Tag Archives: Batman

Joker: One Operation Joker Review

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The title feels a bit redundant. I’m used to just saying One Operation Joker but everyone seems to list it this way so I suppose I’ll follow suit. It’s a fun miniseries, I don’t think it’s quite as good as some of the other superhero mini titles I’ve read like Superman’s food adventures and the Spider-Man Fake Red title but you’ll have fun here. I think there was even a lot of potential here for future developments if they had made this a long running title but not every series is meant to stick around forever. At the end of the day, this one still explored the concept fairly well.

The story starts with Batman and Joker fighting as always but a freak accident happens during the fight and Batman regresses back to being a baby. He has no memories now and Joker can’t let the situation stay like this. He really believes that his role as a villain is pointless without a Batman to fight against and so he vows to raise the baby back into being Batman until he can find a cure. It’ll be difficult since he is such a villain but the Joker is nothing if not determined. He will be the greatest role model that Batman could ever have. Will the baby grow up into the famous crime fighter though or will be turn out differently?

One of the more interesting angles here is of course that this happens in the present. It’s not an AU or any time travel involved so to the rest of the world Batman just vanished randomly. Of course the same is true of Bruce Wayne as well and so we have Alfred and Robin having to wonder what happened. At least in the background, they don’t show up until we near the end of the series. Crime is likely back on the rise as well although with Joker not committing many crimes, it tends to balance itself out a bit.

What will be the make or break point for this manga in terms of how much you enjoy it will of course be the humor. This is really a slice of life title with the main gag being that Joker is super serious but always has to do responsible things. He will be thinking about bombing a bank and then suddenly he has to worry about getting Bruce to daycare instead. He’ll think about beating someone up but instead bows/apologizes to someone. This kind of thing happens a lot to the point where the gag will be appearing in just about every chapter. It’s a core part of the gimmick of the series after all.

I do think the series can be a bit repetitive on this angle mainly because there are only so many ways that you can approach it. That’s how it is in most titles like this though. There’s a Detective Conan spinoff about the world’s worst murderer who wants to be a criminal but never succeeds. That title replays the same gag over and over as well. There are plenty of titles that hitch the wagon to a single gag so it’s not out of the ordinary, it just means that the gag itself ends up becoming super important to how much you enjoy the series.

For me it’s fun enough. The series never gets laugh out loud funny or anything like that but it’s harmless. The series actually avoids the easy crude humor type jokes which I really appreciated. I also think the Joker makes for a good main character. I’d have liked it if he kept a little more of his edge though. Have him still be happy and goofy around Bruce but make it so he still has a scary aura to everyone around him. I think that contrast would probably have made the gags more effective. His transformation into actually being more of a decent person does lead into the climax of the series but I’d just have tweaked that a bit.

As this is more of a comedy title, there aren’t a lot of fights anyway but you sort of wish Joker could have done better near the end. Now while the series is light hearted, there can be some dark moments. I was pretty surprised at how beaten up Robin got once the Riddler showed up. The Riddler is probably the most imposing that I’ve ever seen him. Definitely a far cry from his portrayal in the latest movie. He does really well here and I was glad to have a real villain at the end. That’s the part of the climax that I would have extended though. Also, I’d like to have seen some more actions from the aftermath but I guess we’ll have to just imagine how it would have played out.

Robin looks good here even if he doesn’t do great in the fights. His loyalty is always impressive and the guy did his best in finding a lead. Alfred also looks really impressive here as he connects quite a few dots on his own. Ultimately he overthinks things but his instincts were on point. On the Joker’s side, we naturally had Harley Quinn show up as well. Playing family is something you figure she’d be into, so naturally this situation works for her rather quickly. Even Joker’s minions are okay with this since a lot of them have families too and now they won’t really be in danger of getting murdered so quickly.

The artwork for the series is actually really solid. There’s a lot of detail all the time and whenever they throw together a scary moment, I have to say that it looks really impressive. The artist would clearly be able to really nail a serious action title. You’re not likely to forget the big splash pages that are scattered within the title. The few fights that we do get also end up looking really solid.

There’s a time skip that happens near the end of the series and I would have liked to have seen more from that era. I actually think it lends itself even better to a lot of shenanigans and fun plot scenarios because at that point Bruce is actually old enough to talk and everything. You could have a reverse Spy Family situation set up where the Joker is a responsible parent by day and a villain by night. It would fit in fairly well as a dark humor kind of plot that you would expect here.

