New PS All-Stars: Zeus & Isaac, MediEvil + The Unfinished Swan Level

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New PS All-Stars: Zeus & Isaac, MediEvil + The Unfinished Swan Level

Hi guys,

Happy to be back to tell you about some new surprises from PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale. More costumes? More minions? Well, okay, yes. But also more new characters!

PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale: Zeus

Our newest challengers are Isaac Clarke from Electronic Arts’ Dead Space, and Zeus from… well, from some of the foundational myths of Western society, but also from a little PlayStation game you might know called God of War by SCEA Santa Monica Studio.

How did these two emerge as All-Stars from the vast PlayStation multiverse? Synchronicity. We were talking with some friends over at EA who were hard at work on Dead Space 3, and with a lot of Dead Space fans on our team and all the cool tools at Isaac’s disposal, some quick concepts emerged and we knew he’d be a great addition. We’ve also wanted to add another “heavy,” hard-hitting character into All-Stars (Big Daddy was getting lonely), and with all the work on God of War: Ascension around Sony Santa Monica, Zeus emerged as a perfect fit.

PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale DLC 2PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale DLC 2

As you might remember, Zeus is kind of an arrogant jerk, but one thing you can say for him is that he does not mess around. As King of the Gods, he’s a big guy, used to getting his way, and he hits HARD. Of course he’s got some cool combos, but his primary offense is centered around fewer, but more powerful strikes that generate a ton of AP and send enemies flying. He can power up virtually all of his attacks into a “charged” version with all kinds of new effects, giving him one of the biggest move lists in the game. Super-armored rushing punches, a clone move, teleports, and lightning bolts–lots and lots of lightning bolts. Your best bet against Zeus is to stay on his good side (aka behind him), or far away.

His level 1 is a giant Lightning Clap that lacks range but has a great area of effect. Level 2 lets Zeus take to the skies and fly anywhere before exploding in a deadly lightning storm. His level 3 “Wrath of Zeus” takes you to Olympus to fight a godlike 100-foot tall Zeus, and in true boss-fight form, he can wipe out half the screen with a single strike.

PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale: Isaac

Through a combination of playtesting and staying true to his original series, Isaac emerged over the course of development as a strong mid-range fighter using the unique weapons and Kinesis/Stasis abilities you’ll recognize from the Dead Space series (think somewhere between Drake and Jak, with a lot of twists). He has some very interesting long-range options (the Bouncing Bola acts like sniper rifle that bounces off of walls, getting more powerful with each bounce) and he’s got some great moves up close, but just as in Dead Space, he’s at his best keeping foes safely out of his face. He can advance or retreat while firing his trusty Plasma Cutter, toss proximity mines, use Stasis attacks to freeze opponents, or spin slowly moving Ripper blades at enemies with a blast of Kinesis torque.

His level 1 super fires a supercharged stasis burst and then overloads his Plasma Cutter, which can be aimed anywhere, even at very long range. His level 2 super overloads his Kinesis module creating a bubble that launches nearby enemies away at “terminal” velocity, and Isaac’s level 3 takes you into space where he blows the airlock, sucking everyone into space for a quick game of something like “Asteroids” where Isaac flies around blasting opponents and space debris into dust.

PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale DLC 2

PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale DLC 2PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale DLC 2

Finally, what better to welcome new characters than with a new stage? The new “Graveyard” level mashes up MediEvil‘s Graveyard opening with… The Unfinished Swan. While we start in recognizable MediEvil territory (complete with pop-up zombies and a wisecracking gargoyle), the “Swan” elements are shown off with a mid-match whiteout and ink splatters that slowly reveal the emerging structures. There are lots of little Swan touches throughout the stage, from the hidden labyrinth, to a balloon, the King, and of course the Unfinished Swan itself makes a cameo.

So how do All-Stars fans get their hands on the new stuff? The new DLC pack hits the PlayStation Store on March 19th. As before with the recently released “Fearless” stage, the new “Graveyard” stage will be free in online ranked matches and $1.99 if you want to own it. As for Zeus and Isaac, I’m very happy to announce they will come to North America FREE as a redeemable downloadable voucher code packed in with the new God of War: Ascension, which launches on March 12th. When Zeus and Isaac Clarke go live in All-Stars on March 19th (one week later), you can use your code to redeem them any time after they are live. For anybody who doesn’t pick up God of War: Ascension (but of course that’s only crazy people–it’s got what I think is the most epic final battle in the series’ history), the characters will also be for sale in the PSN Store for $4.99 each.

