MultiVersus has fulfilled my Smash Burnout

 Let's get one thing straight: MultiVersus is not Smash. It is CLEARLY inspired by it in a wave of games doing the same (Nickelodeon All Star Brawl being one of the most recent). While a lot of these wanna-bes fail short, MultiVersus pushes way ahead of the rest and shows it has what it takes to be a legit competitor to Nintendo's Ultimate fighter mash-up.

What separates MultiVersus from everything else is the strategy. Cooldowns on attacks so you can't repeatedly spam certain moves over and over again (while you can, you get Attack Decay on attacks that make sure your repeated attacks do less damage), Wall jumping instead of ledge grappling (taken from Brawlhalla) and dodging becoming such a powerful tool in the absence of a block button. Perks are added specifically for each character/type. So Iron Giant doesn't feel the same as Shaggy

You can also argue that WB may also have more of a recognizable roster than anyone else presenting this type of game (look, I love the Ninja Turtles but...Batman, Superman AND WonderWoman? Whew).

It's not about the characters though as MultiVersus comes with only 17 characters in Open Beta and ..well..not all of them are free. There is a standard rotation of free characters for a limited time and you can build up in-game currency to unlock the rest. It took me a solid 4-5 hours to get 1-2 extra characters so it wasn't too horrible.

The focus is a 2 v 2 format with you and a partner going up against another group. You can use the same character on both teams so it can cause mayhem with, say, 4 Finn's from Adventure Time running around.

This focus does increase the strategy element by having you think which characters and perks mesh well with each other.

You and your teammate want to do more melee damage on the ground? You both can select a perk that does just that...and it stacks. So say the normal perk by itself gives your team a 5% melee boost while on the ground. If you both pick it, it's now 10%. So you can dominate your opposition with punches and kicks while grounded.

There are defensive perks and mobility perks as well. You can even train perks with your character so there are limitless options here.

This is a refreshing take on entering a match. 

Plus, after a victory or loss, you can start a best 2 out of 3 with the other team. You can adjust your perks or selected characters. This comes in handy if you're trying a new character for the first time and get whooped because you didn't test them out beforehand.

Speaking of which, there is a practice mode: The Lab.

Here you can take any character at any time and practice special moves, combos, whatever you'd like. All the settings of the CPU can be changed to your liking as well. It's great to get those cheesy combos down to perfection. 

All in all MultiVersus is a fantastic game that has made me want to play the genre now that the burnout for Smash Bros has hit. 

Having the 2V2 mode be the focus makes it feel more arcade-like and I really dig the feel. 

While there are some negatives (limited stage selection, no local multiplayer against bots, micro transactions can be a little too much) it's all little things that can be remedied after the game fully releases on August 8th.

If you want a good fighter with a pretty cool roster and some depth, MultiVersus is for you.