Review: Multiversus, hunting the public of Smash Bros

Since its launch in 1999, Smash Bros. It has remained one of Nintendo’s most successful franchises, with more than 71 million units sold, and has gone through the Nintendo 64, the Game Cube and the Wii.

Over the years it became more robust in alliances and characters, until reaching the most recent installment of 2018 for Nintendo Switch: Smash Bros Ultimate. With this title, it was consolidated as the third best game on the console, only behind Mario Kart and Animal Crossing.

Despite various attempts to emulate the type of confrontations, for example, with the Nickelodeon franchise All Star Brawl, this video game remains the undisputed leader of the category. It’s even the only native Nintendo game to have its own e-sports tournaments.

Now, Warner Bros Games, through the Player First Games studio, launches multiverse as a serious contender for this type of game. Using the DC, Looney Tunes, Adventure Time, Game of Thrones, Tom and Jerry, Rick and Morty and Space Jam franchises, the game promises to add multiple characters throughout its development.

Although it is difficult to compete against a game as positioned as Smash Bros, Multiversus is one of the first titles that does promise to face it, because it combines several elements from its conception to the way of playing that will surely get fans, streams and pro players. in a short period.

What did we like about Multiversus?

Starting with the obvious, the title fulfills what is sought in a game of the style: see Superman fight against Rick Sánchez, Finn or Arya Stark.

What generates freshness for Smash fans, who in order to have these alliances that attract new audiences must look outside their studios, such as the inclusion of characters such as alliances with SEGA or Capcom, with characters from The King of Fighters or even from Minecraft , or the everyday complaint of DLC filled with Fire Emblem characters.

Another element to consider is cross-platform, at the launch of its beta, which came to light on July 26, 2022. It is available for PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X | S, Xbox One and PC – through the Epic Store-, and that additionally allows cross play.

So it opens up massive audiences, compared to what is limited in Nintendo established only between Nintendo Switch consoles and dealing with how complicated it is to play with Nintendo Online and the need to use another mobile device.

multiverse is a game free to playbut oriented to micro transactions, starting with the well-known battle passes, complemented by customization elements, which for some players could be a point against, since, to unlock players, you need many hours of play or pay.

One point that makes it confusing is that there are three types of “coins” in the game.

The gold you earn by completing matches or advancing in battle pass tiers, Gleamium is a premium currency, as well as Toasts, which are awarded to players in recognition of a good match, and are sent online. However, they do not seem to have a purchasing utility. At least not in the beta.

In this first stage, “founder’s packs” were launched as a way to support the players and that include character unlocks, Gleamium, Gold, and various customization elements at their different levels. These passes range from $40 to $100 and give you access to up to three premium battle passes and the pre season.

The game modes are classic Smash: 2v2 team co-op, 1v1 matches, 4-player freeplay, bot co-op, online custom lobbies, practice, and up to 4-player local matches.