So what are my first impressions of the PSASBR beta? Not good.
Note: I only played this for 20-30 minutes... something... and it's just a first impression comment!!
It starts out with all the usual health info, user agreements, studio logos etc. Then it comes
to the "main menu" where you have the choice of: "ONLINE GAME". No options what so ever.
No single player mode (understandable). No training mode (alright, fair enough). No tutorial
(hmm, how should I play?). But then also, No options (I mean options as in settings now).
So x jumps, the other three face buttons are attacks.they behave differently depending on
if you are jumping, if you are jumping and pressing down, and if you stand still or if you move.
Nothing new, nothing wrong. I did not, however, grasp what different kind of attacks they all were!
The square button when standing still bitch-slapped with the killzone dude, while moving forward,
it brings you to your knees, standing still and shooting. alright? then, moving and pressing triangle
hits with the butt of the gun, while standing still it shoots... ah something like that. It was confusing
and I didn't understand it all. I tried all different kind of characters, and the main thing about the
attacks were also that none gave an impression of how heavy the hits were. Everything could be
countered, blocked... hitting someone with a grenade made them flinch a bit, just the same as a
bitch-slap did. And also, moving is quite fast, and jumpings is really fast.
The camera was very zoomed out all the time, except when the players all were together in one
single place, then it was zoomed in a lot, which was fun. However, the size of the very flat stages
in this beta were too big. It was just... flat, with some occasional platforms appearing. this made
it zoomed out a lot most of the time to see the whole stage, rendering the characters very small
and hard to distinguish. I have a 32" full HD TV, but things were still too small for me. And the only
thing that helped was the brightl coloured P1, P2, P3, and P4 above the character at all times.
Now, then you had to remember which one you were from match to match, which easily can be
seen on the bottom of the screen though... (Could've just said "YOU", or maybe only show an
arrow on yourself and not the opponents).
The graphics were sweet! absolutely nothing to complain about here! The models looked great
and the stages looked great as well. A lot of details and things. It was hard to see if some things
were bad or good though... as in: "Oh the patapons made it glow red on the floor on some places,
I wonder if it's something good or bad? Walk over there, nothing happens, and then BOOM,
shit starts flying from the sky hurting you" stuff. Sometimes the brightly colored stuff on the level
are power-up things... But that's stuff you just got to learn I guess.
On the supers. I have no idea still how they work. It felt really unbalanced somehow. With Kratos
first level super, pressing R2 make you throw a glowing hit, killing anyone you hit. You have to
be really precise, and it is kinda slow, so opponents jump out of the way easily. Parappa can
apparently summon a skateboard and go around for several seconds, killing everyone and wait
until they respawn and kill them a second time. While his highest level super shows a rap cutscene
killing everyone in one hit, no options. Killzone dude's highest level super make him into a war machine
and FPS shooting on everyone for several seconds, making it possible to kill people several times
when they respawn (one hit kills). Ice-cream-truck-dude from twisted metal turns into a car, transformer style
and begins shooting burst of shots (one hitters here as well) making it possible to kill all characters
time and time again.
Note here: Isn't Solid Snake's super attack in SSBB an FPS crosshair, shooting opponents? And
Star Fox's super is summoning a tank, shooting missiles? Those were very similar in execution in
my oppinion. Now, it might not be anything unique, I just wanted to point that out.
Now, the beta only contained 5 characters... Killzone-dude, Twisted Metal Clown-dude, Fat Princess,
Parappa and Kratos. Killzone-dude was really slow with attacking, short ranged attacks except
shooting, which was really slow. Kratos had long ranged attacks, was a lot quicker and flexible.
Like it should be, different styles! But the thing I said earlier that you didn't feel the weight of the
attacks, made this awkward. fast, long ranged attacks vs. slow short ranged attacks, and you don't
feel any difference using them. Maybe the meter fills more quickly with Killzone-dude? I didn't notice
since the action in itself was so quick that I'd be killed if I tried to see how much each and every attack
filled the meter.
When two people had the same character (what are the odds, in 4 people brawl, with 5 characters to
choose from? ;P ) there were some costume differences, like color... Ice-cream-truck-man ran around
in shorts... red-orange dotted if "player one" and green-yellow dotted if "player two"... I often started
following the wrong character since I didn't pay (enough) attention to the numbers floating above the character.
