MultiVersus is a shameless mashup of Space Jam and Smash Bros. — and it works
Let’s just get this out of the way: there’s very little that’s original about MultiVersus, an upcoming free-to-play fighting game. It is, very clearly, designed to be like Super Smash. Bros., only with Warner Bros. characters in place of those from Nintendo and other classic video games. This means that instead of Super Mario getting beat up by Sephiroth, you have Shaggy and Wonder Woman teaming up to fight Arya Stark and Bugs Bunny in the Batcave. It’s strange and crass but also feels right at home in a world of Fortnite, Space Jam, Doctor Strange, and Rescue Rangers. As shameless as it may be, though, after spending some time with the MultiVersus, I’m starting to think that it could end up being a big hit.
Functionally, the core of MultiVersus is identical to Smash. It’s a 2D fighter where the goal is to knock your opponents off of the level, which you do by causing lots and lots of damage; the more damaged your enemy is, the further they’ll fly. It’s also a game about chaos. Things move so fast that you really have to pay attention to what’s going on, but there’s still a good amount of strategy beyond button mashing. (Though I did win a few matches early on by being a button masher.) I haven’t played enough to really dig into the nuances of the gameplay, but it has felt like a surprisingly solid fighter with a good amount of variety for the attacks and characters.
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MultiVersus mixes things up a little bit by offering three main modes. You can fight one-on-one or in a classic four-player free-for-all, but the most interesting might be the team battles. Here, players square off as duos, with the goal of getting four knockouts to win. It’s interesting particularly because, amongst the standard tank and bruiser
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