I blame Steam’s early access for allowing hit and run developers to make half assed games and letting people buy in on the “Dream”. I blame early access for games that are half done to have an easy entry point. I blame early access for making me have some games in my library that are never going to be completed.

I blame Broforce for all of the above too because Broforce was one of the earliest games on and out of Steam early access. It was a good and a fun game too who had constant updates throughout it’s early access life. This made me think that game developers who didn’t have an E or an A in their abbreviation had a spine, man was I ever wrong. I picked up some really nice games from early access and I did buy on the dream because of Broforce and while some did go under, some of them are really cool like GRIP, so I guess it’s my stupidity more than Steam or Broforce’s fault.

Broforce is an indie darling and the second game I ever bought directly on Steam. It’s an old school side scroller who promised nothing more than 2D murder, that being said onto the review.

Story:

I’m reviewing this so what do you think the chance of a proper story is?

You must kill Satan in each level who for some reason is wearing a business suit. I wonder if that suit is some kind of jab at big businesses who have an E and an A in their abbreviation so your actually trying to kill bad practises and a monopoly.

I would also like to add that the mission descriptions in the narrative seem to be poking fun at how America tries to be the world’s police along with how they present it. It’s not subtle either especially with lines like “Freedominate them”.

Sound:

One of the first sounds you here is a giant metal eagle screaming and that does a damn fine job of setting the tone for the game. There is a decent enough rock track playing on the menu and at the end of each level but in game itself there is no music.

The character and shooting sounds are on the weak side however, they are simple sounds for the shooting and the screams the enemies make. Except for the explosions I’m not a fan of the sounds the game makes. I would like to point out the sounds that enemies make when surprised are cute.

Graphics:

The graphics are really simple with most of it being pixel art. The best graphics are shown off on the over world map and when the helicopter is going to drop you off at the start of each mission. You can tell the bros apart easily and that’s nice since some pixel art games have a hard time differentiating characters. 

There are some little comic touches like the little exclamation mark that enemies make when they first notice you or civilians showing a small gun icon over their head meaning that they will fight for you. Another small touch is the shaking of the bushes and the acid drips.

Nothing in Broforce will you make you go “WOW!” but all of it is usable, to the point and sometimes make you go “Aww!”.

Gameplay:

So how does the game play? It’s a simple run and gun with a few twists!

The levels are really straight forward and I enjoy them especially in Co-Op. The ground can be destroyed which you can use to drop enemies to their death by destroying the ground under them. There are even little explosive barrels that you can roll of edges to blow up everything below you along with huge propane canisters that you can use to whack enemies with or ride up and jump off to get to a better vantage point as long as you remember to jump off them. Do remember though that you can destroy critical sections of a level making it unbeatable.

Another twist to the old school shooters that Broforce adds is the bros themselves. You can save bros in every level which swaps your current bro for one of the others, this makes you learn different play styles quickly. Unlike the action heros they are portraying the bros die in a single shot so they switch to another bro when they die too. This is where one of my main complaints comes in: When a bro dies he is replaced by a randomly unlocked bro who is likely to not be a bro who has been used in the level so far which feels off.

The enemies are varied, they have the standard grunts and heavies along with dogs who are quite easy unless they eat a dead body and become heavy dogs. The later levels introduce aliens both small and big but hey we have predator bro so that works for me. The bosses are quite creative and while sometimes really unfair can be one of the games really high points.

The bros themselves are strange to me since I started playing Broforce when there were around 4 of them. As time went on more and more bros got added and most of them were really good, though towards the end they started to feel forced. This is most obvious in the 007 bro who has the strangest special. 007 has an instant kill shot but has different specials each time you hit the special key including throwing a martini glass which is insanely boring and does FUCK ALL! Compare this to Robobro (you can guess who the original is) who either fires a high powered shot or can fire a spray and that is just his normal shot, the special lets you target multiple enemies on screen (even multiple times) and sends homing bullets after them. I just want to say 007 can bite me.

There are too many bros to cover easily but the variety in bros is really fun but do note that some are melee based so need some learning while some should just be removed next update and are the reason for a lower than expected score since they can completely ruin a great run.

Conclusion:

Even though I have never played Broforce for insane hours it is a game I go to now and then for a relaxing gameplay. I play it happily till I get a useless bro and rage quit because that bro was going to do nothing. Price-wise it’s cheap and good fun so you don’t really have much to complain about.

Final Score 7/10