Overall, This Joker manga was fun. It can be a bit repetitive so that keeps it from reaching the next level but the series is also fairly short so it’s not like it’s dragging on for a long time or anything like that. There’s certainly more positives than negatives here either way. The core premise is so out there that you’re just curious how it’ll work out and the series gets very wholesome. You naturally have to overlook the fact that the Joker’s still evil but regardless it’s still fun to read. Definitely check this out if you want to see the very surreal image of Joker trying his best to be the best Dad ever.

Overall 6/10

Injustice: Gods Among Us Review

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This game was definitely a pretty big deal when it came out. Part of that was due to the great story in there and then you also had the people who were thrilled to finally have a big DC fighting game. Marvel has always had the Vs Capcom series but DC didn’t really have anything on that level. This was finally a game that could hold its own and the competitive scene for it was really solid. I can definitely say that it holds up really well after finally getting to check it out.

The story starts with Superman murdering Joker after the villain destroyed Metropolis and caused the death of Lois and her baby. Superman finally decided that this was the tipping point and rules over planet Earth. All who opposed him have been destroyed so the remaining heroes serve him out of fear or misguided loyalty. This is revealed to be a parallel Earth and then members of the main Justice League are pulled into a portal to enter this world. Can they convince the corrupt Superman to change his ways or will they quickly be defeated?

An evil Superman is always a very scary prospect. Nowadays we’ve had a ton of different evil Superman versions so the concept isn’t quite as novel but it wasn’t nearly as oversaturated when this game came out. It’s still considered one of the better stories with this premise. I would say the Justice Lords is still the best story to show an evil Superman as it made the most sense as to how he would realistically become a villain. Still, this one at least has more nuance than some other versions…although I say that lightly. He’s so far gone here that it can be hard to actually think of him as Superman at all. Certain other characters like Wonder Woman and Cyborg are also incredibly brainwashed at this point.

You have to just accept that these are alternate universe characters though so even if it all seems out of character for them…well they really are different characters all the way through. It definitely feels great once we finally get to see the main Superman step into the picture. He’s just as heroic as always and his power means that he is a one man army. He can change the entire tide of the war with his presence alone. There are no other characters who can say that. None at all.

The gameplay is your classic 2D fighter. One of the trickier things about it though is that the game goes old school. There are no “Auto combos” like in most modern fighters. (Marvel vs Capcom, Dragon Ball FighterZ, Naruto Ninja Storm, etc.) You can’t just click on the square button and unleash a devastating combo. You have to figure out which attacks link into other ones the old fashioned way and it is different for each character. The story has you cycle through a bunch of them so you really get to experiment with the different fighting styles. For the characters where I couldn’t really discover any combos, it made winning a lot more difficult.

It’s a good incentive to actually learn the game. I can definitely see how this game would have a pretty steep learning curve. I also liked that they brought back the interactive maps which you don’t see as much nowadays. You can punch someone through a wall and end up in a completely different stage. That’s definitely really cool. You can also throw a lot of objects in the background, leap off of others to reset your position, etc. Of course you have your final smash attack for each character and a lot of the animations there are pretty fun. Superman’s and Flash’s in particular stand out. There are a few like Green Arrow that are a bit underwhelming but I guess it was probably hard to think of something real flashy for him.

The graphics are really solid here. I’m not super crazy about the artstyle though, which can make the game look a bit older than it is. It seems to be a similar engine to the Mortal Kombat titles so everyone looks rather gruff. It helps to achieve that somber tone for the game but at the same time, everyone just looks sort of ugly. It reflects the jaded world but give me an artstyle more like Marvel vs Capcom 2 any time. The soundtrack is a bit more on the forgettable side though. It certainly doesn’t have any rocking tunes like Tekken in it.

So this game is really standing on the excellent gameplay and great story. Fortunately for it, at the end of the day those are the two most important elements anyway. The story isn’t too long, you should have it beat in a few hours but of course there are missions, tutorials, and a ton of trophies to try and unlock. Additionally this is a fighting game so there is endless replay value in just battling other fighters and having a good time. The only thing holding this one back is that there is a sequel so most likely you will want to be playing that one more. So after the story you would probably upgrade which makes sense. Still a lot of content to enjoy here though.