I’ll have some more details coming on the new challengers in the coming weeks — until then, see you online!

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281 Comments

16 Author Replies

  • I love this game to death Seth, thanks for keeping the game fresh.Been with you and the superbot team since the very first beta.

    I have a couple of questions regarding my favorite game I would LOVE if you could answer.

    1-Are any plans for any future characters,balance patches and costumes?
    2-Would you consider adding more intros,outros and taunts?
    3-Is Drake’s Barrel and Raiden’s confirms in sights for balance?
    4-Do you guys know about the “Parappa/Make it Rain! Glitch”? D=

    Also a small fan suggestion, you should change the “Character bios” section and use the awesome renders in the official site with individual pages for each character. I know it’s a little picky but character bios are one of my favorite parts of crossovers, and PSASBR’s is kinda lame =/

  • Love the new characters, very pleasant surprise to hear that they will come with Ascension :D ive had it preordered for months woooooo! Can’t wait!!

  • The game is kinda cool, and it’s awesome that you are adding more characters even a few months after releaseI will grant that.

    But getting third party characters from PS3 era before actual classic PSONE characters is extremely weird, to say the least . Sony owns a lot of great IPs (just to mention a few: Wild Arms, Legend of Dragoon, Legend of Legaia, Alundra, Arc the Lad, Rogue Galaxy) that are actual first party, sony developed classics, instantly recognizable to anyone who ever owned a PSone, and those should’ve been represented way before even considering adding something like Issaac.

  • Isaac Clarke is someone I really wanted but I was disappointed when the other character was zeus. I think Scorpion from Mortal Kombat would have made a better rival for Isaac.. Yea I know he’s third party but didnt you have Kratos in Mortal Kombat 2011 why not ask NetherRealm Studios for Scorpion.

  • Hello! I love this game so far and am grateful for more characters. I was hoping that some changes to sly cooper be made…because on the highest difficulty setting he may be the most over powered character in the game. The most powerful element or tactic in the game is stunning an opponent with electricity in this game and almost all his attacks are electric based. Furthermore, he can counter…teleport and turn invisible. I also noticed there needs to be some type of limits on countering…maybe a time limit or a less powerful counter. I have tried to play against lots of characters on the highest difficulty and characters with counters are the most impossible to beat also sly is impossible to beat compared to the others.

  • Not overly interested in these two, but will probably buy them eventually to support the game.
    The stage though, can’t wait for it.

    Hope we might get a character/stage from Folklore Demon’s/Dark Souls, and Soul Sacrifice in the future. Maybe something from PixelJunk series?

    A toast! to the future!

  • @ LuiSpartanMIMIMI are you kidding me man give it a break..They chose Zeus because of the new god of war acension and Isaac because believe it or not people including me did request him and he is a good character with a good playstyle….Best belive that more characters will be coming soon so just freakn have patients and be glad we are getting more characters and levels at all…As seth said, its always as easy as just asking for characters…Team/Ico is 1st party and they refused to put both ico & wander in the game so most devs still have the choice even if we dont agree with them…ALso you have no idea when these characters were even worked on or who else they’ve already acquired, for all you know they got everybody thats on your list but are just timing the releases…

  • My only complain is the price 10 $ for two characters that’s the fourth part of the price of the entire game in my case for my psvita, and because I only have a vita (dont have time to play at home) Im not going to buy god of ascension… you guys should offer at least this with a psvita game too… who knows? maybe soul sacrifice, dont forget psvita owners

  • Is there ever going to be any Legend of Dragoon representation in this game?

  • $10 is a high price for just 2 characters maybe if it was four characters the price would be ok but $10 for two?
    Please at lleast lower to $2 for a character not $4.99 AKA 1 cent from $5.00

  • Excellent! Will be getting it all.

  • After readying about Skullgirls costing over 150 thousand to make one new character. I will never complain about the cost of DLC for fighting games again.

  • @96 and everybody else…

    I’m not talking about how these characters of my list play, but how iconic they are to Playstation.

