I'm Jake the Dog from Adventure Time, standing at the edge of the Ricky and Morty-themed arena. While my teammate Arya Stark is casually stealing Batman's face, I'm trying to beat up Shaggy from Scooby-Doo to a bloody pulp. A few years ago, this would have given me severe whiplash, but in a world where tennis player Naomi Osaka can take on Naruto in "Fortnite," nothing surprises me anymore. Well, except for one thing: MultiVersus is actually pretty awesome.

Trust me. It just seemed like they were trying to spoof Smash Bros. and I'm not a big fan of platform fighters. I prefer my fighting games to be sealed 3D arenas like "Tekken" or "Soul Calibur," and while I didn't have high hopes for MultiVersus, it turns out that Player First Games is starting to lay the groundwork for something amazing.

Don't get me wrong, "MultiVersus" doesn't try to hide its inspiration. Anyone who has had a little nibble at Nintendo's Brawler will quickly get the gist. You'll be hitting your opponents with a mix of normal, aerial, and special attacks to increase your damage meter and keep them from doing the same to you. Victory has nothing to do with bringing the health bar from 100 to 0, but everything to do with the damage meter. While the damage meter is low, it is difficult to knock down from the top or side of the arena. But as the meter gets higher, your character turns into a rubber bouncy ball, more susceptible to spikes and knockbacks of all kinds. Knock your opponent out of the arena repeatedly and you win.

Although a standard platform fighter at this point, MultiVersus has a few key differences. The first is the way the game handles its roster. Every character is assigned a distinct class: tank, support, mage, bruiser, or assassin. Tanks like Wonder Woman and Iron Giant can take more hits and are harder to ring out, but are generally slower. Assassins like Finn the Human and Arya Stark are nimble fighters, using every trick in the book to deal heavy damage quickly. [Teamed with two supports, they can easily beat heavy artillery and tanks as long as they have the skill. While this is a good first indicator of how to play each character, I don't feel that any class is inherently at a disadvantage compared to the others.

There is also the game mode itself. While other platformers feel at home in a free-for-all or 1vs1 setting, MultiVersus thrives in a 2vs2 format. While the other two modes are present in the game, the game was absolutely made for 2vs2, and it was in 2vs2 that I spent the most time. Every character has abilities that allow them to not only harm their enemies, but also support their teammates. Jake the Dog can swallow and spit out opponents, but he can also quickly chew up allies and save them from nasty combos. Wonder Woman's lasso can grab opponents, but can also quickly rescue teammates.

It took me a while to get used to the synergy of playing with another person and the overall feel of MultiVersus. Compared to other fighting games I've played, it feels very floaty and a bit weightless, and characters sometimes wander around for what feels like a lifetime. But once you get into the flow, it's pretty good. I would have liked a little more snap, but I feel the floatiness is necessary for decent recovery and to actually take advantage of your teammates' abilities.

I was able to access the entire roster right away, but free-players will have to work hard to unlock each roster. Thankfully, each player can be tried out immediately for free in training mode and relatively easily with the regular free character rotations. Also, it's not too hard to get to the first charged character, but progress is slower after that.

After messing around with each character, I ended up liking the Iron Giant. He is about twice the size of the others and tends to do a lot of damage, but in return he can do a lot of damage and can easily shield his teammates, allowing him to safely take quite a few hits on the opposing team. At first, to my absolute dismay, I left the map on my butt and my car-swinging shenanigans were quickly put to rest. However, a teammate jumps and pushes his opponent out of the arena, which then puts him in the air.

Playing each character is also a heck of a lot of fun as you level up and gain perks. Each character you play gives you EXP, and as you level up, you gain access to unique and shared perks that give you small buffs and additional skills. These perks can also be stacked with teammates, making pre-match setups feel more strategic as you level up. After playing enough with Iron Giant, I was given a perk that allows his rocket boots to leave a trail of fire on the ground. It was a technique I hadn't felt the need to use much before, but once I was able to scorch small enemies underfoot, I began to incorporate it into my play more often.

However, I do have a few complaints about the multi-versus play. The priority of hits is a mess. To explain for the uninitiated, when two moves connect, the attack with the higher power generally takes priority. If both attacks hit at the same time and have the same power level, they cancel each other out. This does not seem to be the case at all in multiverses.

Add to this the strange hitbox and heatbox system and it becomes a pain to contend with. Finn's backpack has an oddly huge hitbox, a meme that results in wins that should not be won in many matchups. It's worth noting that the hitbox/heartbox system has already received an overhaul, but it's a pretty big flaw at this point. People at the ultra-casual level probably won't perceive it in detail, but it was something that became increasingly obvious to me as I spent more and more time in the game.

I also have a pretty big gripe with the current map design: there are currently eight stages in MultiVersus, two of which are variations of another existing map. They are "Scooby-Doo" and "Rick and Morty". I only remember the latter because it was unlocked as part of a community challenge. The Scooby-Doo stage is both my favorite and least favorite stage. When you punch the little cogs on either side of the arena, some of the platforms disappear. When I punch the little cogs on either side of the arena, part of the platform disappears. It doesn't help that the characters I play are three times the size of the rest of the cast, but it wouldn't hurt to have a larger map.

Most stages consist of one main platform and two or three smaller platforms on top of it. That is fine. But it feels very cramped and uninspiring, like being trapped in an elevator made of white bread. There are wall breaks here and there, and it looks pretty enough, but it doesn't have the level of creativity that Player First Games has demonstrated throughout its roster.

Surprisingly, MultiVersus also has Battle Pass. I have never been a fan of Battle Pass, and this time is no different. This season's Battle Pass is 15 tiers short. The distribution of rewards throughout the tiers is good, but progression is unsatisfactory. Seasonal milestones are random for each player and cannot be rerolled. Like killing 25 opponents with less than 60 damage, or connecting 200 fully charged attacks. More Battle Pass points per match would allow rerolls for more frustrating milestones other than your skill level.

As it stands, MultiVersus has done a great job of laying the groundwork for a great platform fighter. Killer backpacks and junk hitboxes aside, each character is full of personality and the moveset never feels out of character. No doubt helped by the fact that Warner Bros. was able to use a large number of original voice actors for the cast. Unless the hitboxes and hit priorities are properly set, MultiVersus will continue to fall flat for those with higher skill levels. Still technically in open beta, however, MultiVersus is a worthy contender in the platform fighter genre.