I didn’t fully believe MultiVersus when it leaked. Over the decades, we’ve seen countless platform fighters challenge Super Smash Bros, and usually fail. Even Sony’s own forays into PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale are middling, so I don’t particularly value the Warner Bros. crossover chances. I’m happy to admit that these initial impressions were wrong. Even as a free-to-play game with the usual monetization pitfalls, MultiVersus sets itself apart where it matters.
You can attribute some of this to the unusual MultiVersus character roster, which isn’t particularly cohesive. Pack 18 fighters with more plans, all under license from Warner Bros. Discovery, but mixing Game of Thrones characters with Bugs Bunny feels weird, no matter how you slice it. That said, once I started playing, I never questioned – everyone fit in just fine. That’s thanks to voice actors reprising their roles, with Kevin Conroy and Matthew Lillard returning to Batman and Shaggy respectively as major highlights. Sadly, MultiVersus doesn’t offer each franchise a specific arena to complement its cast, although you’ll find familiar attractions like the Batcave.
It’s worth researching each character beforehand, as MultiVersus divides them into five categories. We have Heavy Hitters, Agile Assassins, Defensive Tank Classes, Ranged Mage and Support Classes that do more buffs than damage. I appreciate the variety, and with the game having 2v2 team fights as its primary playstyle, these support classes in particular help MultiVersus fit well into this co-op mode. (There’s also 1v1 battles and 4-player free, but annoyingly, there’s no local co-op, which is a shame.)
That means knowing your character’s strengths isn’t enough – working with teammates is critical, and winning requires a concerted effort. Thankfully, in the open beta, when it comes to characters, everything is surprisingly balanced, with the exception of slightly stronger exceptions like Finn and Velma. What we have so far works well, and none of the characters feel unusable. A couple of times I felt some hitboxes were a little off, which wasn’t great, although I can’t imagine this won’t be tweaked until the full release. Either way, it’s satisfying to be victorious.
Anyone who’s played platform fighters before will find this familiar once the game begins. Like Smash Bros, MultiVersus ditches the traditional health bar for a damage meter, making it easier to fire enemies off the sides of the arena as you take more hits. Each fighter has a dedicated dodge, double jump, and two attack buttons, depending on directional input or whether you’re in the air. It’s easy for newbies, and while I won’t go into detail about every technique, between strategic timed kills, juggling, aerial combos, and other tactics, there’s a reasonable one for more seasoned veterans Skill cap. Watch out for those ledges though – you can’t grab them, but you can grab the side of the wall and jump up, basically climbing up. As a result, recovery feels more proficient, and I’m all for it.
It takes time to get used to the mechanics, but once I got the hang of MultiVersus, I had a lot of fun with these fights. The fight is appropriately frenetic, but being launched rudely offstage, you feel in control. Movement is good, well-timed charge attacks are fun, and successfully dodging tricky attacks is a rush. When playing online, performance remained smooth and I never experienced any noticeable lag. That’s thanks to its dedicated server-based rollback network code, music that any fighting fan can hear, and full cross-play support.
After the match, the characters are upgraded individually. This provides several new bonuses called “perks” that allow you to enhance your fighter in small but significant ways. Between utility, defensive, and offensive perks, you can equip three at a time, and if your teammates have matching perks, it turns into a stack for increased performance. For example, Lumpy Space Punch increases your team’s melee attack damage in the air by 5%, up to 10% when stacked. Each has unique signature perks, like Iron Giant’s Afterburners ability, which leaves a firewall behind after igniting his rocket boots.
This is where MultiVersus really differs from Smash Bros, and the options are quite different, encouraging you to experiment with different styles. Will they win your battle? Not necessarily, though the right perks can provide additional advantages to abilities you may find lacking.
MultiVersus has a fair amount of depth, and by making it free to play, it removes the initial hurdle and makes it more approachable. My biggest concern is monetization, which I would apply to most free games. Right now, only one character, Wonder Woman, is free forever. The others rotate every two weeks, with a set of four freely chosen. Losing access to your favorite fighters can be frustrating if they don’t unlock, although the rotation program does encourage trying others.
For those who don’t want to wait, we have two permanent unlock methods. First, you can buy them for 700 Gleamium, a premium in-game currency only available in bundles, and for reference, 1000 Gleamium costs £7.99/$9.99. Thankfully, another option doesn’t rely on microtransactions, as characters can usually buy 2000-3000 gold. Unlike Gleamium, where coins are earned through matches or completing challenges, it doesn’t feel too bad to use this method. After an hour, I reached 2000 coins and chose Finn. It doesn’t take long, which is great news if you’re following a character.
This is probably one of the better monetization implementations I’ve seen, but what if you want extra skins? That’s another story, there’s no dual unlock method here. Many are Gleamium-only and often cost more than actual character unlocks. Other outfits use gold, and I won’t forget the 50-tier battle pass with cosmetic unlocks, it has free and premium tiers. I’m not vexatious, the game needs income, we can use it for free. But when some skins – and I’m talking about some, not all – cost 2000 gleamium alone, it feels way too high.
Even with this format, I’m still amazed at how much I like MultiVersus. Embracing Smash is always a tall order, and while it doesn’t reach those lofty heights, I can’t say I’ve ever had such a smooth online match in Smash Bros Ultimate. Player First Games brings us a surprisingly polished platform fighter – and while the balance of individual fighters isn’t quite there yet, there’s a good chance that will change once it leaves public beta. I never thought Warner Bros.’ fighting crossover would work this well, and now, I’m wondering who’ll be joining next.