    Killzone is popular? Of course he is, but choosing Radec who only appears in one game of the series is a joke.

    Fat Princess? Has just 2 games. Not a Playstation Stars FOR SURE.

    Kat has ONLY one game at this point, can’t say it’s iconic. Same for Emmett Graves.

    Toro? I guess this game would gather characters FROM GAMES, not FROM MARKETING.

    Big Daddy? No comments.

    Nariko same as Kat.

    Do you understand? I’m talking about the value of the characters, not how they play.

    Playstation has MUCH MORE iconic and important characters who always represented the brand.

    I’m and ALWAYS will be againt ZEUS. Kratos represents God os War, including Ascension, as you’re saying Zeus is a choice for Ascension launch.

  • @LuiSpartanMIMIMI

    Fat Princess is under Santa Monica studios, so that makes the exception why she was added.

  • this is awesome. Just one questions. Are all updates gonna be nearly a gigabyte, cuz my 4 gig memory card cant handle that, ive already had to delete like 6 games/apps just for PSABR updates. Why not make a $80 PSABR for vita w/ 8 gig memory card bundle. Take it up with marketing, that idea is gold.

  • Seth, please tell me balance patches are coming. I love the game, but I’ve stopped playing online because of how horribly overpowered some characters are (Sly, Raiden, Kratos, Drake, arguably the Coles… and it looks like Kat’s making her way up there, too), and how woefully underpowered others like Big Daddy and Sir Dan are.

    After the early Sackboy nerf, I thought you guys were really going to be serious about getting things balanced… so I have to say I’m rather disappointed it hasn’t turned out that way.

  • I’d like to know the same thing as KevinCow. I was really hoping that with each patch we would get some noticeable changes to the characters who are known to be a bit too fast at gaining AP. With a game like this, balancing is key.

    Also, the belt system barley works in terms of matchmaking, I thought with the system, you would usually fight against people who are on your level. But more often than not, I’m facing people who are noticeably weaker than I, and I have much more to lose than they do. Losing 15-25 BP because of something like that is frustrating.

    The fact that many of the games I get into get dropped is also a problem.

  • I’m glad for the new chars but, the game servers seems each day more slow and connections are full of lag and disconnections, and the idea of a game such fragmented as this one and, the fact we need to actualy pay 5$ each character released, doesn’t seem right. These bugs are really annoying and the fact some of them persist since the lauch of the game, seems like a slap on all the fans face, all the fans are complaining about things on the game, and to complete, if we want a game “less empty” we need to pay for stuff… Why didn’t they released those characters dlc free like the first one? Is it really for money? I really miss when I only needed my ability on games to finish them 100% instead of these capped games…

  • Seth, plz

    Online Spectator Mode when?

    Can I get a nudge?

    A wink?

    Seth plz.

  • Big fan of all stars since we now have Zeus confirmed, How about Lammy?!
    LEAVE IT TO LAMMY!

  • man i saw the gameplay video at IGN i can’t wait to play with Isaac XD PS. For people complaining how Dead space isn’t a PS3 exclusive and all who care’s. Just like bioshock they have offered lots of cool stuff on the PS3, which makes them pretty special!!!

    Anyways any chance Sachiko From corpse party making an Appearance? it’s a PSP game which can use some PS support :)

    oh… just to add people arguing about glitches and stuff… please listen to them. This game is fun and all but the flaws people are pointing out need to be addressed. Such as glitches, infinite combos/AP gain, and quiters online.

    oh
    -Please reduce the character throwback(or want ever/ getting shot away with Jak and ratchet) too please

  • Please add the Grey Fox skin (the one in Revengeance) to Raiden.

    Please Please Please Please Please

  • YES! I NEVER THOUGHT ISSAC CLARK WOULD MAKE IT IN ALL STARS! THIS IS SO AWESOME! And Zeus Is a very interesting choice! I’m very excited to play these new characters I don’t care if I have to pay. That is not an issue for me. GREAT JOB SUPER BOT!

  • @ps_n_blog_ac

    There was an update today, but i forgot to read what the updates were on the vita. Maybe on a character?

    Infinite combos can’t really be addressed as “infinite” because AP gain is limited up to 140 AP per. combo.

