MultiVersus seemingly takes shots at Super Smash Bros. Ultimate AND Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl with online and voice acting
Nothing wrong with a little competition in the platform brawler genre
MultiVersus, Warner Bros.'s take on the platform brawler genre, was recently confirmed to be a real thing. Think Super Smash Bros. except with characters like Batman, Harley Quinn, (Ultra Instinct) Shaggy, Bugs Bunny, Steven Universe, Garnet, Finn the Human, Jake the Dog, Superman, Wonder Woman, Tom & Jerry, Arya Stark and a brand new character known as Reindog.
During the video, Tony Huynh, Director of MultiVersus, revealed some key features for the free-to-play platform brawler that's currently scheduled to be released in 2022. What's interesting is that it felt like a lot of emphasis was placed on stable online play and voice acting, often two different points of criticism for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl respectively.
"Our roster has some of the most recognizable characters. So to bring them to life with as close to one-to-one representation as possible through visuals, their worlds, their music and more is important to us," said Huynh during the video reveal.
"That's why iconic voice talent powers many of our characters, like Kevin Conroy as Batman. In fact, we think you'll recognize a lot of them. We're excited to show you our takes on characters from Tom and Jerry, Arya Stark and Shaggy."
Even on the MultiVersus website, the presence of professional voice acting talent is heavily emphasized. This really seems to suggest that Warner Bros. has put forth a real budget for this game's development.
Batman will be voiced by Kevin Conroy, Superman by George Newbern, Wonder Woman by Abby Trott, Harley Quinn, by Tara Strong, Shaggy by Matthew Lillard, Bugs Bunny by Eric Bauza, Arya Stark by Maisie Williams, Jake the Dog by John DiMaggio, Finn the Human by Jeremy Shada, Steven Universe by Daniel DiVenere, Garnet by Estelle, Tom and Jerry both voiced by Eric Bauza and Reindog by Andrew Frankel.
Although Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl comes across as a really fun game, it really felt like it was released in an incomplete state. The lack of voice acting for the characters is really jarring and it makes them all feel somewhat soulless.
Ludosity, one of the developers behind Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl, have hinted that voice acting could potentially be added to the game at a later time. As one might expect, this has been one of the major criticisms among gamers and critics in terms of what was released on launch day.
It almost feels like Warner Bros. and Player First Games are putting information about their voice acting front and center upon seeing the panning of the lack thereof for Nickelodeon's take on the platform brawler.
Following the reveal about voice acting support in the trailer, Huynh then proceeded to talk about what the development team is doing for online play. The developers are definitely trying to appeal to those that have been burned by the online experiences of other games.
"Remember the last time you disconnected from a match? What about lag affecting your inputs?" asked Huynh. This could be a direct reference to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate's online interactions.
"Us too. MultiVersus' goal is best in class online," continued Huynh. "We're investing a lot into making the most responsive gameplay and netcode, in addition to dedicated servers from day one for the life of the game."
Once more on the MultiVersus website, it's declared that MultiVersus is using rollback netcode rather than delay-based netcode.
It's hard to be oblivious to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate's perceived online troubles when FixUltimateOnline trended on Twitter several times throughout 2020. Fans idealistically hoped for the implementation of rollback netcode and dedicated servers.
Unfortunately, these specific improvements never came to be for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, though Masahiro Sakurai noted that there was an attempt for something similar to rollback netcode.
Indeed, these have been the main points of criticism for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Fans have not been happy with online play for the game.
It's clear that with these moves, Warner Bros. and Player First Games are attempting to put their stake in the platform brawler genre. We'll have to wait and see how everything unfolds, but this information alone suggests that MultiVersus could end up being a real competitor to Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl and even the Super Smash Bros. series.
