What do you get when you combine fast-paced side scrolling gameplay, parodied versions of some of the best and manliest action movies in the last 30 years, with a plot revolving around MERICA’s glorious crusade against various terrorist forces? Developer Free Lives’ (behind the eternally classic title Genital Jousting) answer is Broforce. Originally released on Steam and PS4, the much updated title has finally made its glorious debut on the Switch allowing you to imitate the ol’ USA and spread freedom wherever you go.

Right from the start, you get to choose between the game’s two main modes. “Campaign” has you flying around the world map, choosing which area to liberate by blowing up terrorists and saving PoW’s across a set of stages, usually culminating in some sort of boss encounter. The terrain and enemies you traverse and face vary from jungles to hell itself, with enemies ranging from your typical suicide bombers to real freaking Xenomorphs. “Arcade” skips past all pretenses of a plot and the world map mechanic for a straight-to-the-action romp through all the levels in order, with the ability to replay any one you desire from the menu.

Outside of the genre’s standard side-scrolling gameplay, Broforce has two specific mechanics which are the game’s claim to fame. One of them is its destructibility. When the game says “destructible environment”, they mean that the entire level can be blown up. Don’t want to bother with some above ground platforming? Blow your way through. Want to destroy a bridge to cut off your enemies rush? Fire away. Want to collapse a building for fun? Sure. The levels are crammed with red barrels as well, so explosions are plentiful and huge. The sound effects are on point, so raining down fiery destruction on your enemies is a genuine delight.

The second main mechanic where Broforce truly shines is its collection of parodied action heroes. From Brade, Ellen Ripbro, Rambro, to Snake Broskin, Bronan the Brobarian, and Brobrocop, the line-up seems like they have everybody you could ever want in a game like this. Every Bro has their own unique special move, weapon, and melee weapon (every Chuck Norris character in the game forgoes the knife used by many others for a straight up roundhouse kick). You start off each level as a random Bro from your pool of unlocked heroes (you unlock more with the more PoW’s you rescue, this is all handled behind the scenes) and every time you rescue a PoW, a dice is rolled and a new Bro is added to your hand as your next life. Your current Bro dies and your last one takes his place.

All of this comes together for a fast-paced game with lots of variety in play style, not just in your current Bros loadout, but also in how you choose to confront the enemy. Usually it will be the all guns blazing approach, but you can go for a more subdued approach by digging underneath bunkers and hitting them from the back.

On the performance front, I’m glad to say there’s no issues to report. Game’s at a crisp resolution that I believe to be 1080p (I could find no confirmation on that) and the smooth buttery gameplay fluidity of 60 frames per second. It looks good and feels even better to play. I found no frame drops no matter how hard I worked to blow things up dramatically and no dynamic resolution seemed to be at play either. Hands down this is one of the few great performers on the Switch, which considering the graphics should be a given, but we’ve all been disappointed before (looking at you, Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate…..).

All in all, it’s another home run for Devolver. Fast-paced destructive gameplay, a great roster of everyone’s favorite action movie heroes, and a variety of locations and enemies. All of this available either solo or in couch co-op for 2-4 people and tied up in a neat little over-the-top patriotic package, making this a must-play for anyone aspiring to spread true greatness throughout the soon-to-be-free world.

 

Graphics: 7.0 They’re pixelated graphics which are played out at this point in my opinion, but the great effects from explosions to the remains of your enemies are quite a sight to behold. Not ugly, but far from original.	Gameplay: 9.0 There is a solid game here. Shooting and slicing feels fantastic, especially with the smooth FPS. There can be some issues with only being able to shoot front and back and no aiming up. This isn’t really an issue that comes up much, nor does it impact the levels, but it does limit your actions.
Sound: 6.0 Explosions, guns, and the screams of your enemies are all appropriately great, but outside that it fails to really catch your attention in any meaningful way, especially the music.	Fun Factor: 10 The game is just a pure BLAST to play. Blowing up huge swathes of the level and turning your enemies into piles of red/green mush will never get old.
Final Verdict: 8.5

Reviewed on Switch.
Broforce is available now on Switch, PC, and PS4.
A copy of Broforce was provided by the publisher.