Playstation All-Stars: How NOT To Make a Fighting Game

by SaikyoBro on May 28th, 2013

(I typed this to myself with the intention of making a video or blog or something about it later, but never got around to doing so. Some of you guys are interested in game design, so maybe you’ll like my thoughts on how NOT to make a fighting game! This doesn’t serve as a review or a recommendation of if you should or shouldn’t buy the game, but rather my analysis of the problems that stop it from being a competitive fighter or even a decent online experience.)

This was one of the only games last year I was excited for. After 2011 pumped out game after game after game after game, 2012 was lackluster to say the least. The Wii U and the Vita came out, but there weren’t many games to get me pumped. There were some cool little games like Twisted Metal, Asura’s Wrath, etc., but I just wasn’t feeling it. The only exception was PSAS. Honestly, I think Nintendo is stupid for not exploiting Smash’s success. It’s one of the biggest sellers gaming has to offer, it’s one of the first things to come to your mind upon hearing “crossover”, competitive players like it, casual players like it, Smash is an amazing series. Then why do we only get one game per console? I understand that they put TREMENDOUS effort into these games and that they take forever to come out, and that they want each game to have time to be appreciated for what it is without being immediately overshadowed by a sequel, but Smash could be so much more than that. Pumping them out yearly like COD or something wouldn’t be the answer, but just imagine if Brawl had been treated to the DLC and balance patches that other modern fighting games have received, or if it had at least had decent netcode.

Unfortunately Nintendo and DLC almost never work out, or haven’t until recently at least, so Brawl didn’t reach the potential it could’ve. It still sold, there are SOME people who still play it, but it could’ve been much more. That’s why I wish more people would imitate the Smash formula! If Nintendo won’t embrace a lot of the features that make modern gaming what it is, someone else should. But every time there’s a Smash styled game, it’s something random given to a garbage developer with no idea what they’re doing. Cartoon Network! Ninja Turtles! Ninja Turtles and Rabbids!  This is why Playstation All-Staras had me SO excited. Unlike other games that have tried to compete with SSB, Playstation is actually relevant, but also has a strong history! It has a huge and diverse lineup of characters to choose from, and a team has been assembled consisting largely of competitive fighting game players like Clockw0rk! It’s looking to blend elements of more competitive fighters while also being accessible to more casual players. How could this game not succeed?!

Well…it’s an interesting story. First off, I think the roster is perfect. I like Crash, Spyro, Cloud, Snake, whatever, but they couldn’t get the rights to all of them and that’s fine by me. The 3^rd party choices are a little strange but Bioshock is a big deal, Heihachi is funny, Raiden is cool, and at least Dante is present in some form. The DLC characters are also kind of weird but I’m not one to question more content. The stages are also all diverse and look gorgeous, they represent the games they’re from very well and also do a great job of representing series that didn’t manage to get a playable character, like Buzz, Hot Shots Golf, Patapon, Loco Roco, WipEout, and The Unfinished Swan. Things like the items might not be as recognizable as Mushrooms and Koopa shells but there are some very cool ideas like the Medusa head, murder of crows, and the Sackbot, and also represent some games that didn’t get playable characters, like Baumasu’s axe from Mark of Kri or the Sonic Rift from Mod Nation Racers.

The gameplay itself is great in concept! Hitting your opponent gets you meter, which you can use for super attacks, which are the only way to get kills. You can get a level 1 super which are high risk and not guaranteed to get any kills, but they’re cheap in terms of meter so you get multiple chances throughout the course of the match. Or you can save up for a level 2 that will give you a good chance of killing all 3 opponents, but they can dodge it so you have to be smart about when to use it. Or you could devote the entire match to a level 3, which has the potential to kill all enemies at least once, and even more than that if you’re smart. Now’s where we get to the bad part.

The combat sucks because they didn’t know what they were doing with the characters. Look at Big Daddy: he’s got hard hitting attacks that send people flying and spammable projectiles. This is a good thing…in smash bros. In this game his projectiles are pathetically easy to dodge and get him little meter, and sending people flying is often a bad thing since you want to be as close to your opponent as you can be (unless they’ve got a fair amount of meter) so you can continue hitting them and get more meter. In this sense, it seems like Big Daddy was designed as a Smash character moreso than an All-Stars character. Then there’s Raiden, who has great mobility and speed and a bunch of flashy air combos, which are reminiscent of those you’d see in something like Marvel vs. Capcom. What happens when the two of them fight? One of them is slow, clunky, and has tools that are useless in this game and the other gets meter in a matter of seconds.

