One of the problems that MutliVersus had was an inescapable ‘ick’ factor. It wasn’t something you ever felt with Smash Bros., the game it was clearly trying to be. With Smash, you knew that Mario would never really punch Zelda, that Pikachu and Byleth did not belong to the same universe, that Ganondorf and Ridley were way less imposing when they were being beaten up by Isabelle. But it made sense. You accepted it. That wasn’t the case with MultiVersus.
In some ways, this could not be helped. MultiVersus was a new series, Smash was established. By even existing, MultiVersus was a knock-off. But in other ways, it could have been helped. MultiVersus would surely have been cheaper to make and maintain had it just launched with 30 or so characters and a full complement of modes, sold at a standalone price as a single game, with potential DLC packs coming later. Instead, it was an always-online live-service game that went offline for a year without warning after players had invested in it, and came back more money hungry than ever.
This approach put a lot of pressure on MultiVersus. Joker, a classic and popular character, was scorned for being predictable. Banana Guard, a wildcard novelty, was derided for taking up a slot. It got to the point where people were booing the arrival of Lola Bunny – a character so obviously perfect for this sort of game – simply because she wasn’t Daffy. The inclusion of LeBron James, an obviously ridiculous attempt to promote Space Jam, did not help matters. And as a result, it never quite lost the ‘ick’.
That’s not to mention Black Adam.
MultiVersus Felt Less Like A Game And More Like A Commerical That Advertised The Joys Of Handing Over Your Money
It felt, in a way, like I was letting myself down by playing MultiVersus. This was IP soup, a Bad Game by definition, one designed to trade on nostalgia and extract cash from players by holding up recognisable dollies instead of offering anything of substance. When Agent Smith from The Matrix was added, I grew more conflicted. Agent Smith is cool. I like The Matrix. Punching people as Agent Smith is cool. But it felt so against the themes of the movies to use its characters as brand mascots – in fact, that’s the point of The Matrix Resurrections.
It was a little like when I first saw that picture of Mr Chedda. If you’re unfamiliar, Mr Chedda is a charming little mouse in a suit, who looks like he might be played by Joe Pesci. He’s also AI-generated, so feeling affection towards a thing I otherwise have justified and long-standing abhorrence for is an unfamiliar feeling. I did play MultiVersus initially, though it going away for so long left me once bitten, twice extremely annoyed that anti-consumer practices are tolerated so often in gaming even for mediocre titles that don’t deserve it.
This Mr Chedda ick factor and general irritation with the game left me in an odd position when it came to ‘who do you want in MultiVersus next?’, because in a way, my answer was ‘nobody, I hope it fails’. As sad as I am for the devs, just as I was for the developers of the God of War live-service game and Horizon live-service game, I am glad these games are seen as expensive risks best avoided instead of easy money nickel and diming fans.
MutliVersus Will Be Remembered As A Cash Grab
I had planned on writing this article to absolve myself of the guilt of speculation – to list some Warner Bros. characters I would have liked to have seen, like Wile E. Coyote. To delve into the depths of DC and regret that we never got Starfire. To reel off some of the live-action movies Warner Bros. has had a hand in, like Barbie, Challengers, or Bones and All. Challengers was my Movie of the Year last year, and to seriously suggest that the erotically charged narrative be degraded by having Tashi Duncan hit tennis balls at Velma gives me the ick. But to do it as a joke now that MutliVersus is gone… still gives me the ick, sorry. MultiVersus, you will never be Mr Chedda.
It’s a feeling MultiVersus just can’t shake. There were many (okay, a handful… okay, one) people (person) at TheGamer who loved MultiVersus, and back in the halcyon days of the initial launch, we all played it together and I had a decent time bouncing between Harley Quinn and Taz. But I quickly fell out of love with the game and rather than return more apologetic, it showed its true colours in its second stint in the limelight.
As a result, it was always racing towards this inevitable end. To have gotten there without Daffy feels emblematic of its failure to meet fans halfway. If it had, it may have overcome the ick factor that plagued its existence. Since it didn’t, it will never be anything other than gaming’s Mr Chedda, and not even that.
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OpenCritic
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Top Critic Rating:
76/100
- Released
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August 15, 2022
- Developer(s)
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Player First Games
- Genres
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