Forum Overview :: Reviews :: Brigador

[quote name="Mischief Maker"]<A HREF="http://stellarjockeys.com/">Brigador</A> In the mood for an ultraviolent game to blow off some steam? Love the 80s aesthetic revival? Enjoyed those Helicopter Strike games on the Genesis? Give Brigador a try! <IMG SRC="http://i.imgur.com/ZZEQ6SU.gif"> Brigador is an isometric action game where you play a mercenary piloting a variety of mechs, tanks, and hovercraft taking out the orbital defense network of a planet caught in a three-way civil war after its dictator-for-life dies. While the controls are mouse-WASD, there's a real learning curve at work here. Movement happens tank-style and the mouse pointer is not the actual aiming reticule. Instead the game traces a parabolic line for both of your weapons' trajectories and you aim by making that line intersect with your enemies. It's fiddly but you get the hang of it. What I really like about Brigador is the sense of a Godzilla-style rampage missing from so many other mech games. The levels are crawling with fleeing civilians, giving you a sense of scale, and you absolutely flatten the terrain everywhere you go. Smashing through a wall and stomping in guns blazing is massively satisfying once you master the controls well enough to pull it off. The downsides include really choppy animations and a fair bit of unlockable cancer. But the funny thing about the unlocks is the gigantic ultra mechs are the cheapest units to unlock while the tiny vulnerable power armor units (with a corresponding cash reward multiplier) are super expensive, better matching challenge to player learning. It also has a pretty good synthwave soundtrack, good but not Hotline Miami good. Also one of the three factions is a ragtag rebellion whose mechs and tanks are crazily welded together cars and trucks to form ridiculous truckasaurus-like monstrosities. It's so 80s! Recommended, but only if you're willing to put up with a learning curve.[/quote]