Multiversus Review – A Multiverse Of Mediocrity

Back in the 90’s Nintendo came out with a little game called Super Smash Bros. It took characters from many of their IPs and pitted them against each other in hand-to-hand combat. What began as an antithesis of hardcore fighting games became a gaming sensation, spawning a popular series and an entire genre, platform fighters. This sub-genre was once dominated by Nintendo, but eventually other studios wanted a piece of the pie. Nickelodeon made All-Star Brawl, Sony had Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale, and now Warner Brothers has MultiVersus.

MultiVersus was first released on the PS4 in 2022 as an open beta and exploded in popularity. It took characters from all across Warner Bros properties and threw them into the platform-fighting blender. The likes of Shaggy, Bugs Bunny, Superman, Rick and Morty, and many more iconic characters were included in the roster. Any Warner Bros adjacent franchise or image could be included, and with its official release, that point is clearly made, with characters like Aria Stark from Game of Thrones and Jason Voorhees joining the fight. While I didn’t play much of the beta release, I’ve now gotten a chance to try the official version. And while it has its moments, Warner Brothers has mostly missed the mark.

Gameplay

MultiVersus follows the exact same gameplay formula as any other platform fighter. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing, there’s not much of a reason to reinvent the wheel here. The general gameplay of this genre is a more casual-friendly version of a traditional fighting game. Arenas are structured like a 2D platformer, and the fight is more about knocking your opponent off the main platform rather than simply achieving a knockout. And when you do knock out your opponent, they still fly out of the arena. Little modifiers and powerups called gems can mix up the gameplay a little bit, but it’s mostly a rinse-and-repeat experience. As for a reward system, there are daily, weekly, and special event missions and objectives constantly available. The grind that creates, however, can be a problem for most players.

Egregious Greed and the Endless Grind

It’s no surprise that any free-to-play game would embrace premium elements and the typical battle pass grind. But the way it does that can make or break the game for some like myself. Most objectives are completed through the main single-player activity, Rifts. They’re a series of matches and mini-games culminating in a boss fight at the end of each one. With the menus’ design and this kind of single-player mode, it feels like a mobile game ported to a console at times. You can some are locked behind your gem collection’s average level. It’s like Mortal Kombat 1’s Invasions mode with the personality of a mobile game.

To make matters worse, the entire roster is locked behind this neverending grind. The only way to avoid this is to pay real money for individual characters. I understand it’s a free-to-play game, but over $160 for the base roster is pretty ludicrous. It’s unbalanced and feels like Warner Brothers is only focused on overcharging its player base in every game they put out, even in a free-to-play one. Between this, Mortal Kombat 1, and the recent Suicide Squad game, it’s exhausting. As they’ve announced before, this sadly seems to be the direction Warner Bros is going in.

Graphics and Sound

Although the rest of the game is full of quality-of-life issues and at times overwhelming systems, the overall appearance is nice. Character designs have a cartoony appearance, allowing different animation styles to coexist and giving characters from live-action series a new look. The biggest example is with the new addition, Jason Voorhees, a terrifying slasher villain who is now a giant that looks like he hopped out of a Looney Tunes episode. The sound design follows this cartoonish theme, as well. To put it bluntly, MultiVersus looks and sounds like a Space Jam fighting game.

Replayability

MultiVersus’ replayability goes one of two ways. Either you enjoy the gameplay loop or progression enough to keep playing, or you move on to something else rather quickly. If you aren’t into platform fighters or having to unlock everything, you may not find yourself coming back to this game. I don’t see a lot of those fans putting over a hundred hours in this game since they probably have other options with fully unlocked rosters already. For many, if the gameplay loop doesn’t turn them away first, the progression and gem system eventually will.

Conclusion

MultiVersus is a free-to-play fighter that displays the problem with Warner Bros business model in its entirety. A grind-focused unlock system is only enjoyable if the gameplay is, and MultiVersus doesn’t fit that bill. This game proves that Warner Bros’ “all games as a service” approach will potentially suck all the fun and enjoyment out of their titles. If you already have any other platform fighter, this game isn’t a great option. Honestly, you’re better off playing a title that isn’t trying to commit highway robbery, regardless of base price. $60 for a complete experience is a decent price, considering it would cost over $200 or hundreds of hours for the base roster of this game. Save your money and time, and don’t encourage this greed.