I find the entire project incredibly tragic, as it was pretty much doomed from the start. The first problem with it is the fact that Sony doesnt own many franchises and characters that put them on the map. The second is Sony's attitude towards the project, basically using it as a cheap promotional tool for new games and not giving a single bother about it, meaning the budget and time ware tight. That led to things like companies owning those franchises not taking it seriously and treat it just like the marketing tool it is by insisting on current, sometimes downright unpopular representatives of the series tied to Playstation (like DmC Dante instead of DMC3 Dante, Raiden instead of Snake, Lightning was supposed to make an apperance intead of Cloud before they backed out altogether, and you know something is VERY wrong with your game if even Lightning refuses to cameo in it) instead of the most popular ones, or request enormous sums of money in order to have them included (like Crash). That made the developers of this game literally scrounge for characters, leading to double Coles, Big Daddy, Isaac Clarke ect.
Ok, so the roster is bad, but what about the game? Well, looking at menus alone points to there not being enough resources to polish things up, not to mention the character models look half-done and clash with one another instead of having an unified style (some of them look like ripped straight from the games they came from). The combat system is somewhat fine, but there are balance issues up the wazoo, not to mention some ideas and mechanics that didnt work out all that well that could have been polished or avoided if more testing was possible, like killing only using supers or the stage clash thing that only makes everything a mess to follow.
That leads us to another tragic thing about it, the developer Superbot. It was theyr first game, and they really did theyr best with what they ware given, but they ware sentenced to die with this project the second they ware assigned to it. Its sad because if given enough money, time and resources I think they could have pulled it off, they ware on the right track with it and the spirit is there (final boss being Polygon Man was genius, but the fight with him pretty much sucked because, againt, time and money).
So, in the end, its a somewhat playable shell of something that could have been so much better, maybe even rival Smash if done right. But it was done wrong, on the simple ground of Sony not giving a damn.
Now, is it even possible to make a game like this good? Certainly, but it requires certain ajustments that boild down to a single point: a game like this has to be HUGE. Sony has to take this project seriously, and while copying Smash also copy its philosophy of it being a celebration of the brand, a BIG event. So, you need to invest lots of money into things like marketing, budget and of course getting all the right characters in it. Give the project to your best people (though as I said, Superbot could have handled it just fine), and give them all the time in the world to make sure its the best possible product. Make it a system seller, a HUGE deal that would make companies WANT theyr characters in it. It would probably require Sony to sink millions of dollars into it with no guarantee of making the money back, but thats what the game would be, a celebration, the ultimate vanity project that MIGHT with time make its money back, but you have to be patient and ready for losses. The game would grow a big following, if balanced properly even make it to official tournaments, and would be remembered and loved instead of hated and mocked as a half-assed Smash clone. Basically, the game would need to be a huge risk, a risk that Sony would need to be willing to take. Heck, make it a PS4 launch title to REALLY give it a head start. But, thats all just fantasy and whats done is done, such shame.
Anyways, heres my idea of what the roster could have been (taking into consideration the whole PS4 launch title idea):
The bottom red row would be unlockables, mostly tied to other franchise representatives except for the two indie characters (representing the new era of indie-friendly Sony) and Gene, because why the heck not, we need some obscure characters to shake up the roster.
So, that would be it for my take on the game. Than you for reading this overly long post.