Overall, Injustice: Gods Among Us is a great game. It’s really a lot of fun to play as all of the DC characters and they really went to a lot of good effort on the story mode. I love how cinematic it is with the constant cutscenes and the story is well crafted. It feels like you are playing an interactive movie to an extent. The sequel will have to try hard to keep up with the pace here but I’m definitely eager to see how that plays out. There are certainly many different directions you can take the story in.

Overall 8/10

Justice League x RWBY: Super Heroes and Huntsmen, Part One Review

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The RWBY reviews continue with the new movie! I had to buy this one immediately on day 1 because the hype was too real. After all these years RWBY was finally getting the movie it deserves. After completing the movie I can definitely confirm that it is a great title and hopefully this gets more people into the fandom. Automatically there are a lot of DC fans who will watch this one even though they haven’t seen RWBY and so it’s a good introduction there. I will say that it doesn’t quite feel like the movie budget but just seeing the characters is cool.

The movie starts off with Superman waking up in a different world and for some reason he’s a teenager. He remembers fighting someone but can’t remember anything beyond that. He’s quickly saved from danger by a pair of superheroines known as Ruby and Yang who defeat the Grim monsters in the area. There is something off about their world too though as the Grimm are now able to absorb all dust related abilities which means that Weiss and Blake are going to have a tough time but it won’t affect Yang and Ruby quite as much once they adapt. Superman knows that he needs to find the rest of the League and quickly but why are everyone’s memories off?

Now amnesia is not exactly my favorite trope. I’d always choose to have the crossover with both verses at their peak in terms of strength and ability but hey at least it is the real characters as opposed to the comics which went in a very different direction. Mainly part 1 is about solving the mystery of why everyone’s memories are spotty and why things just don’t line up. For example why are all of the RWBY characters in their volume 1 outfits yet they have things that they shouldn’t yet. (Ex: Yang’s metallic arm) I remember people pointing that out immediately in the trailer which helped to build up the suspense of what was going on here. The mystery is very engaging and of course you’ll have a lot of theories right off the bat. They’re trapped in a dream, a simulation, time travel’s at work, visual illusion, just an AU, etc. The reveal definitely works pretty well with this in mind.

Now this is still a part 1 so don’t expect the full answers to be revealed. I won’t say where this takes place in the RWBY series yet but from the ending you can narrow it down to the volume and come pretty close to the exact episode that makes the most sense. If the ending just went on for an extra minute or two that would have been great to confirm exactly where the cast is. I’m also really intrigued on who the big villain for part 2 will be. I’ve got really high hopes for that one and so I hope part 2 comes out soon. My understanding is that both parts were animated back to back in the middle of Volume 9’s production so it should already be all done. Summer release would be nice as opposed to waiting for the Fall.

So lets jump onto the good stuff first. It’s super nostalgic to see Ruby and the gang in their original forms dealing with classic Grimm. It’s a very nostalgic return to form for their classic days and the environments look very clear. We get to see a lot of interactions between the cast in a fun setting that wouldn’t really be possible currently with how high the stakes are. It’s always nice to see the characters have some downtime to just talk and this movie has a lot of that with the various interactions.

I also liked the emphasis on using dust again since it’s been a while. In the main series the heroes always use dust like Weiss with her rapier, Raven’s attacks, etc. but it’s all just used silently and it’s nice to discuss the specifics of dust some more. Beyond it being an energy source we’ve never gone too far into it and you always wonder what the upper limits are. In theory you figure more fighters should be able to make super powered weapons powered by dust to fight the Grimm. Perhaps they wouldn’t be as advanced as a huntress but it would still be very useful in war efforts.

The crossover aspect itself is great as well of course. Seeing the heroes interact was fun and Team Jaune taking on the Justice League’s B team was fun. The fact that they basically won that fight was also excellent. While Team RWBY may typically overshadow them, it’s important to remember that this team is still very skilled and has a lot of powerhouses on their side. They aren’t the type of fighters to just roll over and take a loss. By this point in the series they are full fledged hunters and huntresses after all.