Then there’s the supers themselves, which, being the only way to score kills, are naturally the biggest part of the gameplay. Big Daddy’s Level 1 is a heavily telegraphed and slow moving attack from a Little Sister with small range, a Level 2 that transforms him into a state where all his attacks can kill, and a Level 3 that floods the stage and allows him to kill everyone about twice. His level 2 and level 3 are very expensive and take a good chunk of the match to save up for. Being that the default mode is timed, that means if you don’t get your level 3 or you don’t do well with your level 2, you’ve not really got a chance to win the match. Big Daddy is a heavy, slow moving character, but he doesn’t seem to build meter any faster than the rest of the cast. Why? Well…I don’t know why! I think they MEANT for him to, but since his combo ability is limited compared to a lot of the other characters he just doesn’t. He gets his supers slowly and they aren’t all that effective. On smaller stages his level 2 can be good, but it takes too long to be saved up for and his mobility isn’t improved to a noticeable extent so it’s easy to dodge, and he’s completely vulnerable during this time so any ballsy character with a level 1 stocked up can usually just immediately kill him out of it, making Big Daddy waste the meter he’s been saving up for the entire time. His level 3 is good but it takes way too long to save up for and getting it in the 3 minutes of a timed match is usually either impractical or a complete waste.

Raiden has easy combos that gain him over 100 AP in seconds. His level 1 is this strange breakdance spin thing that hits all around him and comes out quickly. He can “kill-confirm” into it with ease (more on that later) and it’s also a really good super to just throw out raw since it hits all around him and comes out so fast. You’ll see yourself often getting double, or sometimes triple kills if you’re smart about when you activate it. His level 2 turns his attacks into kills like Big Daddy’s except HIS FREEZES YOU ON ACTIVATION. He also has the option to kill you more slowly but get meter back from you, or even FREEZE YOU AGAIN DURING IT. If the player is smart it’s ridiculously difficult to get away from him. His level 3 also allows all his attacks to kill but for a much longer duration and with some pointless cardboard box gimmick thrown in. If he’s smart he’ll get 6 kills easily. Big Daddy’s can also do this but it requires you to do some stupid water gimmick so it’s much less effective, usually getting you about 4 kills.

So Raiden has combos that get him meter quickly, strong mobility, and 3 excellent supers. Big Daddy is slow and punishable but actually gains meter more slowly, with mediocre supers not worth their cost.This is what happens with this strange blend of Smash and Marvel vs. Capcom!

Then you’ve got characters like Sir Dan and Jak who don’t seem to have any distinct playstyle and suck because of it. They’ve got projectiles but they don’t have much range, so they kind of have to stay at this weird mid range level. This is normal in competitive fighters but in a Smash styled game with easy rolling and dodging it’s not very effective. Their physical options are limited as they have a lot of range but not many combos, so their attacks don’t actually do anything besides gain a little bit of meter. Not to mention they both have EXTREMELY situational level 1s, two of the worst level 2s in the game, and while Jak’s Light Jak transformation is good, Sir Dan’s level 3 is so easy to dodge on larger stages it’s a joke, and there’s actually a bug that will let you dodge it all together easily.

There’s another character with no distinct playstyle, that being Sly Cooper. He can’t dodge or block. To make up for this, they gave him the most RIDICULOUS tools in the game. He has a bomb that messes with your controls for a few seconds, a really fast counter that will literally teleport him to whoever hit him, stun them, and allow him to steal 40 AP, a barrel of dynamite that he can move around in that reflects projectiles that he can use to infinitely stall in the air, a multi directional teleport that goes fast enough to dodge just about anything and allow him to attack right afterward, a superjump, a move that spins around and moves forward that becomes unblockable if charged for a second, a clock that stuns you in place, and a mine. HOW CAN YOU POSSIBLY MAKE A CHARACTER LIKE THIS BALANCED?! His level 1 has great range and comes out quickly (and up until the latest patch actually was unable to be hit out of), his level 3 is one of those first person ones that almost always gets 6 kills, like, how? How is this character okay? He doesn’t have many combos so he isn’t constantly getting 100 AP at a time like Raiden or Kratos, but he has fast attacks that are hard to punish like his electric roll thing and his cane uppercut that get him 30-40 AP at a time and get him whatever amount of meter he’s saving for VERY fast.