    The rest of the issues – Character balances & online gameplay do need to be looked into, but the game’s barely going to make a year. A little more faith from you guys, please :)

  • I agree about wrangling Cloud into the mix. Heck, deck him in his DISSIDIA attires, if need be. With the size of the Buster Sword and the availability of materia, he could have taken Zeus’s place, I’m sure. In DISSIDIA, he was all about the chunky hits with Wall Rushes (read: smacking folks into the wall).

    Do enjoy the stage mashup, though.

    If I may make a stage request, given current exposures: Journey x Retro/Grade. It’d be a strange compliment, since one is about always moving forward (again and again), and the other’s all about undoing what’s happened. Plus, imagine neon pulses from a guardian!

  • Hey Seth, love this game to death and am excited for the DLC, though Zeus seems an odd choice. Since you guys were interested in a bruiser character, why not Pyramid Head? Isaac vs. Pyramid Head would’ve made a lot more sense to me haha. I’m hoping you guys are look into him, he’s an awesome character and would be another cool bruiser type character for this game lol. Also, I’m a rather notorious Radec player, and I know mostly everything about him (I was the first to place him within top three in a 1v1 tournament), and I’m curious: are you guys thinking of looking Radec over? It seems like he could use some utility buffs (not AP gain buffs), have you guys discussed re-working some elements of his attacks? And can I expect an awesome new Radec costume in the future? :) Look up KMartAllStars on Youtube for some of my Radec 1v1 videos if you don’t believe that I take him seriously. Everyone says Radec sucks, but I keep finding new tech for him and don’t plan on quitting him, but he does have some rather glaring weaknesses that I wish would be addressed…anyways, Zeus isn’t my type of character but I’m really looking forward to Isaac as I love zoning characters, best of wishes for you and the Sony Santa Monica team!

  • Don’t really care about Zeus but Isaac looks cool, I’ll probably get both. Seth, do you know what song plays on Graveyard? I’m hoping it’s Gallowmere Waltz, easily my favorite song in Medievil.

  • The reason they don’t add Crash is because Sony sold him to Activision and Activision probably wants 50 Grand for us to use him. Sony used to sale everything for chump change rather than saving it for later on. Hell, they even tried to sale the Uncharted engine.

  • Sony never owned the rights to Crash or Spyro. They were property of Universal Interactive at the time and have never been up for sale.

  • @123 yah i didn’t get to read the update either :/ and about the *infinite/long* combo; most character grabs led to long combos… People have done it to me. Raiden for example but the Update fixed him a little. Regardless i enjoy the game.

    Oh and if updates really are effecting memory size please fix it i have the 32GB, which really isn’t enough memory for the PSvita :( and the price :'(

  • interesting to see so many posts unhappy about Zeus – given the new GOW game that features the various God factions for your allegiance, Zeus is a good fit … & after watching the video, I was very interested in playing him … how could you not want to shoot lightening bolts ? that stage is awesome ! thrilled with that … wish Sony would respond as to whether or not GOWA will be available Day 1 digital, & if it will get the preorder bomus MP skins & weapon … time is ticking, I will either have to go & preorder retail, or pray they offer the preorder bonus – in spite of just saying to check back … the game releases on the 12th … I have to know which route to go …. anyway, DLC looks great – very pleased. I’ll be getting it all.

  • No Crash Bandicoot, Spyro, Rayman (ps1) or Croc? :(

    Dante from dante’s inferno? Castlevania? John Marston? Cloud? Bayonetta? Prince of Persia? Psychonauts? Journey? Valve characters maybe? more main protagonists though please rather than extra’s or villains like zeus.

  • I don’t even like the Dead Space series but that power up is amazing!

  • I just really want someone to answer this: Will we see any “iconic” and TRUE classic characters? Like Raziel? Lara Croft? Snake/Big Boss?
    Also I heard this is the last DLC, in terms of playable characters, is it true?

  • @ 95, LuiSpartanMIMIMI- calm down or you will be modded spouting comments like “tossing a nade.” The DLC hasn’t ended yet so do what you’ve been doing- don’t buy it. Yelling & threatening people is not the way to approach any conversation.

    Keep the support coming Seth, the new levels & characters are great!