There is a ton of action here as well so if you missed that in volume 9, there is no shortage here. Now granted I would have liked more human type fights like the earlier battle I mentioned. Most of it is against the Grimm and since the monsters can barely fight back it’s not like you can have as much fun with the choreography. Of course you see all of the super attacks being used but when things are too one sided it just won’t have the same impact as a true fight. In a power levels sense I also have some doubts on how well they do against the larger Grimm but I think given the situation and context I can overlook those power level moments because it’s not quite as if it happened in a normal setting. Otherwise I thought the power levels were good and the RWBY verse looks real impressive here. They have homefield advantage of course but it still counts. (I hope Part 2 takes place in DC’s world because that would make a lot of sense as a parallel although given that we’re probably sticking to the RWBY animation style, maybe they’ll just keep home court. It would also be interesting if the League just doesn’t appear and part 2 is purely RWBY but that would be an odd choice given the title)

Now for the animation, it’s classic RWBY style so it looks great. I would just say there is a bit of a noticeable downgrade compared to the RWBY show which is a bit ironic. Typically you expect the movie to blow the show away after all but that’s not what happened this time. It’s very clear and the attacks look good but the animation itself is a bit choppy. Now from what I heard, this happened fairly last second as between episodes 7 and 8 in production the animators were all pulled off of the show to work on Justice League and that’s why the volume was pushed back. Not sure how much of this was confirmed but if they did have to rush through the two movies to get back to the show then it does make sense that this one’s a bit choppier.

Still, even a weaker RWBY style is still great and I enjoyed the visuals. The DC character designs were more of a miss for me but that’s not strictly speaking animation. It feels like they were trying too hard to make the League look like RWBY characters and they come across more like NPCs or fanfic characters. Batman’s design is easily the weakest although Flash would be in second there. They just don’t look much like the characters and I think they really could have done a better job there. Reminds me of when I would create a character in Soul Caliber and you could see the resemblance but it just wasn’t right.

The film is fairly short but makes the most of every moment so you do feel like this was a complete adventure at all times. The heroes are always rushing from place to place and with how often you switch from plot to plot, it never reaches a slow point. That’s probably one of the most impressive parts of the movie really. The amount of content it covers is impressive and whenever we’d get a flash into the RWBY memories that was a lot of fun. We even see a new angle to the big Adam scene from Volume 5 which was intense. No matter what that guy always find a way to return.

The RWBY characters are mainly all in character as you’d expect so I’ll keep their sections brief. There really isn’t much to talk about in terms of Yang and Blake. They go in and do their job as needed. Yang’s maybe a bit overprotective of Blake the whole time which I feel is retroactively setting things up for volume 9 unless the writers are trying to acknowledge Blake as the weakest but otherwise the film does her a lot of justice. This is easily the most powerful Blake has looked in years and I was glad to see it.

Ruby is struggling to be an effective leader here as everyone shouts her down and holds her back but ultimately she proves that she has the right stuff. She was good when it counts. Meanwhile Weiss showed off her expertise in using computers which was cool and in general she was in command of the situation. I would actually say she looks the best from all the RWBY characters. Jaune is in competition for that title though as he helps out Green Lantern quite a lot in this one. He gives her multiple pep talks and shows her what it means to be brave even when you don’t have powers. He was just really patient the whole time and very genuine. You can see why he is a good leader.

Ren looks pretty bad the whole time though. He gets jealous about Nora way too quickly to the point where he is always bickering with Cyborg. They could have toned that down somewhat as he is usually supposed to be the emotionless one so why he is blowing a fuse in every other scene? It just didn’t feel like the usual him at all. Meanwhile Nora was definitely more on the aggressive side here and taking things personal. Definitely not the really chill and goofy Nora you may expect but at least she does a ton of damage in every fight so you can cut her some slack.

On the DC side of things, Superman looks solid. He’s a natural leader as always and is someone you can count on. He gets a lot of great scenes and consistently thinks things through before making a move. Then you have Batman who in comparison is one of the worst members here. (Not the worst though, that’s coming up) Now in part I would say the voice is to blame a bit as he just doesn’t sound like any version of Batman and lacks the power or charisma behind him. But most of it is just how he’s written here. He’s a bit sloppier, has no prep time, and tends to get humiliated a lot. He’s lacking in confidence and apparently has always wished he could have powers. He gets outbrained by Weiss in the computer room and just wasn’t the decisive, capable vigilante that we’ve always known. This guy is truly Batman in name only. They really should have just kept him as being super in control the whole time around and that would have went over perfectly.

He may have stolen the show a bit but that’s what Batman does so it would have been worth it. Not much to say about Vixen, I’d say she seemed in character and was about what I expected. She has a good amount of confidence and is always ready to fight which is good. Then you have the Flash who is definitely on the goofier side but his character is ultimately handled well and the movie even has a great reason for why with his speed he isn’t just ending the movie in one second. Leave it to RWBY to come up with a solid way and not let this turn into the usual power level hax that happens with the Flash.

