【MultiVersus】First Trailer & Impressions

Ever since the release of Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl we understand that companies are actively aware of the dominated Platform Fighter genre that Nintendo has a hold on with Super Smash Bros. While some other games have attempted their hand, the most successful being Brawlhalla, we don’t really have anything major on normal consoles.

A rumor began circulating, talking about a game which featured characters like Batman, Superman, Wonderwoman, and even Finn & Jake from Adventure Time. Apparently this was in the works long before the Nickelodeon game, and now we find out that it’s actually true.

When it comes to MultiVersus, I am excited but also incredibly worried about a few of the things presented here.  Those come down to graphics, the 2v2 focus, game speed, and long-term support.  While I know WB Games is publishing this, First Player Games is a company I have never heard of, and while composed of some industry veterans, is still relatively new in nature.

The graphics were something I was hoping would be a massive improvement over what we saw in Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl, which were lackluster to say the least.  While visual aesthetic doesn’t have anything to do with the core gameplay, they are a nice addition that makes everything else go down easier.  MultiVersus does not look nearly as good as I hoped it would be.  While this is partially because I thought NetherRealm was going to be handling the production, it could just be because Super Smash Bros. series has given theirs an extreme amount of polish that I don’t think something going free-to-play like MultiVersus can match.  Also, there are ugly red and blue auras around teammates so that they can wear costumes with varying styles/colors while easily being able to tell who’s on their team; this is ugly, but probably necessary since the F2P model often has tons of store transactions to make their money.

The next thing is going to be the 2v2 focus.  Sure, I know that they mentioned that “1v1 will be a thing”, but we all know that the intended focus from the trailer is that MultiVersus is meant to be played in team scenarios.  In fact, some of the kit of a specific character seemed to be aimed towards utility in team-fight scenarios, possibly making them useless or less useful in individual showdowns.  While I am sure this will probably be addressed, I am still worried considering having a 1v1 section means that it will probably the the primary mode (competitively).

Something else I am quite worried about when it comes to MultiVersus is the speed of the gameplay we saw.  While Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl might be lacking in things like graphics, voice acting, and an amazing cast…it does have incredibly good gameplay.  Super Smash Bros. Melee has blindingly fast action which is great to watch, and MultiVersus seemed incredibly slow, floaty, and uninspired…something akin to Super Smash Bros. Brawl.  I am just hoping what we saw was an intentionally slowed product to showcase the nuances of gameplay.

As far as long-term support, this game will definitely have it…the problem is how responsive will it be to what the competitive community wants versus their “vision” for the game. MultiVersus will quickly get flocked to by everyone who play Super Smash Bros., Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl, Rivals of Aether, Brawlhalla, etc. This is because it’s a platform fighter that’s free-to-play, and will be the flavor-of-the-month when it released. There will be a lot of opinions from different people and the competitive community will be the one that’s most vocal. While MultiVersus is aiming to team-based, it is going to be more competitive and aimed towards eSports from what I understand. If it ends up being more so like Fortnite, then regardless of the competitive scene, they will be aiming to get the casuals to spend as much money as possible.

All-in-all, this is shaping up to be a game I an anticipated for…but definitely needs an eye kept on it. Game speed, roster, and advanced techniques (like wave dash, cancelling, etc.) will be big factors to the long-term survivability of this game.