Title: Brief Battles
Genre: party style fighting game
Modes: single player and couch co-op/vs
Developer: Juicy Cupcake
Publisher: Juicy Cupcake
Platform(s): Playstation 4 (reviewed), Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC
Release: May 7
Brief Battles is a party style, platform fighter (think Smash Bros), with a hefty Challenge mode. The fun is all based around underwear based powers that give you a unique ability based on the seven different styles of underwear.
The Tip and the Top
The graphics in Brief Battles are great. The characters all have a fun cartoony feel to them. The levels (and there are 50 of them) all have a look to them that captures the area that they are in. You can always tell which pair of underwear you have on based upon the aura surrounding your character.
The controls are very intuitive and responsive. There aren’t a ton of different button combos, so it’s easy to pick up and play. The wall climbing and ceiling grabbing all happen automatically so you don’t have to hold down a button or three to make them happen.
Challenge mode has five different modes that all have multiple difficulties and levels to them. You start with the four levels that are the basics and teach you how to play the game. After you complete them, you unlock four different types of modes that you can make your way through to get eight unlockable skins. All the modes are available to play co-op.
There is Underpants collector where you platform your way through 50 levels to collect a required amount of underwear in a limited amount of time earning a medal.
Tighty whitey Targets is a mode where you shoot the required amount of targets in a limited time though 60 different levels.
Then there are Butt ‘em up Battles where you take on enemies for a time limit in ten different levels. You either have to kill a certain amount of enemies in a time limit or survive for a time to get your medal for finishing the stage.
Finally there is Endless Butt ‘em up. It’s survival mode on each of the five different stages where you (and potentially your friend sitting next to you) survive against the endless swarm of enemies.
The Flip and the Flop
Unfortunately, the mode that I had the most issues with is Battle mode. While it is a blast to play the four different modes with friends, it can only be done locally. Each of the four different modes gives you a different objective and way to play from the classic battle (free for all) to the battle for the golden briefs, an online mode would have made it a lot more accessible to finding battle partners as one v one can get a little tiresome if you only have two controllers.
The music while being decent is repetitive and forgettable. There is nothing wrong with it, but there is nothing that makes it stick with you and have you humming in your head for days.
Final Grade: C+
While the Challenges were extremely fun to begin with and are a lot more enjoyable with a companion, the lack of online multiplayer really brings down the level of enthusiasm for the game. I recommend this for those with four ps4 controllers during a gathering, as it’s a lot of fun, but as a sit down and play by yourself type of game the legs on it are only so long.
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