Multiversus hands-on: Finally, a compelling Smash Bros. clone

Enlarge / Yes, we're as surprised by this game being good (at least in its closed alpha state) as you are. (credit: Warner Bros. Games)

Starting today, Warner Bros. Games is taking the formal veil off its worst-kept video game secret in years: Multiversus. When we saw the leaks about this upcoming free-to-play PC and console game, which stars various WB and Time Warner intellectual property in a cartoony, Smash Bros.-style arena fighter, we had our reservations. Was WB seriously trying to compete with Nintendo's biggest fighting game by pitting Arya Stark against... Shaggy from Scooby-Doo? Whose dream cartoon face-off is that?

A few days ago, WB invited us to go hands-on to see for ourselves what the game is like ahead of today's launch of a closed alpha test to address those kinds of questions and more. So far, we've come away impressed and surprised. In a world that didn't necessarily need another Smash Bros. clone, the devs at Player First Games have seemingly cracked the code-and made something that could neatly coexist with Nintendo's massive hit, if not surpass it. (Even better, at first blush, the F2P stuff seems tolerable!)

Less blocking, more cooperating

Just a normal, everyday mash-up of WB intellectual property. (credit: WB Games)

Most of the "arena fighter" genre basics, as established by Smash Bros., are accounted for in WB's latest fighting game. Instead of wearing down an energy bar a la Street Fighter, Multiversus players try to "ring out" their foes by racking up damage and setting up knockout blows. Movement is pretty Super Mario-like in terms of dashing and jumping between floating platforms, and players have a range of basic and special attacks that don't require complex joystick and button combos.

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