Cyborg definitely looks rather disgraceful here though and even worse than Batman. Yes this guy is the worst. He yells at Ruby for basically no reason and I was really hoping Yang or someone would slug him at some point. Sure he apologizes and says he was stressed out but really? Eh I didn’t think that was a great excuse. Then he also does seem to be overtly flirting with Nora at times which seems very much like a wrong place kind of moment. They’re trying to save the world right now so there’s no time for that. Yeah this was definitely not his best moment.

So in some ways I do think the writing could have been a little better to really maximize the effectiveness of the crossover. With the characters not being fully in character, it makes the meetup not work quite as well as it could have. I’d also have liked more in-fighting but that’s a fairly small thing. Either way this is still a great film and one I would definitely recommend checking out. It also holds up well as a stand alone film so you don’t have to worry about watching the sequel per say. Watching it as soon as possible is good to help with the sales and views then maybe we can keep getting more films in the future. Crossovers with the Teen Titans, Avengers, TMNT, and more would all work really well. The possibilities are endless to be honest.

Overall, It’s really nice seeing RWBY in a movie. They deserve a theatrical movie one of these days to really show off the budget but right now this will definitely work. It has been fun going on this little RWBY review marathon but all things must come to an end and unfortunately there probably aren’t going to be many other RWBY reviews for a while because there aren’t many other products out right now. Hopefully that will change sooner than later but in the meantime you need to enjoy this adventure while you can. It has a lot of replay value because of all the fights so you can enjoy watching it a lot.

Overall 8/10

Batman and Superman: Battle of the Super Sons Review

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Now you might be thinking…wait is this film CG? Well the answer is yes so DC decided to try a little something here. As I always say, CG isn’t even bad, but it is a step down from traditional animation. It beats the more experimental types like flash, stop motion, claymation, etc. but traditional animation is the GOAT of getting hype content across the board. So that starts this one off at a bit of a disadvantage next to its peers but ultimately it’s still a pretty good movie. It doesn’t quite top the last one but if you’re looking for some fun action then this movie has you covered.

We start off with Krypton blowing up again as Superman’s dad can’t catch a break and we then fast forward to the future where Superman and Lois are married with a kid named Jonathan. For years he hasn’t displayed any super powers so they figured maybe it wasn’t going to happen but all of a sudden he starts to develop them. Superman is at last able to reveal his secret identity but is promptly taken out along with the rest of the Justice League. Jonathan will have to finally become the new Superboy as he teams up with Robin to save the world. Are these two kids ready for such a big challenge or are they about to get absolutely destroyed as they try to fight off the big fighters?

Now you may have some questions about how the League is handled and we can quickly just write this off as a little plot hax/power level issues. You’re not sidelining Superman this easily but hey we can’t have him stealing the show right? The film wisely kept the Flash out of this as well since he’d be tough to take down. The villain of the film isn’t revealed immediately but I will say that he’s fairly cool. Not powerful enough to take out the Justice League levels of cool but he gets a good amount of hype dialogue and talks a big game. I always appreciate when a villain talks really big so I did like that about him. The film doesn’t really have any bad characters so even if he’s weaker than the heroes, I rather enjoyed the villain. I just wish he could have fought some more.

Jonathan works as an okay main character once he gets his head in the game but it does take a while. At first he’s really just your average kid who is getting picked on at school and gets upset since Superman keeps missing his big games/moments. Once he gets his powers and starts fighting then he quickly improves as a character. He is a solid contrast to Robin as they both fight off the villains. I think Jonathan should only continue to improve as a character the more he becomes accustomed to his powers. In theory once he learns them at 100% power then there are very few characters here who will be able to defeat him.

Meanwhile Robin looks great here. This is Damian specifically as from all of the Robins he always has the most attitude which leads to a lot of great one liners and character moments. You just have to appreciate this guy’s confidence. He may overrate himself just a little bit but considering how strong he is at such a young age you can absolutely see how it would happen. He does get a lot of good moments to shine though like diffusing a situation with a bully twice and holding his own against fighters with actual super powers. It’s always fun to watch him fight even if you don’t believe things would really turn out this way.

I already talked about the animation so you’re still going to have good fights here. The soundtrack is a surprising hit though with a lot of themes that sound like they’re straight out of the DCAU. You get some hype themes for the battle moments and also some nice eery ones for when the villains are around. It makes for a well balanced collection of tracks and that’s definitely what you want to see here.

