Smashbox Arena
Top Critic Average
Critics Recommend
Critic Reviews for Smashbox Arena
Smashbox Arena is a fantastic take on dodgeball, combining the classic playground activity with an arena FPS to make something fast enough for good competitive gaming while remaining appropriate for all ages.
Smashbox Arena could have been a great competitive game to play on PS VR, instead it's just another generic VR shooter with an underpopulated online community. While the VR motion tracking is on the positive end of most VR titles and the simplicity makes its accessible to about anyone; the dull gameplay, poor visuals, and overabundance of glitches make it more of a chore to play through than needs to be.
The truth is, even if the servers were packed, it wouldn't do much to save this shooter. Developer Bigbox VR has some interesting ideas though these are bogged down by mediocrity at every corner. You may be able to squeeze a few minutes of fun from Smashbox Arena, but beyond that it's an incredibly hard sell.
Smashbox Arena is not the type of game you expect to like. I thought it would be a quick and easy game to write off and call yet another mediocre attempt at utilizing the virtual reality platform. At a glance, it looks like some college programmer's senior project that they hammered out over a couple of semesters. In practice, Smashbox Arena ends up being a lot of fun, with precise tracking and fast paced competitive gameplay that hides a lot of depth and strategy, but it's ultimately held back my a number of technical issues and the lack of a strong online community.
Smashbox Arena's knockout gameplay is entertaining online – assuming you can find a match. While there is a small community on the servers right now, it's difficult to predict how long that will persist, and thus purchasing is a bit of a risk. Unless you can convince friends to pick up the package, then be warned that the single player content is thin, even if the core gameplay loop is undeniably fun. More work in the art department could have elevated the release enormously, so ultimately you're left with an ugly but enjoyable multiplayer game that will be defined by the number of people who stick with it beyond launch.
If corners were cut with the graphics, they were completely rounded over and sanded down in the music and sound department.
Smashbox Arena is a fun PSVR title that has some great gameplay but can be short-lived.
Smashbox Arena's core gameplay makes for tension-filled multiplayer showdowns, proving that simple design is all you need sometimes. However, dearths of content, modes, and polish sell it short when it could shoot for so much more.
