When MultiVersus was announced last year, I greeted the news with an indulgent eye roll. A Warner Bros. Smash-like that smooshes together Bugs Bunny, Batman, Steven Universe, and Arya Stark? Deeply weird, but somehow inevitable. My opinion started turning upon seeing the cinematic trailer, released earlier this week, which featured most of the characters’ OG voices. I also happen to be lucky enough to have been selected for the game’s Closed Alpha, which opened today. After playing it for an hour, I’m delighted to tell you that it’s good—like, disarmingly so.
After the mega-corporation capitalistic spectacle known as Space Jam 2, I was bracing for MultiVersus to ooze the same kind of “Look at all the things we own!” gloating. It’s not like the mega-corp vibe is absent (it’s why the game can exist), but MultiVersus makes its blending of disparate universes straight-up charming. During one match, I played as Jake the Dog, and my teammate played as Superman. When entering the arena, Jake said something along the lines of, “I get to team up with Superman?! Wow, what an amazing day.” It was downright cute. It made my heart fuzzy (much like a heartstring-tugging pairing in the trailer). We then proceeded to a narrowly defeat Steven Universe and Reindog (a game-original character).
I suspect one key to this success is the music. Going with the Smash Bros. route of gathering iconic scores from these various IPs might have been disorienting in this particular case—one match, you would have the bubbly and pleasant music of Steven Universe, and the next, you’d be pounded to death with a Game of Thrones battle score. So, they didn’t do that, thankfully, nor did they go the Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl route of composing soundalikes. Instead, the music of MultiVersus is driven by an orchestra. It’s light, heroic, and inviting. The vibe is very much like you’re wandering around Universal Studios. For me, this makes it warmly nostalgic. I kind of love it, actually. I hung out on the landing screen for a hot second when I first opened the game, just vibing with the score.
But you probably didn’t click on this article to read about the score; you probably clicked on it to read about impressions of the gameplay. So, you’ll be relieved to hear that the gameplay is solid. MultiVersus is unabashedly modeled off of Smash Bros., and Smash players (like myself) shouldn’t have too hard of a time getting used to the controls. There are neutral and special attacks, each with directional variants. I noticed that I had to really make sure I put in the directional input before I pressed the button, rather than simultaneously, but that could be an Alpha thing or me being the slightly sloppy button-masher that I know I am. The biggest difference is the presence of a button entirely devoted to dodging, which can be done to a fleeting extent while moving, and which also takes the place of Smash’s static “guard.”
The combat has enough depth that it makes continual play rewarding. The punches feel nice and tactile and satisfying. Like Smash, each character has a completely unique move set, which presents a learning curve. Fortunately, each character feels very much “themselves” (again, definitely helped by the voice acting). Depending on the character’s vibe, some moves are very funny and delightful: Garnet dances, Jake turns into a house, Shaggy finds a sandwich on the ground and throws it, and Tom attaches Jerry to a tennis paddle to continually whack players with him.
Plus, MultiVersus rewards having a Main by leveling up a character with each match, which unlocks “perks” that buff you and your team. The game’s been doing a good job of matching player levels in online matches, though, so getting behind on perks will hopefully not be an issue. The game also keeps you drawn to it by offering “battle tier” incentives as you play and gain more experience. I am now hell-bent on getting to level 50 (which is very, very high), because one of the rewards is an alternate skin for Jake … as Cake the Cat. I don’t know if this is complete with the OG voice actress or not, but I’m thrilled. That is part of the “premium” battle tier line, though, which reeks of an eventual pay wall (the game is free-to-play). It doesn’t seem to affect performance, though—only aesthetics.
It will be fascinating to see how MultiVersus changes when it becomes widely available. Surely, the roster of 15 characters will balloon out—Rick Sanchez is inevitable, and I invite you to notice BMO’s presence on the top left corner of the landing image. And as far as gameplay goes, right now, everyone on the Alpha is messing around and getting the hang of the game’s mechanics. But there’s enough nuance to the game that it’s absolutely going to cultivate skilled players who will necessitate gameplay with calculated, tactical decisions. I’m actively looking forward to that. Cake and I will be ready for you.
(featured image: Player First Games)
