Blast Brawl 2 Review

Blast Brawl 2 is an indie title that puts players in the shoes of one of seven different characters to battle it out in one of the game’s two modes. Since all seven of the characters are different and the game supports up to eight player combat, these two modes last way longer than they would in most games. On top of all of this, Blast Brawl 2 has a wonderful art style that flows really well during all the chaotic gameplay. While the game looks really good and has just the right amount of detail, the soundtrack is a bit cheesy and a little too forgettable for me. With all that said, I will say this is a short game with as much replayability as a player chooses.

What I mean by that is that there isn’t really that much content in the game, but it does a wonderful job of looking like there is far more content than there is. One of the two game modes I mentioned before is Wave mode, in which players will choose a character to fight with and a level to decide which enemies the player will fight. For example, one stage is in a factory with robot enemies while the city level features zombies and large beast creatures. Besides picking which enemies the player will face, each game of Wave is slightly different since the enemies in each wave can be different from game to game.

With more wave variation than larger games (Gears of War 4 comes to mind), Blast Brawl 2 allows players to keep playing Wave mode even on the same level time and time again while still having fun. Between seven different characters, four different levels, and the opportunity to bring friends along for the ride, this mode will keep players busy for a long time. If fighting your friends is more your thing, the game’s Versus mode is for you.

Unlike Wave mode, players have far more stages to choose from in Versus mode. These stages are larger and with moving parts, just begging for people to explore and exploit them. Being able to play with up to eight  people at once allows the game to be played with nearly any group of friends on the couch. Much like how Wave mode has variations in the waves, Versus mode has multiple modes and various modifiers to change how the rounds play out. This kind of variety is greatly appreciated and very impressive for such a small indie title.

Now that I’ve covered nearly all the content the game has to offer, I’d like to talk about how the gameplay works and a few flaws the game has. As the game’s description says players die in one hit, this makes room for some very fast combat that requires attention and precision. This need for precision is where the first issue arises. With each character swinging their respective weapon differently, I had a hard time getting used to the combat. On top of this, characters can only swing in eight directions, meaning some have a hard time hitting anything while others swing in huge, wide arcs that can hit a huge area (I’m looking at you, Viking).

Even if the combat isn’t perfect, it is still fun and fast-paced. This is made more important when players take advantage of the characters various special abilities and movement skills. Just playing with my small group, this game quickly turned into a competitive free-for-all that everyone wanted to win. On a side note, I did notice an issue where characters get stuck on walls and ledges when pressed against them. This is rather infuriating but easy to get around, so I won’t hold it against the game too much. Blast Brawl 2 is a wonderful little game for the fan of fast-paced fighters and can provide hours of entertainment… Provided you have the friends to play it with.

REVIEW CODE: A complimentary Microsoft Xbox One code was provided to Brash Games for this review. Please send all review code enquiries to editor@brashgames.co.uk.