Review: Brawl (PS4)

by Jim Smale · May 26, 2015

Step into the darkness of The Emporium with 8 unique characters, each with a rich backstory and a surprising plot-twist. Fight your way to the end using different play styles, from pure brutality as a Wrestler to hiding in shadows as an elusive Thief.

Pros:

Dark almost Gothic Grimm Fairy tale type vibe going on with the graphic style.
Eight characters to choose from, Each with unique moves.
12 maps to play on and each one is unique with different layouts and special environmental hazards.
Narration is done by Walking Dead’s Erik Braa.
Four game options: Story, Local MP, Online MP and Challenge.
Challenge mode is a choice between Horde and Sheep. In sheep you must protect your flock from the enemy while as Horde is a case of defending your land against an everlasting onslaught of enemies.
Bomberman style game play.
Each character can unlock and use a special move unique to them.
Collect power ups by blowing up crates or killing the enemy. Power ups include things like drop more bombs, bigger blast radius and health.
Story mode is available for each character is a set of 5 levels telling the back story of the character.
Big boss fights in single player mode.
12 trophies to unlock.
Really easy control scheme.
Fast loading times.
End of story level rank for level completion based on time taken.
Duel mode which is straight up 1v1 and is available in local and online.
Local game types: VS,Duel,Classic,Sumo where you can shove enemies around and have other modifiers and Colour domination. Here your bombs explode into a colour and you must colour more of the area than your enemy.
Gallery with 3D model viewer.
Dark atmosphere.
Fun to play and easy to get into.
Online game modes is VS and duel.

Cons:

Story missions have terrible checkpoints where you will see yourself repeating areas.
Story missions are not always clear on your objectives.
AI can be really cheap.
The timer in single player is really intrusive.
Can be hard to see/judge where you are and what you are doing.
Difficulty spikes in single player.
No DS4 specific additions.
Unoriginal trophy list.

In Summary, It is Bomberman in every way but it has a few unique additions like paint mode and the whole dark Gothic feel to it. It is a lot of fun to play in multiplayer and to be honest is the best way to experience the game. Single player is cheap and feels tacked on with a lot of needless padding to keep you playing. In between actual fights, The story adds in really awkward and annoying sections where you need to navigate and time walks etc. Just not needed at all. Online has limited options compared to local but to be honest Share Play can make that work. In short, It has a few niggles but as a party game it is one of the best. Worth a look if you want a new Bomberman game.