Broforce

Developer: Free Lives

Steam Release: Oct 2015

Hours Played: 8.2

Most Similar To: Butcher / Guns, Gore & Cannoli / Serious Sam: Double D XXL / Shoot Many Robots

Rating: 5/5 Parsnips

GAMEPLAY

With the exception of such action platformers as Freedom Fall and Penarium, where pacifism reigns and avoidance is key, practically by definition action platformers involve the brutal killing of enemies. At the other end of the scale you have protagonists who carry out tasks with such high levels of testosterone-fueled anger that you think they themselves will bring about their own demise by exploding in a fit of rage. Think Serious Sam Double D XXL or Shoot Many Robots. However, I can think of no other game that merges such power-hungry ferocity so well with out-and-out explosive destruction than the totally over-the-top Broforce. The destruction unleashed on your immediate environment is also so well rendered that you'll just want to bathe in this wanton blood-bath again and again!  

BALANCE & PACE

You play as a randomly picked bro from your ever expanding roster. You get dropped off at one of your fifteen missions by helicopter and then battle your way from left to right across the war-ravaged environment. You reach flag-poles that unfurl the stars and stripes when activated and serve as checkpoints. You destroy foes with the huge arsenal of each individual weapon which each bro carries. As you rescue caged bros and get awarded an extra life for your trouble, you take on their role and hence use the weapon specifically locked to that hero. The fact that there is such a rich variety of weapons and that all pack their own interesting brand of attack definitely adds to the fun and frivolity...and you very quickly forget that you may not have wanted to part with the original bro in the first place.
 

PRESENTATION & DESIGN 

Broforce is rendered in the pixel-art style that thoroughly blends in with the light-hearted humour which permeates the game. With the help of some cheeky sound files, from the satisfaction of watching the fate of gunned down enemies to the joy of watching your foes frazzle in an explosion of fury and fire there is a little chuckle to be had at every turn. The very destructible environment, from gas barrels and canisters that explode in a chain reaction to the landscape that can be ripped apart from gunfire alone, is a joy to behold. You'll also appreciate the trotting sound that accompanies your movement as you zip around the landscape. The ubiquitous military sergeant announcing the title of new-found bros and barking out words of encouragement cannot be ignored either.
   

PROGRESS SYSTEM

The only minor qualm that can be directed at Broforce lies in its progress system. You'll begin by flying over a voxel-style map in a helicopter. On the ground lies the number of the level that you are on sprinkled with some challenging levels which are best left undone. You start by landing on it with your helicopter and then complete or "liberate" three or four areas within. Each area culminates in a boss fight who you'll need to defeat to go onto the next level. The problem is that you are forever stuck on that level if you cannot defeat the final boss. There is no high-score for each level, no chance to redo levels and no chance to skip any. There is only a "work-around" for this which involves joining a multiplayer game and then jumping out of it so that the game believes you're on a higher level than you really are.     

CONCLUSION

There are five save-slots at the home-page, shown before entering the map, that each display how much of the game has been completed as a percentage. But this seems meaningless to me if you can just jump into a multiplayer game and then exit it immediately to get to 80% completion without completing a large chunk of earlier levels! One slot locked and devoted to just the single player portion of the game would surely solve this exploit in one swift stroke. Anyway, let's not dwell on this shortcoming. With each bro having a great variety of special attacks and lots of choice as to how to negotiate environments necessitating the need for subtle strategy, if you want an explosive action platformer with beautifully destructible environments then Broforce cannot be beaten!