Where the film has to do a bit of a balancing act is having some emotional scenes for Jonathan while also trying to throw us into the action quickly since it’s not like the film is super long or anything like that. I probably would have sped up some of the intro scenes with Jonathan so he can get his powers and take names quicker. It’s always tough since you do want to introduce the character completely but that would be my take. Once the story really gets going then it’s pretty much nonstop from there. The villain’s plan was a little too good so realistically he should not have been stopped but we’ll see if they can top that for next time.

This movie also seemed to take some elements from the new movies with some of the character designs/general roster, Justice League with one character’s role and even Young Justice. As a stand alone it worked really well there in just grabbing a bunch of elements from all sorts of places. I was surprised that Alfred didn’t make a cameo but otherwise just about everyone is here. I think the general premise of the story really lends itself well to a big cast like this. In fact, you could do a whole movie series or a full saga with this plot. There are so many different directions you can go with it so I’d be cool with this villain returning for another stab at it but this time focus on the adult heroes. Even for them this wouldn’t be a walk in the park depending on how far it goes.

You could switch out the villain if you want to keep it fresh though. It’s the general concept/premise of what’s going on that really kicks things up a few notches. Keeping things rather vague since I forget if they even showed the villain in the trailers but if not then this way you can still go in fresh. Meanwhile Superman and Lois get good roles as well at least during the intro. Lois also gets some more to do near the end so I enjoyed her character here. She got to show off why she is still the top reporter around town, willing to take on extra risks to save the day. If she had super powers I dare say she would become a vigilante really quick but that’s a complement in this case.

Overall, Battle of the Super Sons didn’t get us a battle between the Super Sons but their teaming up to stop a common enemy is always a classic way to go. The film has a good amount of action and story here so you should have a good time watching this one. You may wish you could see the League more but I suppose the kids have to get their fun sometimes. Whether you’re a DC fan or not you should enjoy this one. It’s just a fun experience and you should walk away satisfied as the ending is good and there’s a lot of room for a sequel. I’d be cool with the kids showing up again in the future for more action but wouldn’t mind a little time skip.

Overall 7/10

Natsuo Ishido vs Batman

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Suggested by iKnowledge Natsuo Ishido is a very skilled martial artist. She learned a lot during her karate day sand can hold her own in MMA. That said, Batman’s a master in virtually every martial art and over the years he has all kinds of amazing gadgets and power ups at the ready. Natsuo won’t be a significant threat to him here. Batman should have control of the match from start to finish and turn this into a fairly quick victory. Batman wins.

MultiVersus Review

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This game got a whole lot of hype when it was first announced. Finally someone was trying to make a true competitor to Super Smash Bros and it was a company that could actually keep up in terms of the big names. Lets face it, no platform fighter will ever beat Super Smash Bros but if you can get a game that’s at least at a high level on the PS4 and Xbox, then you can now get the money from those guys who don’t have a Switch. A lot of attempts have been made in the past but it’s fair to say that this is the best competitor.

So the game is in the free to play style which means that there will be a lot of updates as this will just keep on going from season to season. It can be tough to make time for a free to play game at times because you know in the back of your head that it never ends but this one is very user friendly. You can actually just pop in for 2-3 minutes a day to get your initial win bonus and then head out. You don’t have to spend any money to get all of the characters right now so it’s also a very good currency system.

How it works is you earn gold for leveling up your characters, your player level, and also for playing games. Every day you get 100 coins for your first win and after that it drops to more like 20. You can also give people toast after a match to grant them 20 coins and they can do the same for you. Each character is typically 2500-3000 coins with a rare exception being 1500 sometimes. At the time of this review I’ve unlocked around 5-6 characters but I’ve gotten to play as even more because they switch the character rotation every week. I thought that was a nice touch since it’s like you get a demo as the characters.

Additionally your progression saves which is really cool. So when you do unlock the character someday, you don’t have to start back at level 1 again. That would have been pretty annoying. There are several modes here like 1 on 1, 2 v 2, and free for all. I spend most of my time in 2 v 2 but I do a quick match against a bot to get my 100 coins for the first round. Right now I mainly just do the first match and call it a day but occasionally I’ll play a longer batch.