  • So glad I didn’t buy this. They’re scraping the bottom of the barrel for characters already, Zeus? Really? Sony owns way more IPs than this game shows. If SCE as a whole wasn’t on board with providing access to all it’s owned IPs, then you shouldn’t have made this game to begin with.

    There’s no valid excuse for Sony owned IPs to be ignored for Zeus. ZEUS. Good grief.

  • The stage is awesome though.

  • @128
    Actually, Activision has owned Crash since 2008.

  • How about Crash Bandicoot?

  • Sadly I won’t get God of War: Ascension before March 19th because I pre-ordered Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory. I’m gonna buy the characters and stage once they hit the store in March 19th because I love this game to bits and dedicate at least 3 hours a day on it?
    I love me some Greek Gods and space yo-yos.
    I only hope these aren’t the last characters considering how fun this game is and I feel both Superbot and Santa Monica did an amazing job with the cards they were dealt with and I want to see this game grow.

  • Naughty Dog should buy Crash back and Insomniac Games should buy Spyro back. It’s not like Activision is using them anyway. Those guys are too busy making Call of Duty to even care about those guys.

  • The MediEvil/Unfinished Swan stage is too cool.

  • A bit disappointed in the characters, to be quite honest, especially when Atlus has been very public about wanting Teddie (from Persona 4), Oddworld has been very public about wanting Abe, and NIS have been very public about wanting a Disgaea rep. I’d much rather have seen Teddie or Etna or Abe or Etna in the game..

    I love Dead Space, but it isn’t a title I’d associate with Playstation, necessarily.

    I guess maybe next round of DLC… I still haven’t picked up the game mostly because I’m waiting for some DLC representatives that’ll I’ll be excited about. And/or a mode where you win rounds by depleting your opponent’s health bar, but one thing at a time…

  • I don’t mind seeing multiple characters from one IP as long as they aren’t copy and paste characters… I like how unique Zeus’ level 3 is and would be thrilled to see Poseidon also! One character that I still would like to see is Big Boss or The Boss from MGS3 and how about a Gray Fox Skin for Raiden? :P

  • @125 – Oooh, Pyramid Head is a good choice. As long as it’s SH2 Pyramid Head and not movie Pyramid Head.

  • Okay for everyone who keeps getting mad about the game not having Crash, Spyro, Cloud and Snake. As much as I love these characters and would love to have them in the game to. If it’s not up to Super bot or Sony, people shouldn’t get mad at them. They obviously have considered them and know how important these characters are to the playstation franchise. I love these four characters and I’m sure super bot knows how important they are but the game does have a lot of awesome characters already! And who know’s if they don’t make it in this game maybe things will change for a sequel. Anyways great job Super bot I think you guys just keep making this game better! :)

  • Again just more weird characters. A big reason why this game flopped, is due to a lot of characters that made it in to the game and a lot of characters that didn’t made it into the game.

    Zeus? Not really a character anyone wanted, though I’d admit that level 3 super is epic! I still say if there was any game that needs a second character, is Ratchet & Clank. Dr. Nefarious please, he’s the coolest villain Sony has.

    And Isaac? He’s just another shooter really, I guess he’s cool but it’s really just a “whatever character” to me.

    I’d still would like to see a sequel to this game done right. No freaking slide-shows as cut-scenes and have characters who are truly “PlayStation All-Stars”

  • Thank you Superbot for “listening” to the fans! We really, really wanted these characters!!! I mean you can’t talk PlayStation, and the history of PlayStation without talking about these characters!!
    /ends sarcasm

  • Been trying to enjoy this game for a while now but just can’t. I have many network issues that seem to be getting worse with each patch. It takes ages to connect to an online game as well as I can never join matches with persons on my friends list. (One of the main reasons I bought this game). But connection type is NAT 2 so theoretically I should have no problems.

    As for these characters a complete waste of time IMO. I’ll check back if ever there is ever a rep from FF (and please not Lightning) Cloud, Sephiroth, Noctis. I understand that its not entirely up to you guys what characters come but its annoying when you’re waiting for particular characters and see two Coles and Issac Clarke. (Not to mention the numerous online issues prevention you from playing.) The game is fun but I can’t play with my friends. (I’m abroad for a couple years and my friends and I decided to get the game as a common ground for play. That worked so well in my favour)

    Hopefully you guys keep supporting the game and the experience gets better.

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