Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale Should Keep You Busier Than Your Average Brawler (VIDEO)

We've been late to the Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale fun train but that doesn't mean we can't catch up. The mascot-brawler genre --as it's called-- is coming to Playstation 3 owners finally and the full list of abilities, unlockables and things you can do with some of your favorite video game characters will make All-Stars one of the deeper games you can get this holiday season. Depth in a game where you're essentially jumping and fighting side-to-side like a cuter version of Street Fighter is very important. Otherwise you might feel like you're playing a game from the late 1980s.

It's all about Level 3 Super Attacks. In the main game, battling against three other people, landing attacks and building up your energy is what this game is all about. Yeah there are powerup items you can grab and use to whack or blast other characters but getting the highest level attack loaded up and unleashing it on all three of your opponents at one time is absolutely priceless. You get a pause in the action, a little cinematic and then we return to the action on the screen where your enemies are either severely handicapped waiting for your death blow or knocked out already. It's big fancy and dramatic and totally worth it.

The other driving force in All-Stars is the unlocking. You're always getting stuff for successfully whooping ass in the game but some unlocked items are better than others. New taunts, new outfits, new combos and new attacks are the cool things you'll get whether you're wading through the main head-to-head battle more or the super complex Combat Trials mode. Other modes like Tournament and Practice Modes will also have you unlocking items for your character. And that's the thing: for any character you pick you can go as deep as your skills and abilities will take you. If you're a Kratos fan you can get all of his stuff by simply sticking with him across various game play modes. Then repeat the process for your next favorite character and do the unlocking marathon all over again.

All of this added up with the promising Tournament Mode make for an attractive package. The 2v2 mode has you and a buddy going online to battle other players using all of your combos and teamwork techniques. The folks at Sony are going to keep track of the ass whooping and offer rewards at the close of regular timed sessions. It's up in the air right now as far as how long each session will run. Maybe six weeks, maybe two months, we'll see.

Look for Playstation All-Stars the week of Thanksgiving, just in time to put it on your grandma's shopping list.