Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl Reviews
Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl is a platform fighting game that offers fun and good times with friends. Evaluated from this perspective the game delivers, and if this is what you are looking for, you will surely not regret it. However, this game could have been much better, especially in detail, fluidity and content. If you are able to look beyond its disappointing visual effects, or that its soundtrack is unoriginal, it may be that this game has something interesting to give you.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Despite the silence and the lack of story mode (it would’ve been great for Ren and Stimpy to have a grudge against Patrick), Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl is a thoughtful, beat-em-up, well put together game by the developers. Its’ gameplay is fun and easy to adapt to and its’ visuals look quite good considering the product at hand. The possibilities with the loaded cast are excellent, with even more waiting in the wings to join the fray. It won’t replace Smash as your favorite anytime soon, but it does make for a curious – and jam-packed – addition to your brawler collection. What we need are Rocko characters in here and, maybe, Danger Mouse for some nostalgia. Please?
Yes, the sheer hilarity of seeing Patrick Star beat up CatDog is still funny, but I don't think the lifespan of this game will increase over time. Watching all these fighters silently duke it out makes it feel like we're watching storyboards for a singular crossover episode. While that may entice you into watching the commercials, the final product just leaves all these popular properties feel compromised.
Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl may be basic on the surface, but the exhilarating gameplay and edge of your seat action more than makes up for its lack of content by providing players with a fun platform fighter that rewards those who take the time to learn its surprisingly complex combat mechanics. I just wish online multiplayer was more active (come find me online and let's fight! I main CatDog).
There's a good skeleton to Nickelodeon All-Stars Brawl. The fighting is fast and extremely deep, despite having only one more attack button over the Super Smash Bros. series. For pro-type players who always play without items and can quickly master the game's nuances, this is excellent. However, the presentation is as basic as the game's modes, and the lack of anything that provides more of a Nickelodeon "feel" (e.g., voices and music) makes the whole thing feel rather cheap. While the online performance can be good, it doesn't matter much if there's no community behind it. The game is a contender, but some serious effort in more than a few areas needs to be done if Nickelodeon All-Stars Brawl or a potential sequel wants to be taken more seriously.
Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl is, well, fine. It will provide a good few hours of harmless fun and raise more than a few smiles in the nostalgia sector of the cortex as Reptar beats on April O'Neil. Underneath that initial sheen however is nothing of real interest. Thankfully, support seems to be very much active and maybe the initial issues will be focused on to provide a more well-rounded, in-depth experience. For now, though, the shadow of its inspiration looms heavy and ensures that this will not be challenging for any place in the top tier of party'esque fighters for some time.
Although I was impressed by how solid its gameplay is, Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl still feels like a hollow experience that could have been elevated to new heights if it featured additional modes and a more fleshed-out presentation complete with voice acting.
We’ve seen a lot of Smash clones come and go over the years, very few with any staying power. All-Star Brawl feels like another flash in the pan, very much like opening the biggest box under the Christmas tree only to find a pair of socks inside.
The weird thing about Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl is that, despite being janky, low-budget, and lacking in content, it’s a lot of fun. It all boils down to its ludicrous concept and the fact that at the end of the day, it’s functional. It’s a power trip for anyone who grew up watching cartoons in the late 90s to early 2000s. Its online multiplayer also works surprisingly well, even better than Smash, to be honest.
Regardless, Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl serves as an example of how surgical marketing can be, feeding competitive players with specific bullet points while trying to cast a wide net with its popular IP. Playing it may certainly make you smile, and moments of hype can follow. But in the end, it’s an extended meme at best and a monument to capitalistic cynicism at worst.
Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl feels incomplete in a lot of ways. It needed more modes, better sound design to provide some personality, a better selection of stages. If the developers take the time to fill the game out further, it could even end up being something pretty special. For now, this is still far better than a Nickelodeon fighting game has any right to be. The most important part of a fighting game is the feel, and the team at Ludosity nailed that. When I was tearing through foes with Reptar online, I had a hard time caring about what was missing. Players coming in with the right expectations will have a ton of fun, just don’t expect a game that is more than it is.
Overall, Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl is a fun fighting game with iconic characters and easy to learn but challenging to master mechanics. They nailed the feel of a good fighting game, but the game still feels like it has a ways to go before it reaches the level of an iconic franchise like Smash. The potential is absolutely there, and after we see a few DLC launches who knows where it will stand, but for now it’s hard to imagine myself inviting friends over to play All-Star Brawl when Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is still around.
As someone who grew up with all of these characters, it’s beautiful to see them re-contextualized in a game that shows them the love and care they deserve. While it lacks content and a key component of Nickelodeon’s formula in the absence of voice acting, it is a fun, inviting fighting game. If you’re someone who holds Nickelodeon and it’s character’s close in any way at all, or if you’re just a fan of the Super Smash Bros. style fighters and need a break from them specifically, I would pick this one up.
Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl reminds me of the popular maxim, fast, cheap, or good? Pick two. Just with different options and only one choice. It’s clear Ludosity did the best they could, honestly, there is no denying good gameplay would beat out voices, a bad story, or a number of other things, it just doesn’t make for a great experience.
Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl is a love letter to those of us who grew up watching the famous television channel and its most iconic series. It has a good roster of well-balanced fighters and is quite fun to play. Its main problems are the limited number of game modes, the absence of certain emblematic characters of the company and a handling that would need to be patched to solve certain bugs.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl has the potential to be great, it just doesn’t quite reach that level. What’s there is pretty good, but the lack of polish and small amount of content makes All-Star Brawl fall short of the excellent party fighter that it could be. Hopefully, the devs continue to support the game and polish it as time goes on, as it could be a diamond in the rough given a bit more time in the oven.
Those looking for a fun experience will likely find it here, but it may be short lived if you aren’t into the game competitively.
Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl doesn’t bring anything new to the table, instead offering a certainly competent if not hugely exciting brawler with a confusing roster of characters cynically chopped up seemingly for future monetisation and very little to actually fight for in terms of unlockables for the fans. The fundamentals are here, and the Sports modes are terrific fun, but there isn’t much else to get too excited about when the content included is this lacking.
Nickelodeon All-Stars Brawl might even be an interesting alternative to people who like competitive platform fighters, but as a videogame it's clearly a waste of potential. Luckily, Ludosity has a good history and seems to be listening to fans feedback in order to make constant updates to make the game better. However, at the time of this review, the title still offers a shallow experience for any players who aren't interested in the competitive scene.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
There's a lot to like here, even if there's plenty of room for improvement. It's far from esports ready, but it does feel like a solid first step for a great new franchise.