, I just hope that the maps isn't fixed. I would love to see it change to Ratchet and Clank to Uncharted, or Uncharted to PaRapper the Rapper without a missing a beat to the music. Another thing is that the maps have death traps that relates to the map itself. Hades will attack you during the God of War map. It won't kill you out right, but it will make you in a daze.

In the long run, I can't see this being a big hit that Sony hopes to be. What made the Smash brothers such a huge success was the interaction with other players on one screen. This can be applied to Battle. It may be great fun with other players, but for online it will be severely lacking. It's got some good ideas, but it won't replace Smash Brothers in terms of gameplay and interactivity.

Dishonored review

There's a new game out there that takes the best of two worlds, and creates it into something great. Take the best part of Bioshock and the best part of Deus Ex: Human Revolution, and what you should get is Dishonored. Dishonored is a brand new IP, and if this turns into a series, I can expect great things from it. Dishonored takes you in the role of a bodyguard, Corvo Attano, who witness the brutal death of a High Priestess he was sworn to protect. With her body at his feet Corvo is blamed for the death and is set to prison. This is where the story of revenge begins. You get most of the training while you escape. You can sneak past everyone, or kill everyone on sight. The choice is entirely up to you. This is what this game excels at, choice. It may not look all that clear, but if you look around you will find what you need.
One of the smart things about Dishonored is the ability to check out the way you play the game. Each mission takes about an hour, or 90 minutes to complete. It's a meaty game with multiple ways to play, and it encourages you to try each one. Most of the time in Dishonored, you will be called to assassinate high ranking officers. These sections of the game are thrilling, exciting, and the most rewarding. Getting there can be just as tense. Thankfully, you have supernatural abilities at your disposal to use. You can see through walls, move quickly to one place to another, and even posses rats. Anything you need to do to eliminate your target is all there. The only thing keep you from doing that perfect playthrough is runes. Runes are there to help you upgrade your abilities and even giving you new ones. The more the runes are needed the better the upgrade. Unfortunately, you can't carry over your new found abilities once you finish the game. So the replayability is diminished. There is also bone charms, which gives you small boosts when you find them. One will make your sword swing faster, or one will make you climb faster. These and the Runes are easy to find, but a bit of a challenge to get to.


There are two main ways to play the game, lethal or nonlethal. Nonlethal is a lot of fun. Lethal, however, does come with a downside. When it comes to combat, the game isn't as exciting as the rest of the game. It just consisted of, how is attacking me and where are they at. You can use your abilities to make it easier on you, but it's just better off to try not to kill anyone. When I did kill anyone in the game, it was because I was seen and there was a small band of guards attacking me. I tried to go as nonlethal as possible. Careful planning is what you need if you plan to ghost the entire game.

The story is solid enough, until that third act rolls around. I love a good plot twist, but I don't like plot twist that is there just to make the game longer. If that third act never came, I would have greatly enjoyed the game more. It takes everything that made most of the game great and tosses it aside. There was no point whatsoever for what happens. The ending wasn't even satisfying.

One of the best things about Dishonored is the look of the game. It's not dark and full of brown it's got this distilled look that shows signs that this world was once beautiful. There's history in this world, and the dozens or so books and notes you will find will help you invest in this world. The voice cast is solid enough. It's got A list talent like Susan Sarandon, Brad Dourif, and Chloe Grace Moretz. While it's nothing amazing as you would expect, it's still great enough to believe in the characters. The loading 99 percent of the time isn't long, but there was a mission where the load time became too long, and I had to restart the mission over. Thankfully this was a one time event as the rest of the game played smoothly.

Despite the major gripes I have with the game, I still enjoyed most of it. The third act, no carry over, and combat is the worst part of the game, because the lack of carry over I can't see myself play this again. It's a great game to have for the weekend, but there is not much to go back to. If you do decide to play it again, at least you know that you can play using a different strategy.