So yes, the main problem with the balance is that characters were all designed like they weren’t made for the same game. They all feel very unique and loyal to their home game which is a huge plus, but this results in the balance being embarrassingly bad. Another thing that makes the balance so ridiculously awful is the “kill-confirms”, or moves that allow you to instantly combo into a super and get a kill, mostly with your level 1. This defeats the entire purpose of the level 1 being high-risk and gives most characters no excuse to use any other super.  You have certain level 1s that you can only get by being tricky and using your brain like PaRappa, Sir Dan, Jak, and Spike, but then another huge chunk of the cast can land their level 1s with minimal effort. Hit confirms ruin the game the way they are now. People have had months to get used to them and it doesn’t help. The problem isn’t hit confirms themselves, it’s that some of the cast has them WAY easier than others. And almost everyone builds their strategies around these confirms: Raiden mashes forward square, Fat Princess and Sweet Tooth are constantly in the air spamming until they get a lucky hit, Zeus does nothing but charged teleports after he gets to level 1, Evil Cole has a punch that can carry a charge until he dies and has armor on it, Ratchet just has to grab you and go to a corner, Cole just has to freeze you, it’s ridiculous!

How is this balanced out? Well, if they had applied common sense to it, characters like the ones I listed who take more skill to land a level 1 with would have some of the better level 2s and probably deserve really good level 3s. While PaRappa’s skateboard does compensate for his mediocre level 1, look at the other characters. Dark Jak’s recent buff was really nice but it’s still hard for him to get all 3 kills, Sir Dan’s homing balls would be good except…well…they don’t actually home in, Spike’s level 2 is still a joke regardless of the speed boost given to it by the latest patch, it’s pathetic. Sir Dan has the easiest to dodge transformation super in the game without a doubt, PaRappa and Spike just have screen clears, it’s just sad. Then you have a character like Raiden who has multiple uses with every single super. We’ve already been over this character but just to remind you his level 1 is fast, has multiple confirms (arguably the easiest ones in the game), and since it hits all around him it’s easy to just run into a crowd in FFA and mash R2. His level 2 will get all 3 kills and possibly more if you’re smart about when and where you activate it, and his level 3 isn’t the best in the game, but it’s certainly not the worst since it will still get you 6 kills almost every time in FFA.

See what I mean? PaRappa has a useless level 1, a really good level 2, and a screen clear level 3 that will get you 3 kills guaranteed, but no more than that. Raiden has a ridiculous level 1, one of the best level 2s in the game, and a great level 3 to boot. If the game were made the way it should’ve been, each character would have a reason to use all 3 of their supers. But how many times have you seen Evil Cole go for his level 2 or 3 when he’s guaranteed a kill just by landing his braindead charge punch? When has Sly ever used his level 2? When has Fat Princess ever gone for level 3? It’s not the players’ fault, it’s the developers’ for making characters that can’t be played in more than a single way. If Fat Princess has an iffy level 2 and a garbage level 3 but has a level 1 loaded with easy confirms, what is she expected to do? If Evil Cole’s level 2 and 3 are both below average but you can easily land his level 1 off of a charge punch, why wouldn’t he just use that super every time?

The balance sucks and the netcode is garbage, so naturally everyone online abuses lag tactics and plays as the cheapest characters, usually followed by teabagging, screaming insults into their microphone, and hatemail. The online ranking is flawed as well as after you’ve played for quite some time beating most players will get you 2 points while losing to them will cost you 10, which is beyond unfair for someone who actually tries their best to play smart and earn all of their wins.

Another problem is the stage design! The element of one game mashing up with another is really clever and results in some cool stuff but after the first time you’ll stop being impressed by it and become more annoyed. There are some really good and fun stages like Dojo, San Francisco, Stowaways, and Hades, but the majority of them suffer from awful design. Some recurring elements are stages being WAY too big for their own good or having platforms placed in really awkward spots that make fighting really strange. My personal least favorites are Sandover due to the strange terrain, obnoxious fish, random, awkward stack of platforms on the right, and annoying golf ball hazard, and Invasion due to an annoying beginning and a design that allows you to run away for the entire second half of the match if you please relatively easily.

All this said I enjoy the game offline with friends where it’s easier to laugh at the flaws and enjoy the chaotic, party-like nature of the game, but online or in a competitive environment the game sometimes reaches levels of unplayable. The game represents a good deal of Playstation history with a diverse roster, gorgeous graphics, excellent music, and gameplay that’s fun in concept. The execution however, results in one of the least balanced fighters I’ve ever seen with characters that literally do not stand a chance against each other. The game got pretty bad reviews actually, which I would probably agree with had they cited the online play or the balance, but most of the complaints are ridiculous, trivial things like boring menus.

When all’s said and done, it’s a fun party game and the fact that there’s playable online and it’s supported by DLC and balance patches is awesome, but the designers didn’t seem to have a coherent vision of how the combat was meant to work and despite all the patches they’ve yet to correct it.

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