first of all I just noticed "Play as Scooby-Do Character." Anyway:
Okay, look. Y'all know me, y'all know what I'm about. I believe there are only a tiny handful of truly bad video games out there. Some with actively offensive content, sure, but honestly for the most part I sincerely believe the majority of games are mid at worst, and that includes a lot of famous "bad" games.
And I say this, then, as a person who likes every game! A person who's been through multiple Kusograndes and found many games I sincerely love!* A person who loved Multiversus on its first launch and wanted to love it again!** Tried to love it again! I say this:
they HECKED it up
I was scouring it looking for nice things to say. And I found some, but they are all wholly aesthetic: there's some fun skin choices and some genuinely good character beats. I kinda like the "theme park entry" vibes of the menu themes, it's fine to keep a low level of anticipation there. A lot of crossover fighters don't really delve deep into character interaction, and that's kinda MVS's last real niche here.
I have less nice things to say about the menus, which are annoying to navigate, and the monetization is Not Good. It is, I would go so far as to say, Bad. Four currencies, thirty dollar skins, battle passes, timed shit....no. None of this, please. (My biggest compliment is they wouldn't let me waste resources on a character who's currently a free unlock. That's non-predatory, I....guess.)
But the gameplay. Oh, good grief. It's goddamn nothing. Anything that could have added depth has been removed, it's like half the speed it should be, it's weirdly zoomed in. I was getting multiple kills in each match, sometimes every kill, because Harley's fast enough I could play aggressively, get in there first, and there was just no counter, no options for my opponents to do anything except flail and be juggled. You basically can't play defensively.
It's like they wanted to make an accessible platform fighter for people who aren't already in on wavedashing and shorthop combos, but did so in a way that feels really bad for everyone involved, newcomers most of all. Maybe it's not Fox doing wild dash-dances over Final Destination, no, but it doesn't have to be to feel like you're just helplessly getting flung through the air.
I will give them a few of my log-in bonuses, sure, get a few freebies. Y'never know, maybe they'll course-correct. But I don't think it's likely.
It's not the worst fighting game I've played by a long shot; it's not the worst platform fighting game I've played either. I don't give them long before WB pulls the plug or servers just die out entirely, unless some serious changes are made.
But, also, even at my most forgiving? It's never been a better time to be a fighting game fan-there's several good, strong titles right now competing for your time. Akuma and Bea hit SF6 and GBVS last week, Slayer hits Strive very soon. Rivals 2 should be out this year. Infinite older games await you on Fightcade and many people will eagerly teach you their favorites. Multiversus needed to be better to justify the time and hard drive space.