I first played this co-op with my brother, a while ago. Now I’ve had the full wild cheesy experience solo as well.
So what we have is a run and gun, a jump and shoot, a sidescrolling action playground. With an appealing chunky pixel look, and the potential for major mayhem as explosions destroy terrain and create chain reactions. The main hook is that each time you respawn (and whenever you gain an extra life) your character switches, between a wide array of steadily unlocking Bros.
A Bro in this case is a hyper-macho version of specific action movie/TV heroes from the 80s and 90s. So you get an extra-musclebound Terminator, B.A. Baracus, or Ellen Ripley (yes there are lady Bros too), with a characteristic weapon and abilities. Constantly adjusting to the particulars of each Bro keeps you on your toes, but in a good way. Retrying is quick and easy, and with all the variety combined with the emergent situations that result from enemy interactions and the terrain there’s never a dull moment.
Accompanying the machismo-based aesthetics is a thread of parodic American patriotism, with a buff general ordering you to bring “freedom” to various countries, with eagle and US flag imagery plastered all over. It’s all very silly and goes with the action movie stylings, but of course you can’t parody something without also reminding me of the real-life unpleasantness of that thing. Specifically skewering militaristic nationalism is all well and good, but in the game you do personally fight through these countries massacring “terrorist” boogeymen. Of course it’s tongue in cheek, and later on the game transitions to a more palatable fight against aliens and demons. It’s just a little something I had to think about while playing.
Anyway, it’s quite a fun game! I don’t think I’ve conveyed just how bananapants it can get, but it does a good job keeping itself fresh. You can get a sample of the game from Steam for Mac and PC with the free promotional spin-off themed after the Expendables 3 (with unique Bros from that movie), if you’re curious.
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