Brawlhalla Review

Graphics 4/5

Brawlhalla art is vibrant and cartoonish. There are different worlds: gloomy and bright, funny and dark, but they are all well-balanced and fit nicely into the game amusing aesthetics. Every character (or legend, as devs prefer to call them) is based on a pop culture cliche and has particular features, but not one of them stands out. Design of the characters and their weapons influences their fighting mechanics, as well as your ability to control them. There’s plenty of details, and something always happens on screen, even when the main characters stand still.

Gameplay 4/5

Brawlhalla is, for the most part, an online multiplayer game, but it also has a couple of offline modes. It’s not a new word in brawler games, but creators have been working on it with an ear to the ground. Fans of platform fighters will recognize the mechanics of Super Smash Bros., and that’s probably a good thing. What you need to do is to throw your rival off the platform and beating him in the process. The last standing player is a winner.

There’s a roster of six characters at the beginning of the game. More characters are unlocked with coins that you earn for your wins from time to time developers add sets of new characters or legends. Players can pay $20 to open the collection of all the legends, including the future ones. Still, the gaming here doesn’t depend on microtransactions and pay-to-win mechanics. There are Mammoth Coins available for real-money purchase only, but they are mostly used for buying cosmetic items.

Two types of weapons are available for each legend, and that’s a unique combination. Gameplay gravely depends on the main weapons. There are additional items like bombs, mines and spike balls, but they are merely crucial to the fight. The best new thing for strategy-building in Brawlhalla is its jumping and wall-climbing, they add a new dimension of maneuvers.

Controls 5/5

Every Brawlhalla reviewer compares its controls to Super Smash Bros., and that’s true: this game has simple controls of a fair brawler game. You jump and perform light or massive attacks. It gets a bit complicated with weapons, each of them is unique and its size and range influence the controlling of it heavily. After three years of early access, the game runs smoothly, and the bugs are even hard to imagine.

Replay value 4.5/5

Like any other brawler (and there are still very few), Brawlhalla is a top game for replays. A choice of weapons is unique for each character, and you need time to get the mechanics of every one of them. Plus the new sets of characters, lovingly created by developers, will not let you get bored. Even if unlocking new legends is a bit hard for you, the game keeps up with your interest by offering a free set of characters for trial every week.

Conclusion

Brawlhalla doesn’t go over its head and in many ways is a secondary product to Super Smash Bros., but it has a robust community and continuously works on improvements. The characters are perfectly balanced, the combat mechanics are smart and crafty, and the graphics are in perfect harmony with the action. Everything works on capturing the chaos of a brawler game, making it a must-have for platform-brawler fans and a nice fighting game for newbies.