izigame.me

This... This is one of the biggest disappointments I've ever had with a video-game, period. They had the easiest home run in history, and I haven't seen such a big fumble in a LONG time.
I don't even know where to start. This game reeks of cynicism. And no, it's not the fact you only have one character unlocked... but it does start there: On Beta, you unlocked >TWO< for starters (Wonder Woman & Shaggy). In every other F2P game in existance there are plenty of fighter unlocks on your first few hours, maybe in a special set of missions and tracks, that set you up with a good, diverse cast of characters. Why didn't this game do that?
When you start the game, after the tutorial, you INSTANTLY get like.... what, 8 dailies? A thousand events and quests, no time to breathe, several notifications, and of course, a >LOADED. SHOP.<, that is miles and away the best UI & UX design across the entire game, squeaky clean and polished. Gee, I wonder why. In any other F2P game, there are slow introductions to each of those systems no matter what - There are fast level ups, and each level up unlocks a different system (Shop usually IS. NOT. ONE OF THE FIRSTS.) But no, we are forced into a tutorial (without even setting up controls as we'd like) and, as soon as it's done, there you go! Thousands of missions, hey shop is open! Oooh, can't do much of the PvE without characters and LOOT BOXES, can you? Guess you better start buying and/or grinding, chop chop! And here, have a thousand bots before you find a single person online!
The wording of the dailies is absurd, too - What's a "GUEST FIGHTER"? What are all these tags?! I get the beige teags like "Detective" and "Heroic" tags are meant for Neat lore introduction, good for PvE, good for finding general vibes... but it just... shouldn't really be a factor in PvP. It shouldn't appear period, like the Gems system doesn't. It confuses new players, and is unnecessary information overload.
Oh yeah, I didn't talk about the gameplay yet: It's slow. Like, really, really, REALLY slow. I understand the reasoning, it's sound on paper - The beta was too fast and frenetic, and that doesn't appeal to the casual audience, the clear target audience here (And genuinely what you should aim for at least in majority when ideating a F2P game), and doubles, the combat design focus, was almost undecipherable without extreme knowledge. But they really, really, REALLY overcorrected here. Everything feels sluggish, NOTHING flows into NOTHING, ESPECIALLY NOT IN A CLEAR AND INTUITIVE WAY (Psst.... The Beta? Had advanced tutorials that told you about stuff like cancels. Not found here! :D ). The minutia of balancing doesn't matter all that much beyond the complete liquidation of manouverability , but there IS one thing they tried to solve: Without more advanced movement options, characters can't contest other far-away characters. Guess what they did... :D
They added a dash attack. But not only a regular dash attack, a dash attack that is not only CLEARLY incredibly busted for most characters, but also one that is UNAVOIDABLE if you're running. You can't walk and do your forrward attack anymore - something every single other platform fighter does, because they differentiate between "Walking" and "Running". No such differentiation in MultiVersus! Either input your forward attack within the first second of walking forwards, or you'll be dash attacking (Which is very vulnerable at high levels of play - the exact high levels of play you'd like to have the option of running and THEN doing your forward attack in a better position)
Parry was a nice addition, the game looks awesome... But there are still major connection issues in my anecdotal experience, there are still unpolished areas (Really? Same splash art when loading the game?) but there is no such thing as a perfect launch. If it were just one or two of all of these, I'd have been perfectly fine. But it isn't. And what's worse - If you're aiming for the casual crowd 90%, why didn't you release a NEW version? Steam doesn't like old games doing massive updates if they're not already something within their inner circle of connections and, without that knowledge, you guys are sitting ducks. MultiVersus isn't on the front page, it's not on "New and Trending", there's no banner for the grand launch. Please.... help me understand.
By the way, no native DualSense support despite the beta having it. :)
I'm a game designer. I have 165 hours in the original beta, I bought the Founder's Pack. I am a >VETERAN< of Smash and Fighting games. And I'm the most optimistic person I know about games. But I just... can't bring myself to liking this. Or even understanding how it became this way. Without heavy reworking, this is not a fighting game I want to go back to nearly as much. (EDIT: Confirmation that the devs are listening would be nice, there are rumors floating around and from my professional experience they obviously are but would help stoke the flames all around)
I can't believe it, but I miss the Beta. I don't care about ranked not being here, I don't care about LeBron James being busted or Iron Giant being bad, or any of that. I just want my MultiVersus back, the one I fell in love with two years ago.
Please.