![]() I suspect that’s an effort to hide how utterly dull most of the fighters and their movesets are. The action is much faster and more furious than Smash Bros. the series that it is… just without any of the interest in producing an interesting game. Aside from that, however, the developers have soullessly aped everything that made Smash Bros. 2 there are some characters that have abilities that help their partner on the field, making for a more interesting and collaborative teamwork dynamic than most games of this genre feature. ![]() There is one interesting quality about this, in that by making the focus 2 vs. stable of characters and team up with someone to take on two opponents across a range of stages that are also based on Warner Bros’ properties. 2 online, where you pick a character from Warner Bros. That never crossed the mind of anyone working on this project. And as for it being a work of art? Hah! No. This is an ugly, messy, cynical and nasty bit of work that doesn’t even try and hide the fact it’s a money-spinning content platform first and foremost, piece of entertainment second. I was curious about MultiVersus, so I did the right thing, downloaded it, and played a couple of games. What amazes me is that anyone would want to be a whale and pay for something that plays this poorly, but the perception of value is a hell of a drug in late-stage capitalism. It turns “free” players into the product and ensures that as many of them as possible keep playing so that those “whales” – the ones paying for the “battle passes” – have an optimal time themselves while playing. ![]() Because, to be clear, that is how a game like this draws in a fortune. However, people apparently have so little respect for themselves and their limited time on the planet that they forget to put a value on their time in judging the cost of a “free” game, designed to become habit-forming and exploit endless hours out of people’s lives. If it wasn’t “free”, it would be rightfully torn a new one by just about everyone, as bad Smash Bros. It’s shallow, vapid, and instantly forgettable. If gaming was a medium worth respecting, “derivative and cynical,” would not be qualities we celebrate, even if they’re “free.” It’s frustrating because that’s not how these things should work. It’s free to play and contains a bunch of popular characters, so it’s hit 10 million downloads in “beta” stage, and apparently, all that a game needs to do now to become the new next Citizen Kane of Video Games™. Warner Bros.’ new and blatantly derivative clone of Smash Bros had better not be a turning point for this industry (though in saying all of this I suspect that despite my protests that guy is probably right and of course gaming will zig when it should have zagged). This one is particularly galling, though, because it’s about MultiVersus. Spend enough time on Twitter and you will see just about every game with a decently big budget (and a lot of content) declared the Citizen Kane of Video Games™. Of course, it’s not uncommon for people to have breathlessly excited responses to games they kind of like after playing them for ten minutes. ![]() “This is likely a huge turning point for the industry,” a guy on Twitter breathlessly enthuses, after it was revealed that MultiVersus has done quite well for itself at this early stage.
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