The second round of DLC for "Playstation All-Stars Battle Royal" characters released this week, with Isaac of the multiplatform "Dead Space" franchise and the king of the gods, Zeus, hailing from his place in the "God of War" universe. Players can also get their hands on a new stage, a mash-up between PSN indie "The Unfinished Swan" and Sir Daniel's "Medievil" classic. Is the $10 asking price worth it for the two new characters and stage?
After hours of rigorous field testing, one on one, free for all and two versus two brawling, Zeus and Isaac have shown their true colors and place in the game, and the conclusions are certain:
Zeus is a dick and Isaac is defensive, but they both have their uses. First up is the big man on the mountain:
Zeus, "God of War"
Zeus is what Big Daddy should have been to begin with - huge, slow but absolutely brutal when he can pull off his sluggish move set. Simultaneously empowering and frustrating, most of Zeus's moves can be charged, granting him super-armor for a couple frames, an insane increase in AP gain and either more knockback or more range, or both. Everything the big man does is about lightning. Your square button melee attacks see Zeus lunging forward with a nasty uppercut finish, your ranged lightning bolt shot with the neutral triangle button, while somewhat limited, has insane knockback when charged, and then there's the crowd control. Directional triangle button attacks see Zeus spewing out a web of lightning in front, above or below him, catching anybody within range for multiple hits. With enough players caught and enough pre-charging, Zeus can get himself to a level one super in nearly one attack.
And yet as Zeus you're almost always open to attack yourself, so it's all about planning, guessing where your opponent is going to land after a jump and taking advantage of the slim windows of opportunity to rev up any melee or close-rang lightning attack. If you get caught swiping at the air, get ready to be punished.
Which brings us to his more agile circle button attacks. A short-range teleport and a cloning move, which pushes Zeus back behind an exploding version of himself, grants the character a higher range of motion than with the joysticks. Players are going to want to use these moves to either create some space or punish overzealous attackers. Amidst a slew of slow-attacks, teleporting or cloning can be pretty surprising and can take your opponents off-guard. Additionally, down circle throws out a Pikachu-like vertical thunder attack that punishes runners and anyone looking for a downward air-strike, while left or right circle allows Zeus to absorb ranged attacks for small ap gain.
Supers:
Level 1: A quick, short-ranged thunderclap directly in front of Zeus. It's pretty weak in comparison to other characters, but Zeus makes up for it in his disturbing ability to gain AP from very few strong attacks.
Level 2: An absolute, guaranteed kill, and two if you time out the activation right. Zeus floats around the stage searching for enemies, activating a lightning explosion with a wide kill-radius on command.
Level 3: Transporting all your foes to the top of Mount Olympus, a magnificently gigantic Zeus rises up in the background to play whack-a-mole with his fists. Four attacks, a left slam, a right slam, a floor shock and an air shock each cover their respective sections of the entire stage, forcing players to anticipate Zeus's massive strikes and jump or dodge in the opposite direction. In a free-for-all, this can net Zeus anywhere from three six kills, more if you get in a quick floor strike in the beginning that takes everyone out.
Parting thoughts: While Zeus is fun to use, and especially fun to use well, his deficiencies are more a glaring issue with the game's kill system than with anything inherently wrong with the character himself. He's huge, he's supposed to get in there and risk it all, which means he's going to take some hits. Unfortunately, just because he was built to take hits doesn't mean the hits mean less for other players. They gain the same amount of AP as always, and therefore acquire an advantage over the big guys like Zeus and Big Daddy. Neither of those lumbering characters can ever be anything more than a fun diversion to serious play for this reason alone.
That said, upper-cutting foes as the king of gods couldn't have possibly felt better.
Isaac, "Dead Space"
Isaac's chances as a competitive character are much higher than with Zeus. His moveset is far more diversified, allowing Isaac to play defensively but with the quick ability to attack and combo up his various projectiles. He's a bit intimidating to start, as mastering the various arcs and uses for his guns can take some getting used to, but once you've narrowed down a couple solid moves, he's a true danger on the field.
Whereas most characters' movesets are defined into three categories coinciding with the three attack buttons, Isaac's attacks are spread liberally and without very much organization around the controller. It adds to his steeper learning curve, but it's not too bad. To start, his few melee attacks on the square button are pretty useless, but that's expected for a projectile heavy character. He's no Ratchet, with that wrench, he's more like a Nathan Drake, constantly throwing out new obstacles to grief his opponents. However, his square button is not completely useless. The left or right directional attack sees Isaac shooting out a succession of basic projectile shots with decent range. They're great for controlling aggressors, especially since you can actually move Isaac backward or forward as you shoot, continuing to tap the button as long as you please. It's an interesting mechanic, a callback to the "Dead Space" style of play even, and it plays a big part in making Isaac a tough character to approach directly.
And the rest of his arsenal of moves can play a similar part in your game, if you're so inclined. Traps, floating projectiles, grenades and concussion rifles (shotguns) all keep you enemies at bay, so long as the stream of attacks is constant. Once you get things going, it's like an impenetrable wall above and to the sides of Isaac. Of course he's weak when that wall is broken, but that's a tough thing to do. I did say impenetrable, after all.
Supers:
Level 1: Unique and uniquely dangerous, Isaac's level one super is actually a two parter, unprecedented in the two chances Isaac has to get a kill. First he fires of a stasis shot in front of him with decent range, freezing any singular enemy caught in the crossfire. Isaac finishes his enemy off with a charged up shot, limitless range. The best part is, missing that stasis shot does not negate his chance to finish with the charged shot. Allowing the shot to build up to a larger radius and then using some quick reflexes can also net you a kill. His level 1 is his best move, period.
Level 2: Totally underwhelming compared to his level one, understandably, Isaac lets out a smallish bubble above, in front and slightly behind him that launches enemies caught inside. The bubble is only a half-circle, instead of the more powerful Cole level 2 attacks, which makes it worth passing over for his level 3.
Level 3: As ridiculous as they come, Isaac shoves his way out of his ship in to zero gravity, where his opponents float helplessly in space. Like a mix between Sackboy's bubbles and Drake's zombies, opponents can move their bodies around the environment, but it's fairly useless to do so. Isaac takes aim and blows anybody he looks at away, using explosive barrels in the environment to his advantage.
Parting thoughts: His potential for competitive play is huge, all it takes is a stern desire to learn his varied and difficult moveset. Stringing his projectiles together for a combo and keeping opponents at bay with traps and shorter-ranged projectiles is the key to success. Anyone experienced with ranged characters should at least give Isaac a try.
He may just be your next main guy.
The Graveyard Stage
Honestly, not much to say. It's mostly a flat plane with a couple bumps along the way. The big gimmick, the stage turns to pure white, which follows with black blobs of paint being flung about to reveal new platforms. From a pure fighting point of view, it's servicable but nothing special. From a visual point of view, it's fun and mildly entertaining. The one issue - various breakable objects give away far too much AP, making the randomness of those objects a bit too important in the overall flow of the match.
Overall...
Zeus, Isaac and The Graveyard are worth it to players who can't get enough of "Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale," but that would have been true in any case. For players on the edge, looking for a true competitor, Isaac is your guy. For local nuts, Zeus is fun for a less-serious bout.