So for those who has played SSB, this feels like everyone is in Metal-mode, with bunny ears. Max out zoomed...
with sporadic items that sometimes are good to pickup, sometimes knocks you down when you get close.
But I must say, that It looks more like a SSB-clone than plays like one.
However, I'm not one who think it's bad to be a clone, I think it's bad to deny being a clone (or deny it looking like
a clone in this case).
But I would rather see they cloned the gameplay as well... It just wasn't enjoyable.
The super kill system is a bit unfair, as someone good can beat up someone not that good, a lot to earn
his super-meter-things... then go to another great player and unleash hell on him. One hit kill on someone
who played like a pro and didn't get hit once before.. That's... alright when you are four friends sitting
around the TV on local multiplayer mode, with a few beers... not now, not like this. :/
Now, once again, this is based on a 20-30 minute run, and is only the FIRST impressions. It just wasn't a good
first impression on me. But maybe I had set my expectations too high? I wanted a brawler just like SSB, with
more advanced attacks, heavier gameplay (like, the punching should feel rewarding), and more "mature"
unlockables than SSB. Now unlockables doesn't have anything to do with this beta impression of course! I'm just
saying what I was expecting from the FULL game, what I wished this would be. And with "mature unlockables", I
mean that they should matter. It should be rewarding to unlock stuff. Good stages, new characters (not just
variations of different characters, like many of SSB characters are. Dr mario plays just like mario, etc.), new
items, new soundtrack... things that would matter! Not like the SSB trophies, or stickers.. even though the stickers
do have a point in the solo game mode... it's not that rewarding to collect and unlock..
Well, it is a brawler that doesn't feel quite right while playing. It has more advanced attacks! different attacks and
the possibility of making combos! That's awesome! The "heavy gameplay".. nope, not the way I wanted it to be.
It is probably more physically correct, but not as fun. I punch in the face from a strong character should make you
fly 6 feet!
And the unlockables, that will have to wait for the real game to come out
Did I miss something? Do you wonder anything specific? Ask away.
And remember, this is only my oppinion! Others probably think it's great and others probably think it sucks monkeyfarts.
TL;DR VERSION
Whoa, I played Sony Smash Bros for 30 minutes!
How was it? Meh!
SSB Clone? Looks like it, doesn't play like it!
Note: I only played this for 20-30 minutes... something... and it's just a first impression comment!!
It starts out with all the usual health info, user agreements, studio logos etc. Then it comes
to the "main menu" where you have the choice of: "ONLINE GAME". No options what so ever.
No single player mode (understandable). No training mode (alright, fair enough). No tutorial
(hmm, how should I play?). But then also, No options (I mean options as in settings now).
So x jumps, the other three face buttons are attacks.they behave differently depending on
if you are jumping, if you are jumping and pressing down, and if you stand still or if you move.
Nothing new, nothing wrong. I did not, however, grasp what different kind of attacks they all were!
The square button when standing still bitch-slapped with the killzone dude, while moving forward,
it brings you to your knees, standing still and shooting. alright? then, moving and pressing triangle
hits with the butt of the gun, while standing still it shoots... ah something like that. It was confusing
and I didn't understand it all. I tried all different kind of characters, and the main thing about the
attacks were also that none gave an impression of how heavy the hits were. Everything could be
countered, blocked... hitting someone with a grenade made them flinch a bit, just the same as a
bitch-slap did. And also, moving is quite fast, and jumpings is really fast.
The camera was very zoomed out all the time, except when the players all were together in one
single place, then it was zoomed in a lot, which was fun. However, the size of the very flat stages
in this beta were too big. It was just... flat, with some occasional platforms appearing. this made
it zoomed out a lot most of the time to see the whole stage, rendering the characters very small
and hard to distinguish. I have a 32" full HD TV, but things were still too small for me. And the only
thing that helped was the brightl coloured P1, P2, P3, and P4 above the character at all times.
Now, then you had to remember which one you were from match to match, which easily can be
seen on the bottom of the screen though... (Could've just said "YOU", or maybe only show an
arrow on yourself and not the opponents).
The graphics were sweet! absolutely nothing to complain about here! The models looked great
and the stages looked great as well. A lot of details and things. It was hard to see if some things
were bad or good though... as in: "Oh the patapons made it glow red on the floor on some places,
I wonder if it's something good or bad? Walk over there, nothing happens, and then BOOM,
shit starts flying from the sky hurting you" stuff. Sometimes the brightly colored stuff on the level
are power-up things... But that's stuff you just got to learn I guess.
