http://www.screwattack.com/reviews/review-playstation-all-stars-battle-royale

Screwattack 8.5

Aren't they pretty much the same game though?

Does the Screw Attack review give out a Access Denied message to someone else or is this just for me?

Tagging. How long before the embargo ends?

IGN says their review goes up at 11EST so I'm guessing we have one hour and 15 minutes to go before reviews start pouring in.

Seems about right so far. Despite the claims of copy-catting, it does seem to be a solidly fun experience at the core.

Ooh, I'll be coming back here in an hour then!

We don't get it until Friday :(

Someone has uploaded gameplay of all the single-player on youtube already.  Trying so hard to avoid temptation to watch it!

Screwattack is usually a tough grader so this is a pretty nice score. IGN will probably give it a 9 judging how much they've been hyping this title. I'm very interested in Edge and Eurogamer's reviews since they're two of the toughest reviewers. Plus Jim Sterling, but I'm starting to think he just trolls for hits.

Got my hands on an early copy despite the game not launching until the 22nd here. The combat is very solid. Everyone has very basic combos, then all of a sudden you get to Dante who has a ridiculous amount of combos you could pull off. Can't comment on the online as it won't accept my online pass yet. I'm guessing some might know but the character combo training and character challenges are separate. There's a lot of content here, but unlike smash which has more fun unrelated modes like target practice, the modes all here seem to be purely to make you a more competent fighter. Really seems like it's trying to be more like a traditional fighter than a brawler.

My problem with the balance isn't with the supers at all, it's with some of the characters movesets in general. Some characters like Dan just don't seem to be able to stand a chance against mobile characters like Dante or Raiden in 1v1 scenarios due to how slow, predictable and limited his attacks and mixups are. Big Daddy tries to overcome this with the super armor on his square attacks. Though I'll admit Dan would be great for 2v2, so perhaps that's what they were aiming for.

The unlockables range from great to, pointless. Titles are unlocked via online tournaments only. Would have really liked to have unlockable songs from various IPs but oh well. The character unlocks themselves are nice though. Hopefully the next smash does something similar with characters costumes, and victory poses and music.

I'd expect quite a few critics being unhappy with the gameplay, and claim it suffers from identity crisis. Perhaps Omar has won them over.

The only thing i'd like the next Smash to rip off of this is the "rivals" concept. Something they only minorly explored in Subspace Emissary should be more integrated like it is here.