Review: Bookbound Brigade (PlayStation 4)

by Jim Smale · Published February 1, 2020 · Updated April 10, 2020

Bookbound Brigade is a new take on the established Metroidvania genre where you get to lead a colorful bunch of real and fictional heroes through a 2D side-scrolling platform-adventure:

Pros:

Cartoon graphics.
1.23gb download size.
3 save slots.
Platinum trophy.
Metroidvania gameplay.
Tutorials as you play and then get saved in a menu.
Constant checkpoints.
Gimmick-play as a group of characters who move as one, you can get them to go into formation to navigate menus.
Chests with loot.
Puzzle elements.
Historical characters.
Humor throughout.
Find and recruit new characters.
Boss encounters.
Combat is free form and you can launch enemies into the air and air combo them.

Cons:

Platforming is difficult as the group is not tight and it causes you to off-balance or one part of them to get caught on the platform.
Crazy difficulty spikes.
Tedious platforming sections that are made worse with bad checkpointing.
Slow-paced.

8/10

Graphics - 8/10
7/10

Sound - 7/10
7/10

Accessibility - 7/10
8/10

Length - 8/10
7/10

Fun Factor - 7/10

7.4/10

Summary

Bookbound Brigade is a good looking game, it’s a game with some interesting concepts and ideas but it gets let down a lot by the constant difficulty spikes and tedious platforming. Combat is sloppy and is just a case of launching the enemy then mash those buttons for the win. I grew more and more annoyed at the game when checkpoints would have me replaying large amounts of the game, usually due to a cheap death. This is a simple case of one of those games that I couldn’t get on with despite trying so hard.