Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl Review – IGN

The idea of ​​a Super Smash Bros.-style platformer that brings together some of Nickelodeon’s most beloved cartoons across generations makes perfect sense, and it’s a wonder it took so long to come up with something like Nickelodeon All. – Star Brawl to come. But despite clear Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl inspirations, developer Ludosity has made a remarkable effort to differentiate its mechanics and overall combat flow from Smash Bros., resulting in a fighter that is far faster than any other. Smash game since Melee in 2001.. This puts All-Star Brawl in a great spot as an alternative to Smash Ultimate which is available on pretty much all platforms, but its poor use of its large amount of source material, along with a general lack of polish and some annoying mechanics, means it is not a recommendation that comes without some important caveats.

The first thing you see when playing All-Star Brawl is that it feels like a game made on a pretty tight budget. Character models and backgrounds are lacking in detail, the original themes created for each level are extremely generic, there is only a basic single player arcade mode, a sports mode hardly worth mentioning, and zero significant unlockables or progression rewards outside. of some pictures and songs on a jukebox. But perhaps most damning of all is that, despite being a game that is all about celebrating the best of Nickelodeon, there is very little Nickelodeon charm that manifests itself. There is no voice acting, no remixes of any theme from the many cartoons featured, and while the sets are filled with hilarious Easter eggs for fans to discover, it all feels a bit soulless.

Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl Screenshots

It’s an impressive win from behind, then, that All-Star Brawl is still really fun to play. Follow the same basic formula as other platform fighters by removing life bars in favor of damage percentages – the more you get hit, the higher the damage percentage and the further you’ll fly from each hit until you are KO’d. an opponent knocking him off the stage (unless he triggers critical KOs). This means two key things: you can potentially be killed after taking almost no damage, or you could survive even after receiving an enormous amount of punishment. It’s a really exciting style of action where it seems like you always have a chance to make a miraculous comeback, even if you have multiple lives.

This fighting game style really comes to life in a party setting with up to three friends, and All-Star Brawl is no different. It is very easy to learn, receive minimal instructions on how to play and have a good time regardless of your level of experience. That said, the developers are clearly big fans of Smash, because they’ve designed the deeper mechanics behind that accessible coat of paint with more hardcore fans of those games in mind.

Where All-Star Brawl sets itself apart is mainly in its movement. It is exceptionally fast, facilitated by high running speeds, quick recoveries on most attacks, and its unique aerial dash that works as a recovery option, a wavedash, and a quick knockdown all in one. The air dash lets you run left and right for a quick and substantial boost of horizontal momentum from which you can still perform actions, or in any direction down for an even greater burst of speed. The downside is that it is specifically an air dash and not an air dodge, which means there are no invulnerability frames during it.

However, it is a trade-off worth making. I love the added mobility each character is given thanks to this unique take on the traditional mechanic of dodging the air. It allows for unpredictable approaches, greatly assists characters who would otherwise struggle immensely with their recoveries when trying to get back on stage after a huge success, and works as a great tool for playing mind games with your opponent and keeping them guessing what you are. could do.

There are also a number of smaller mechanical differences that help further establish All-Star Brawl’s identity in the platformer fighting genre. There are no rolling or dodging points, so the only way to avoid taking damage when hit is by blocking or denying the attack with one of your own; Instead of Smash attacks, there are strong attacks that can be performed in the air; and each character has a throw that allows them to lift their opponent up and move him before throwing (unless the opponent can escape their grip).

While I appreciate most of the ways All-Star Brawl tries to be different, I’m not a fan of all of its mechanics. I especially don’t like that all the characters have basically the same pitch, nor do I really like the pitch mechanics in general. It looks wacky, it’s too easy to knock out at low percentages, and feels like a cheap KO at high percentages. But worst of all, not giving unique animations for each character in your releases feels like a missed opportunity to add a little more personality to each player, while further diversifying their playstyles. .

There is no toon like a nicktoon

They might not look good enough to flood my brain with nostalgic chemicals, but All-Star Brawl’s cast of characters is largely excellent from a design standpoint. It’s a healthy mix of some obvious “must-haves” and interesting weirdos that might not immediately spring to mind when you think of iconic Nicktoons, but they end up being pretty inspired picks, like Nigel Thornberry, whose eccentric set of moves involves him mimicking attacks. and poses of various animals with a hilarious effect.

There are definitely some glaring omissions, like any character from Rocko’s Modern Life, Angry Beavers, or Fairly Oddparents, just to name a few, but overall, this is a pretty admirable starting list of 20 characters that mostly covers a decent Nicktoons spread from over the years. 90s through the early 2000s. There are classics like Rugrats and Hey Arnold, 2000s mega hits like Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra, and then The Loud House as the sole representative of modern Nicktoons.

Every fighter plays as one would expect. My personal favorite, Aang from Avatar, has weak overall power, but he can chain his light Airbending attacks at almost any percentage and becomes an absolute combo machine. Reptar plays the role of the Bowser-like beast with slow attacks that can send you packing with just one or two strong attacks near the edge. Meanwhile, Lucy Loud changes into a vampire or ghost form each time she connects with her bite attack, altering the properties of some of her movements. I wish not all characters had a spike move in their aerial attack, as it’s such a powerful finisher that giving it to characters who are already super strong feels like overkill, and some characters have moves that are astonishingly close. to what’s found in Smash Bros., but those issues aside, everyone on the list feels quite different from each other.

What doesn’t feel different is when multiple people choose the same character. For whatever reason, there are no alternate colors or costumes for any of the characters. If you’re playing four Reptars, the only thing that sets you apart from your opponents is the little icon above each one, which can make it difficult to determine who you are at a glance, especially on larger stages.

Each character comes with their own scenario, a total of 20 in total, which is a pretty decent number of scenarios … except when you consider that the number of scenarios that actually want visiting is probably much less than that. Whether you’re playing competitively or casually, most gimmicky stages just aren’t fun to fight. You often face the stage more than you face your friends as you try to keep up with small fast-moving platforms on the Space Madness stage or avoid the roller coaster cars on the two solid chunks of land on the Glove Stage. worldwide, just to name two frustrating examples. These kinds of levels are nothing new, but they don’t have the kind of visual spectacle that makes that kind of sacrifice worth it.

The handful of scenarios worth playing in are the ones you probably expected. Relatively flat and straightforward stand-ins for the iconic final destination of Smash, Battlefield, Smashville, etc. That said, while most cheat levels are a nightmare, there are a few that can be quite fun given the right circumstances. Rugrats’ Showdown at Teeter Totter Gulch is one of my favorites because its wobbly center platform isn’t too intrusive and provides a nice change of pace. And while it’s a bit hard to get kills due to its sheer size, the Powder Toast Trouble Level is packed with fun interactives and Ren and Stimpy’s Easter eggs.
Perhaps Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl’s secret weapon is its backlink code online gameplay, which in my experience has been relatively fluid for the most part. There have certainly been bad matches, especially at certain levels like the Rooftop Rumble scenario, which I’ve had numerous issues with while playing online, but the vast majority of my online matches haven’t had any issues. It’s definitely not Guilty Gear Strive in terms of the quality of its network code, but at least, it’s good enough where I can comfortably say that this is the area where All-Star Brawl has a distinct advantage over Smash Ultimate.