Brawl Busters Review (PC)

“Exuberant, colourful and very chatty release would like to meet casual gamers for cartoon-styled violence and good times.”

Brawl Busters is the new over the shoulder deathmatch / co-op release from Rock Hippo. Like Team Fortress 2 it’s released as Free-2-Play and offers in-game currency for those who are time starved but still want weapons and plenty of ’em. Whilst download and installation was painless I’ve consistently found that logging in to the game can mean a bit of a wait. These are not deal-breaking delays but a bit annoying if you’re not a patient type.

Character creation .. the joy, I can be a woman! As greater people than I have said “if you’re going to stare at something on the screen it might as well be an attractive arse”. Just being allowed a few customisation options makes you feel a little more unique without having to get involved in chin lengths and jewellery colours. Once that minefield of aesthetic decision is dealt with you’ll need to task your grey cells with which class to unlock first, I won’t insult your intelligence by listing and reviewing the options and besides, it would spoil the “getting to know you” stage. Suffice to say, there’s bound to be something you fancy.

There are both single and multiplayer modes but realistically the single player offering is far more about teaching you the game than being a challenge. It’s certainly worth working through these learning stages though as they’ll net you a chunk of in game currency and some nifty bits of kit. They also serve as a needed guide to understanding the chaos you’re going to meet on the multiplayer levels. You’re offered a choice of two deathmatch scenarios and two co-operative scenarios and from there on in it’s anybody’s guess as the game descends in to a fast-paced free-for-all.

Combat is good fun though, at least at first … before those rose tinted glasses start to get steamed up. What initially excited you, those bright colours, the catchy music … it starts to get on your nerves. You start to wonder if there’s really a future in executing the same few combos over and over again just because they’re the moves that are going to win that deathmatch round. Co-operative play is more engaging as it’s not just a case of running around in circles trying to avoid getting battered by someone considerably more skilled than you. Rock Hippo do introduce a nice touch with the addition of power-ups granted from hitting parts of the environment. It’s enormously gratifying to trap an opponent in jelly or stick a box on their head just as you’re about to die.

You can purchase new kit and upgrades from the in game store but these are subject to the usual balance towards far greater rewards for those paying cold, hard cash. As Flavio Caracas, Marketing Manager for Rock Hippo Productions states “Monetisation is also a key issue as publishers attempt to find the right balance between covering costs and attracting more players. There’s no one-size-fits-all model here, and there’s a lot of room for creativity.” With Brawl Busters I happen to feel the balance is a little unfair as a weapon you can pick up for cash is over two times as powerful as one for currency earned through playing but therein lays the incentive to pony up.

My big criticism of this game is the lobby system used for joining matches, I’ve spent more time sat waiting for the game leader to click “Start” than I have playing. It’s enormously frustrating to finally have an eight spot game fill up only for people to start leaving because someone is picking their nose and not paying attention. A couple of changes here and there would make this far less of a ball ache along with automatic team balancing instead of the game leader being given the option of selecting it. Do you really want to leave competitive people in charge of whether something is fair?

Brawl Busters is the perfect antidote to a long day in the office, when you fancy just a little bit of a dalliance with something quick and easy without the commitment of a nagging fishwife like Skyrim.

Brawl Busters is available now for free from the official website.