Does MultiVersus Have What It Takes To Sit Alongside Smash?

thegamer.com:

There's a lot to be excited about when it comes to MultiVersus, but also a lot to be wary of, and as its beta is about to launch, it's worth looking at why. Both MultiVersus and last year's IP infused fighting game, Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl, feel like they're in competition with Super Smash Bros., but they're actually in competition with each other. In that regard, MultiVersus is a prizefighter going up against an amateur YouTuber, but we need to see if it can go the distance.

Neither of these games will be better than Smash. Nintendo's brawler has one of the most singularly-focussed directors in the industry, a thriving competitive scene, and two decades' worth of experience behind it. You're not beating that on your first go. It's like launching a new sports game and taking on FIFA. We all saw how that went with eFootball, and that wasn’t even a completely new game but a rebrand of an existing one. There is a huge gap in the market to be the second best, and Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl whiffed that chance. MultiVersus just might stick the landing, but it also could fall at the final hurdle.

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First off, MultiVersus is a better game. I know as a professional video game critic I could be more eloquent on the issue, but that's all there is to it. Nick Brawl wasn't good. It had some pretty limp stages, no real modes beyond an incredibly sparse arcade offering and basic online multiplayer, and famously lacked voice acting. It wasn't just the lack of voices, it felt so completely devoid of personality whatsoever. The actual fighting wasn't that great, and it needed to be best-in-show to save a game that was falling apart at the seams. I'm sure there were a lot