As this is a fighting game there is really no end to the replay value. There isn’t a real story mode or anything like that yet so this is all about the fighting. That’s why it’s good to have such big characters here because otherwise I think it’s difficult to survive only on the gameplay. The gameplay is really good of course but seeing the characters mix it up online is definitely where the real fun comes in.

The graphics aren’t quite at AAA level like Super Smash Bros but look pretty good for a free to play title. I don’t think the graphics here were really the main focus of the game and that makes sense because the gameplay is absolutely what you need to have on point if you want this to be the next big thing. The soundtrack is really fun though. I love hearing the DCAU Batman theme on his stage when it plays. I’m less familiar with some of the other series on here but having everyone bring in their respective tracks was a superb idea. The only stage that’s annoying is the music stage because they made the speakers so loud. I always have to lower the volume a few dials when this stage gets picked up.

Of course you’ve been waiting for the gameplay part. So right off the bat I can say that it is great, however it is still a full tier below Super Smash Bros. There are no grabs or blocking here so everyone is always attacking 100% of the time. It reminds me of Super Smash Bros 64 where the hit stun is really big so you can land a ton of really crazy combos. There is a ton of lag online so at times you feel like you are warping around. It’s super rare to see lag on any game that isn’t Nintendo so that took me by surprise.

There isn’t a lot of talking in the 2 v2 battles but in 1 vs 1 it’s great to hear the characters banter and say their signature lines. There are even some character specific dialogue options that appear when two characters fight each other like Superman and Batman. The combos feel very satisfying to land and the hit stun for each blow is a big reason as to why. A lot of the other Smash clones couldn’t quite get this across which is why they didn’t work as well if you ask me. You want to feel the power behind each hit and that’s exactly what this game pulls off.

They can probably improve the game even further without changing any of the actual gameplay elements by finetuning some of the hitboxes. Overall I’m very satisfied though. Each match is a lot of fun and it’s great to see all of these character here. I’m sure there are still limits on who they can add but if the game can just get a few more big shot guest stars then that would be fantastic. In the meantime I’ll keep building my coins up. As a free to play player it’s going to be a very long time before I have all of the characters anyway so I’ll be ready.

I like all of the customizations here like putting on your own badge for people to see and the stats that it tracks. I think it’s a big mistake not to capture total play time though. I’m always curious to see that but the stats here are a bit limited. Maybe later on they’ll add some more but I’d be really curious to see how long I’ve been playing by the end. I know it’s definitely been many hours by this point.

Overall, MultiVersus really succeeds at being a true platform fighter that’s unique and does its own thing. There are no items, no final smashes, and not even any real stage hazards. The character roster is strong in its own right and should continue to get even better as the seasons go on. With the amount of players it has I’m sure that it won’t be in any danger any time soon of going away. Makes it easier to spend a lot of time on it since you feel like you’re in a good place doing so. Likewise if you do want to spend some money on the game. The beginner’s pack is not a bad deal as it unlocks all of the characters for you. It’s $40 so it really feels like you’re buying the game at that point and then you go free to play from there. It’s really a tempting offer but in the end I didn’t go for it yet. Meanwhile you should get the Platinum trophy for this one naturally after playing a lot of rounds. None of the trophies are unreasonable, they’re just meant to be a little time consuming.

Overall 8/10

Ka D’Argo vs Batman

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Suggested by iKnowledge Ka D’Argo has super strength and he’s a quick fighter when it counts but he’s out of his league against Batman. Batman is just too fast and his close combat skills are just too good. He should always have the advantage here in a fight like this. Ka’s best bet would be to really quickly land a knock-out blow that takes Batman down for the count but the odds of that are slim to none. Batman wins.

Scorpius vs Batman

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Suggested by iKnowledge Scorpius has super strength and is definitely a tough guy in general but he’s definitely not ready for this win. Batman has his GL Power Ring and a whole lot of power ups that would make him be able to claim the win here. Scorpius will definitely be on the back foot for this round and won’t have a way to make a proper comeback here. Batman has gone up against every kind of opponent there is and so Scorpius won’t be able to take him by surprise. Batman wins.

John Crichton vs Batman

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Suggested by iKnowledge John Crichton is a smart guy and he’s got a gun but he won’t be beating Batman here. Batman has gone up against all kinds of crazy fighters in his day like Darkseid and Superman. He’s obtained many different powers overt the years and never stops getting stronger. Throw in his mastery of close quarters combat and I don’t see John being able to do much of anything here. He’s just out of his league and will be primed for a complete loss here. Batman wins.