PS3's New Exclusive 'PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale' Revealed!

After months of rumours circulating the web, Sony's new exclusive is at last revealed. As expected, it's PlayStation All-Stars Royale, a similar concept to Nintendo's Super Smash Bros. Currently in development by SuperBot Entertainment, the game consists of PS3's best and most famous characters, battling it out to the death! Don't just think it's some kind of outright copy though, SuperBot's president Chan Park made it clear his development team have been "purpose-built" for the project, with guys from series such as UFC Undisputed and Mortal Kombat. Sony aren't just looking for a PS3 equivalent, they want an evolutionary style of game, in an attempt to take the formula to a whole new next level.

So what is PlayStation All Stars Battle Royale?

Originally Posted by SuperBot

First and foremost, it’s a celebration of a storied history of great characters and rich worlds brought together in one game. And for us, there’s no better way to celebrate than by creating an experience that players can sit around one screen and enjoy together. There are probably a few types of games that can be enjoyed by four players simultaneously, but for us at SuperBot, a brawler was the obvious choice for one really good reason: the developers here at SuperBot really like fighting games. We love playing them and we love making them. With PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale, we set out to make an experience accessible enough for all PlayStation fans to enjoy while also creating something deep enough for the serious fighting game aficionado. We think this “accessible yet deep” strategy is the perfect way to bring PlayStation fans of all stripes together.

Learn more in the video interview:

Sony decided to let SuperBot Entertainment give IGN a sneak preview of what's instal for us playstation users, allowing them to show-off six of the game's characters from various different PlayStation exclusives. Confirmed first party Sony characters include: Kratos (God Of War), Radec (Killzone) Sly Cooper (Sly Racoon), PaRappa the Rapper, Sweet Tooth (Twisted Metal), and Fat Princess. Third party characters from other games have been confirmed to be part of the game, but none of them have been announced as yet, although Sony has hinted they could go all the way back to the PS one era. Not sure whether that's a good or bad thing.

Below Colin Moriarty, IGN PlayStation editor, explains some of the unique moves and abilities attached to each character revealed.

Originally Posted by Colin Moriarty

Each character has his or her own combat style, which immediately becomes evident when you begin playing for yourself. Parappa the Rapper has strength at close range, where he can use his Chop Chop Master Onion-learned kung-fu stylings on his opponents. Colonel Radec, on the other hand, is almost entirely ineffective unless at a distance, relying on a plethora of Helghan firearms and pieces of technology from afar.

Sweet Tooth's considerable strength complements his brutal fighting style while Kratos' skill with his arsenal of weapons is obvious. But the two most interesting characters in this preliminary roster were undoubtedly Sly Cooper and Fat Princess. Sly Cooper's agility shines through almost immediately, and he has a special skill that no other character has. He forfeits his ability to block -- something every other character can do -- instead going invisible when the L1 button is held down. This allows him to sneakily slink around and get the jump on other characters. Fat Princess, on the other hand, relies on her deceptive, innocent look to get in close and cause the brunt of her damage. She can even summon forth minions such as the sword-wielding warrior or the fire-throwing wizard from her self-titled game to briefly supplement her attacks.

In a game like this, it should come as no surprise that SuperBot Entertainment wants it to feel accessible. And it most certainly does. Attacks are mapped to the Square, Triangle and Circle buttons coinciding with the direction you're pressing on the d-pad or left analog stick, giving each character an exceptional amount of moves. The right stick can be used to throw opponents, while the R1 button lets players pick up items (such as the Hedgehog Grenade from Resistance) in the environment to use on enemies.

And then there's the most powerful button in the game: R2. By building a special meter for each character -- a la Street Fighter or Marvel vs. Capcom -- players can unleash a torrent of special attacks that grow in power the higher the meter gets. For instance, Sly Cooper's standard first level attack might be fairly unimpressive, but his second level attack allows him to bomb enemies from above and can easily kill everyone on the screen. And if you get to a third level attack, watch out: Colonel Radec will get into a body-encompassing machinegun from Killzone 3, while Sweet Tooth turns into a gigantic truck to rain down destruction on his foes. These attacks spell almost certain death for everyone else on-screen.

But with accessibility comes inevitable depth, and it quickly becomes apparent that the more you play, the more nuance you'll be able to derive from the experience. You'll develop a play style and preferences for certain characters; as an example, Colonel Radec will be a complete turnoff if you're not into ranged attacks, while Sly Cooper may just be too damn fast for you to keep track of. But there is balance, too, and no one character seems to have an edge over anyone else… at least not in this small group of six.

Unlike Nintendo's Smash Bros. which only offered levels related to single franchise, All-Star's stages will feature multiple elements from different games. For example one set includes Hades from God Of War but also features the little guys from PSP series Patapon in the background. A Ratchet & Clank stage features the Hydra from the first God Of War.There's also a stage from LittleBigPlanet that starts off empty and fills up as you play, a Buzz! level that asks you questions as you fight, and Sandover Village from Jak And Daxter.

PlayStation All-Stars is full of options, allowing players to use the game to its full potential. It can be played locally or online with up to four players. Of course there's also a single-player campaign, which has been promised to satisfy solo gamers while supplementing everyone else's experience. However, the guys over at SuperBot don't believe it's only about online or only about single-player, but a combo of the two. They want to achieve a "best of both worlds" experience for PS3 gamers. Although that being said, a slight focus is in fact being put on the online play which will feature a robust tournament mode. Players will be able to compete against each other as well as play cooperatively.

According to SuperBot there are plenty more features, characters, and levels they want to show us. We can expect a lot to be revealed at E3.