On the supers. I have no idea still how they work. It felt really unbalanced somehow. With Kratos
first level super, pressing R2 make you throw a glowing hit, killing anyone you hit. You have to
be really precise, and it is kinda slow, so opponents jump out of the way easily. Parappa can
apparently summon a skateboard and go around for several seconds, killing everyone and wait
until they respawn and kill them a second time. While his highest level super shows a rap cutscene
killing everyone in one hit, no options. Killzone dude's highest level super make him into a war machine
and FPS shooting on everyone for several seconds, making it possible to kill people several times
when they respawn (one hit kills). Ice-cream-truck-dude from twisted metal turns into a car, transformer style
and begins shooting burst of shots (one hitters here as well) making it possible to kill all characters
time and time again.
Note here: Isn't Solid Snake's super attack in SSBB an FPS crosshair, shooting opponents? And
Star Fox's super is summoning a tank, shooting missiles? Those were very similar in execution in
my oppinion. Now, it might not be anything unique, I just wanted to point that out.
Now, the beta only contained 5 characters... Killzone-dude, Twisted Metal Clown-dude, Fat Princess,
Parappa and Kratos. Killzone-dude was really slow with attacking, short ranged attacks except
shooting, which was really slow. Kratos had long ranged attacks, was a lot quicker and flexible.
Like it should be, different styles! But the thing I said earlier that you didn't feel the weight of the
attacks, made this awkward. fast, long ranged attacks vs. slow short ranged attacks, and you don't
feel any difference using them. Maybe the meter fills more quickly with Killzone-dude? I didn't notice
since the action in itself was so quick that I'd be killed if I tried to see how much each and every attack
filled the meter.
When two people had the same character (what are the odds, in 4 people brawl, with 5 characters to
choose from? ;P ) there were some costume differences, like color... Ice-cream-truck-man ran around
in shorts... red-orange dotted if "player one" and green-yellow dotted if "player two"... I often started
following the wrong character since I didn't pay (enough) attention to the numbers floating above the character.
So for those who has played SSB, this feels like everyone is in Metal-mode, with bunny ears. Max out zoomed...
with sporadic items that sometimes are good to pickup, sometimes knocks you down when you get close.
But I must say, that It looks more like a SSB-clone than plays like one.
However, I'm not one who think it's bad to be a clone, I think it's bad to deny being a clone (or deny it looking like
a clone in this case).
But I would rather see they cloned the gameplay as well... It just wasn't enjoyable.
The super kill system is a bit unfair, as someone good can beat up someone not that good, a lot to earn
his super-meter-things... then go to another great player and unleash hell on him. One hit kill on someone
who played like a pro and didn't get hit once before.. That's... alright when you are four friends sitting
around the TV on local multiplayer mode, with a few beers... not now, not like this. :/
Now, once again, this is based on a 20-30 minute run, and is only the FIRST impressions. It just wasn't a good
first impression on me. But maybe I had set my expectations too high? I wanted a brawler just like SSB, with
more advanced attacks, heavier gameplay (like, the punching should feel rewarding), and more "mature"
unlockables than SSB. Now unlockables doesn't have anything to do with this beta impression of course! I'm just
saying what I was expecting from the FULL game, what I wished this would be. And with "mature unlockables", I
mean that they should matter. It should be rewarding to unlock stuff. Good stages, new characters (not just
variations of different characters, like many of SSB characters are. Dr mario plays just like mario, etc.), new
items, new soundtrack... things that would matter! Not like the SSB trophies, or stickers.. even though the stickers
do have a point in the solo game mode... it's not that rewarding to collect and unlock..
Well, it is a brawler that doesn't feel quite right while playing. It has more advanced attacks! different attacks and
the possibility of making combos! That's awesome! The "heavy gameplay".. nope, not the way I wanted it to be.
It is probably more physically correct, but not as fun. I punch in the face from a strong character should make you
fly 6 feet!
And the unlockables, that will have to wait for the real game to come out Did I miss something? Do you wonder anything specific? Ask away.
And remember, this is only my oppinion! Others probably think it's great and others probably think it sucks monkeyfarts.
TL;DR VERSION
Whoa, I played Sony Smash Bros for 30 minutes!
How was it? Meh!
SSB Clone? Looks like it, doesn't play like it!
