[ The Short ]: Smash Bros with marbles & guns.

> No matchmaking or public servers. You team up with bots and/or 2 Steam Friends vs bots, or host/join via IP Address like it's the 1990's.
> Customizations are through 2 microtransaction tiers, or 3 color options for free (+1 pixel banner via Ubisoft Connect)..
> 3v3 with 9 shared lives or Keep-Away (oddball) Free-For-All, and 5 arenas.

= = = = = = = = = = = = =

[ The Long ]: Between Quake Arena & Marble Blast Ultra.

So it's good. Physics are too stiff to be fluid, but there are bots and marbles. The game comes with 5 arenas and either 3v3 with a team life count of 9, or a Keep-Away Free-For-All. Shield (health) is the only pick-up as weapon, ability and module (passive) are chosen at the start of each match. Weapons deal no damage, but as with Nintendo's Smash Brothers, deal increased knock-back as your shield decreases, to send opponents out of the arena.

Cosmetics are very few- only the color of your frame, effects and banner, with the rest paywalled through 2 microtransactions. A wooden ball texture will cost about $4 CAD.

Multiplayer is offline with bots, direct connect via IP address, and possibly through Steam Friends but only with 2 teammates. To play against a friend, it looks like you need to either host or join via IP address, although I have not attempted this yet.

[ Extra ]:

> The space map's central lighting is also a killbox.
> When you die, it looks like a respawn timer is trying to show in the center but just says "8".
> A note in the game's News Feed says that anyone who had the game, (and possibly paid for it), during early access received all the customisations for free. However as there's no matchmaking or public servers, that free stuff is pointless.
> The map's loading screen is not the map you're playing on, although the preview image is correct.
> Selecting "Play Again" returns to the main menu so choose the Lobby option instead.

[ Final Thoughts ]:

With the over-exaggerated descriptions, inconvenient multiplayer and entry-level content, BattleCore Arena feels like an Ubisoft employee wanted to make their first game but couldn't without quitting or asking permission. Unlike how the arena shooters that got us here had mod and mapping support to keep them going, I don't see BattleCore Arena being played past closed communities, and even little then.