BattleBlock Theater
Top Critic Average
Critics Recommend
Critic Reviews for BattleBlock Theater
Charming, clever and funny, this is one of the best new platformers on the PC at the moment. Recommended.
The amount of content, style and polish in BattleBlock Theater is incredible and puts the efforts of many AAA developers to shame. The story and writing alone could fill a comedy club, but the accessible, addictive gameplay demonstrates a mastery of platformer fundamentals.
BattleBlock Theater's second opening night (this time on PC,) is just as crude, unhinged and delightful as its first. Come for the platforming, stay for the absurdity.
There isn't a great deal of variety in the environments as they all tend to stick to the same techno-theatre setting, but there's plenty of fun to be had with BattleBlock Theatre especially when playing with a friend.
BattleBlock Theater is a charming platformer. It comes loaded with a sense of style and humour that only developer The Behemoth possess. An incredibly funny narrator, adorable creature design, and cut-scenes that look like paper-doll puppetry all amount to a stylistically cohesive game that has tight platforming to boot (albeit with a few mechanical hiccups).
In essence, BattleBlock Theatre is not without its frustrating moments, but such is the nature of all puzzle platformers. Any negatives noted here exist, but are slight and surely nothing more than minor blips in what is a very rewarding, very well presented, and very enjoyable and hilariously funny puzzle platformer. As the landscape of these types of games becomes increasingly bigger, it's nice to see a game strive so hard for innovation. And in doing so can make the player feel like the cat who got the cream. Perhaps I should leave the jokes to The Behemoth experts.
BattleBlock Theater feels like it was designed for the child that still lives inside me. It's juvenile, colourful, and silly. But more importantly, it achieves everything it set out to do, with a near masterful level of execution. The addictive multiplayer and excellent level creation tools are just the icing on the cake.
Overall, BattleBlock Theater was a hell of a lot of fun. It more than satisfied my retro yearning and kept challenging me as I played. It was honestly hard to put the game down as I played through Story mode, approximately a 10-hour process, and with the user-generated levels I might be playing for a very long time. I would recommend it to any fan of old school gaming done right. I cheer The Behemoth on for such a mighty game, and not-so-patiently wait for their next creation.
