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The world inside the indie hit BROK the InvestiGator has more to give, as solo developer COWCAT (Breton Fabrice) brings the new standalone title BROK: The Brawl Bar to consoles and PC. The Brawl Bar is a wild party beat ‘em up that features over 60 varied and surprising arcade-style “Event matches” (à la Smash Bros) that range from easy to difficult to complete. Throughout your pursuit of knocking out all of these challenges, you’ll get to know a few of the patrons and staff in this “brawl bar” you find yourself drawn to as you try and rekindle those fighting flames your gator-y self used to love sparking. Though I took my lickings in some of the harder stages, BROK: The Brawl Bar was an exciting game to punch, kick, and finesse my way through.
Not Your Typical Beat-Em-Up
I don’t think I’ve ever played a game like this before. It’s truly a grab-bag of beat-em-up varieties, with each level having its own special variables. For example, on one level you may be trying to defeat a robot panther and a cleaning robot that start off very small, but progressively get bigger and stronger, so that if you don’t knock them out quick, you’ll soon be the small fry. But then on the next level, you’re tossing fallen foodstuffs around the bar to feed hungry customers. But wait! From the rafters comes a platforming level that also requires you to bash targets out of the air within a time limit. This doesn’t even come remotely close to encompassing all of the tasks you’ll be asked to complete. Luckily, if you find yourself really struggling with certain ones, you can use previously gathered coins from other levels and outside challenges to “skip” a level so that you can proceed to new ones. Additionally, you’re able to purchase food from a vending machine that can give you some much needed boosts that could push you from barely missing a win to finally downing that troublesome foe. This olive branch of understanding for how difficult some situations it asks you to pull off was much appreciated. I would’ve hated getting stuck on some levels until I completed them, and being able to circle back to ones I couldn’t seem to beat once I had maybe learned a few new strategies or been able to afford a special food to boost my power was not only a relief, but fulfilling. Not only do you have the many pre-set levels to play through, there are also bonus levels that can be unlocked, along with the ability to play custom designed levels (and design your own) and daily randomly-generated challenges that can have wildly different win conditions than the normal ones.
Controlling the Chaos
The controls for whatever character you’re playing for a level aren’t too insanely complicated, but do require some getting used to. Controller is the best way to play this game, as I found the use of “alt” and “enter” really threw off my window sizing, and it made it hard to parry (which is very important!) Since the original BROK game’s release, The Brawl Bar has made some new additions to the moves you can use, including the aforementioned parry, air juggles, and the ability to bounce enemies off the walls, potentially allowing for additional juggling opportunities. I can’t compare the original fighting system to this new version’s, but I can say it feels perfectly arcadey. Is it super exact? No, but more often than not precision isn’t required to win the levels you face. Paying attention to what your enemy’s abilities and fighting styles/patterns is much more important, and with those enemies having such distinct visual styles and movesets, it allows for using information from previous bouts with certain foes to help know how to counter them in the future. I did find that some of the situations I found myself in after being hit up into the air and lying on the floor felt a bit unfair or too obviously“code based” in their exact response to my moves, but I always found a way to prevail in the end. You’ll play as six different characters, depending on the level, each with their own special moves and styles. It was interesting getting to know the pros and cons of each, and having to adapt my playstyle to what the level was asking me to do was a big part of what kept things intriguing throughout. Though I didn't get a chance to try it, the game also features local coop, remote play through Steam, and versus modes.
Full of Character
Speaking of enemies and characters, BROK has always had a wonderfully defined art style, and The Brawl Bar keeps that same charm. There’s this toony yet real emotion to each person you meet, and it really feels, even through only a couple voice lines, that you’re meeting this guy or girl (or robot) in the middle of their story as they stop by the bar or work as staff there. You’ll get to fight, talk with, and get to know a whole cast of fleshed-out furred and scaled friends and enemies throughout your time in the VR Fight Rooms and bar area of The Brawl Bar. Inside the stages themselves, your eyes get to feast on a plethora of charmingly artful backgrounds, items, obstacles, and challengers that never got stale through the 60+ levels. Is it a little bumpy around the edges or too simple in places? Sure. But I couldn’t resist enjoying the lovingly hand-crafted design and indie-ness of the whole package. You just know the creator, Breton, pours so much into these games and the stories within the world, and it shows.
Brawling to a Beat
When it comes to audio, it’s a reflection of the love for the genre and the world you’re completing these levels in. Within the Brawl Bar, there’s a Jukebox that you can play music on. You unlock more of these tracks by spinning a little prize wheel in the establishment using coins you earn and pick up throughout your playtime. There’re a lot more songs to choose from than I expected, and quite a few seemed to be from the original BROK the InvestiGator game, which was a treat. During gameplay, the sound effects for activating attacks, defending, and other actions were appropriately used and informative, even when it got overwhelming at times with the amount of activity on the screen. Plus, just like the bar’s music tracks, the levels themselves had plenty of upbeat backing music. One of the surprises for me was the full voice acting for dialogue within The Brawl Bar, and the world-building chats between characters at certain points in the game as you completed more of the levels. The whole sound experience within the game fits the style and genre just right.
In Conclusion
COWCAT Games has a great thing going with BROK, and it’s always exciting to see a passion project really become something special. The Brawl Bar runs about 3-4 hours, depending on your level of expertise when it comes to fighting games, and even at my most frustrated points when it came to really difficult levels, I always felt like I had the means to beat them, and I did. When I did, it felt special. That’s how a game like this should feel. I felt like a kid again; sitting in front of my Gamecube, eyes locked on the screen as the final laser shot from Fox’s gun hit the last target in Smash Bros right before the 1 second ticked down to 0, eliciting a triumphant hoorah from this young boy’s heart that had tried over and over to beat this one challenge. BROK: The Brawl Bar gives you the chance to have those epic arcadey experiences all over again, but with a charming anthro flair.
