Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

10 Hours or Less

The Bottom Line:

"Surprisingly good"

What this game lacks in unlockables and a compelling arcade mode, makes up for fun multi-player action. When my brother and I first picked it up I was skeptical. The online videos looked bland and slow before the release. It wasn't until after 2 hours of playing did I realize that SuperBot made it work and I'm still itching for more. All the characters were different in their ways. Where as some preferred long range (Colonel Radec) others preferred to be in your face (Heihachi). The maps even surprised me, they transferred into phases smoothly.

We played default settings first. All items, 3 minute time limit, and point race. I was quick to notice that learning the controls were easy. L1+direction was a roll, X was jump, R2 was the meter attack, moving the R stick was a throw, Square are melee attacks, Triangle are ranged, and Circle are specials. They each have a tap, up+button, towards enemy+button, and down+button. Experimenting is key to finding combos that work together. Jak's down+circle will launch people into the air and his up+circle launches a blast into the air. We were both in an arms race and wouldn't tell each other what we learned. For an hour he was able to throw without me knowing how.

The default mode was constant combat in our 1v1. As our meters are built and used we were both able to count how many points we each had. 3 minutes doesn't give enough time to dish out serious points, but a small handful. The first meter builds up quite quickly, which allows you to hit a small target area. The second meter grants a larger hit radius, some characters get to run around with instant kills. (Heihachi summons Kuma to do that for him.) Meter three is a drag to get to, but if you reach it, you should be able to kill the same person 2-3 times. Some though kill everyone on the map. If you ever want to knock AP out of someone you'll need to use the map hazards or a throw. If you know how to push people into different directions then the hazards are a great way to keep them down. If there aren't any traps on the map though, then throwing them will take out a good chunk.

When we switched the game to no items, stock fights the game seemed to slow down a lot for us. We had all the time in the world to build up to our level three meters and the minutes added up. The conclusions would be hectic, both down to one stock racing for the first meter level. I think that's where the stock prevails at. The struggle of a losing fight and turning it to your favor. This is probably my favorite mode out of them all.

Arcade mode was like any other, player vs. computers. There are three difficulties: easy, medium and hard. Game types would switch during matches and the more games played the more computers show up. Beating Arcade doesn't do much other than learning why the character is here, gaining xp for the character, and a trophy.

The xp system isn't that exciting. The more battles a character goes through the more points it'll get. This does unlock customizable features, like: how they enter and leave the stage, victory music, taunt, a costume, and banner icons for online play.

Speaking of online play, I played only a couple times late in the morning and drunk. It was hectic in my experience I'm not sure if it was a combination of my lack of soberness and sleepiness or if I was just bad. To be fair I spent hours with 1v1, throwing myself into a tournament FFA was quite a change.

In the end, it was a good investment. The character list is good for the first release. Sony should've spent more advertising this game. I am also hoping that Sony continues with the series and further refines what they have.

On a side note, I couldn't help thinking of the release of the first Super Smash Bros. The roster was small, but as a child I didn't care. Makes me miss how I used to play games back then. Oh well.