Developer: Double Stallion
Publisher: Kongregate
Platforms: PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch
Tested on: PC (with controller)
Speed Brawl – Review
Many 2D platformer games exist in which you need to get to the finish as fast as you can, trying to beat the set times. Ever thought of combining this with brawling through waves of enemies? Well developer studio Double Stallion has, and created Speed Brawl. We got the chance to take a look at Speed Brawl and this game turned out to be even more fun than expected!
Story
Speed Brawl is set in a dystopian future past of an 1800’s London. Ebba and Bia are entering the word of Speed Brawl, a fast paced crossover sport between a bar fight and a race against the clock. They want to be the best in the world of Speed Brawl. You’ll follow Ebba and Bia with their growing group of brawlers as they go from unknown brawlers to superstars. The story of Ebba and Bia’s journey for success progresses before each newly started level. They will have conversations with enemies and friends before each level starts. After you’ve completed a level, there will be conversations as well.
Graphics
Speed Brawl is a 2D platformer and is filled with nicely drawn characters and good-looking levels that appear to be taken out of animes or mangas. They’ve used simple 2D graphics to make the game look simple but good. A well-drawn background fills the screen with levels that match the setting the background creates. The characters are very diverse and unique. Each character has its own design that also matches their skills. The cutscenes between levels look like they’re from a comic book. Camera wise, there isn’t much to say about this game, only that you can see ahead enough to time your jumps and moves while running.
Sound
The game is filled with cool music that just gets you excited. The music totally fits the setting. You’ll hear lots of an electric guitars. Voice acting on the other hand is a bit poor. In the cutscenes, you’ll read what the characters have to say but you’ll mostly hear few words voiced by the characters. Usually they only say names, specific words like “alright” and “yes” or characters will just moan in certain ways that suit the sentence they’re saying. Overall the music is cool but the voice acting could’ve been done a lot better. It wouldn’t be wrong to hear what characters are saying.
Gameplay
Speed Brawl is a 2D combat-racer. In Speed Brawl you need to race to get the best time on each level. You can achieve three ranks of times each level, namely: bronze, silver and gold. Together with this rank, you’ll receive rewards that match the height of the rank achieved. You can replay each level as much as you want and you will still receive rewards according to the rank achieved. So have you found a level that you can easily clear on gold, why not try it again a few times to rack in some extra rewards by doing so. The ultimate goal on each map is to attain a gold rank in each level and by replaying levels, you’ll be rewarded a lot while clearing each map.
In Speed Brawl you’ll start each level inside a cage that will be lined up on the ground. Then some announcer will give you the starting signal by shouting Ready, Steady, Speed Brawl! On the word Speed Brawl, the cage will open and you can start running and brawling through the level. By holding the dash button while still in the cage, a bar will fill up. If you start holding the dash button at the right moment (Steady) you will dash out of the cage with great speed, speeding across the first running part of the level.
Each level is divided in parts of running and battles. When you arrive at a battle, the screen will lock into place and waves of enemies will come at you until you’ve beaten them all. The goal is to beat them as fast as you can, so you can continue running. The final battle will be announced when you arrive and it will typically take longer to complete than the battles you encounter mid-level.
There are a total of six playable characters in Speed Brawl. Of these six only two are unlocked at the start of the game. The others need to be encountered throughout the game to be unlocked. You’ll start with Ebba and Bia. The story mostly revolves around these two but the others will gradually join the fray.
The combat of Speed Brawl is fairly easy as it doesn’t take a lot to memorize the controls. You can jump (and double jump), dash, dodge and tag out with your secondary character. Basic attacks, dashing and special attacks will deal damage. It’s very easy to combine dashes, attacks and special attacks to wreck your opponents. Special attacks need stamina bars to be performed, these bars will gradually fill up fast so you can use them constantly. After a while a bar next to your character’s head on the HUD will fill and lets you perform an ultimate attack if it’s completely filled, dealing a lot of damage with one hit.
After each level, you’ll get rewards according to the rank achieved. These rewards contain new gear for your character to equip. these items will give you more resistance, more damage or special perks, depending on which type of gear it is. Each character can equip three items: gloves, shoes and a ring. Not every character can equip every item as some characters need a different type of gloves or shoes to fit. Mostly the items can be worn by three of the six characters available.
Each character has its own skills that can be unlocked after increasing your fame level. With leveling up, you’ll gain skill points that can be used to unlock new skills and upgrades. By unlocking panels in the skill tree, you’ll gain more health, increase your stamina and improve your skills.
One of the best things of the gameplay of Speed Brawl is that you can play together with friends in couch co-op! just boot a second controller and your set up for a fun co-op experience. Playing with friends can help you achieve better times than you would score in single-player. You won’t bother each other while brawling through enemies as you will pass through each other. Especially the battle part of levels will be easier as you’ve got company to take them on.
Conclusion
Speed Brawl is a fast paced combat brawler in which you don’t have time to think about your moves and you just need to run and fight. Speed Brawl is a very fun game to play solo or with friends. The combat is really well developed and easy to master. You can customize every character the way you want with equipment and skills. Speed Brawl proves to be a good challenge to complete every level with a gold rank. The further you get, the harder it gets. If you like platformers and a combination of racing and brawling, you definitely need to check out Speed Brawl!
Speed Brawl - Review,
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