Geez, all these balancing issues don't sound like something that can really be fixed. It sounds like the game put itself on a flawed foundation to separate itself from Smash Bros.

I'll say this though, I've played with a few developers when the beta first launched and if you put the time into any one character and really learn their move-set, you can absolutely dominate in a way that's not possible in SSB.

It's surprising how some of the characters feel as if they have been pulled straight out of their respective games.

Kratos is quite fun, so is Sly. The only feeling of balancing issues I find are with the dude from Killzone (or the other shooting one) and Fat Princess (being underpowered). I also think that it's much better on the Vita. It doesn't feel like what Smash Bros feels like on the Wii. It's hard to explain but the Vita is what I would pick it up on if I had to choose.

I don't know if I'm gonna pick this up. There is some work that needs to be done, but I doubt they would remove the focus on specials now.

Maybe we will have to wait for that to appear in All-Stars Battle Royal Melee.

Just downloaded and played the public beta for about 20-30 minutes and it was fun. The game does feel stiff though, and the attacks feel awkward pulling off. Definitely not as technical or as fluid as SSB though. I'm going to play some more later.

After playing a few hours of the beta I can now say personally that Kratos is a rediculously over-powered behemoth. Kratos has a very long range and a large number of weapons that can be used for any situation, also he seems to be able to just grab the nearest player and just completely annihilate them to quickly boost up his All-Star meter to an unstoppable level 3 where he will gain even more power and points. I play with Parappa for the most part and whenever I'm in a game with other players who are other characters aside from Kratos, its a fair fight where everyone just seems to have a good time and an equal chance at winning 1st, but when a person playing as Kratos joins in, its almost always the same story: Kratos wins 1st place, no contest. But I kinda expected Kratos to be the powerhouse he is because this game is partly developed by Santa Monica Studios who created God of War. -_-

Kratos is indeed overpowered. But not every kratos player is good, I was able to beat a team of 3 kratos with Radec. But some balancing should be made anyway.

Personally I think this beta is very good, it made me more anticipated for the release.

The focus on Specials is stupid.