Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl ((BETTER))
Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl brings together all your Nickelodeon favorites for one bombastic battle. Face off with a power-packed cast of heroes from the top shows within the Nickelodeon universe, including SpongeBob SquarePants, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Invader Zim, and many more, to determine the ultimate champion. With unique moves and attacks drawn directly from their identifiable personalities, each brawler has its own style of play for endless action.
Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl
You can take fights online in 1v1 competitive or quick match scenarios, and 12-player lobbies where players can break out into individual 2-4 player matches. The seat for spectating fights is a fantastic addition for tournament organizers or those who want to watch friends scuffle for a while. Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl features rollback netcode, which is designed to smooth out animation during online play. However, this implementation is pretty rough. Half of my one-on-one matches had plenty of freezes and stutters outside of the normal range of rollback frames. Sometimes rematches against someone with a great connection resulted in a jittery, slowed-down mess; this happened multiple times when playing online. Four-player brawls brought out the worst of online play, with even more freezing and connection issues. I managed to have quite a few good matches with little-to-no problems, but your mileage may vary online.
NICKELODEON ALL-STAR BRAWL brings together the many of the biggest stars from Nickelodeon's biggest animated shows, past and present. Who would win in a battle between Danny Phantom and Invader Zim? Which Avatar is more powerful, Aang or Korra? Is Leonardo or Michelangelo the better ninja turtle? Or could April O'Neil teach them both a thing or two? Now's your chance to find out the answer to these and many other questions in this winner takes brawl competition to be crowned the ultimate champion of the Nicktoons universe. Players will duke it out in twenty different themed arenas in team based or free-for-all battles or shoot for the goal in soccer-style sports matches. Each mode supports up to four players in either local or online play, perfect for proving your skills in competitive play or just a casual game night with friends.
They say that "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery." If that's the case, Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl is heaping loads of flattery on Nintendo's Smash Bros. franchise. That's not a bad thing, as far as gameplay is concerned. Just like Nintendo's juggernaut, the game's easy to pick up and play for players of all skill levels, while still having little nuances that add an extra layer of depth to the gameplay. Each brawler also has its own unique style, but without feeling particularly over or under powered when compared to the rest, making for very balanced match ups. And just like the Smash series, the game's best experienced in frantic local or online matches with friends. That's even more true here, due to the game's lack of any kind of Story mode. In fact, All-Star Brawl is a bit anemic in general when it comes to game modes. The Sport mode is the only real gameplay variant, pitting teams against each other as they try to hit a ball through the opposing team's goal. It's a fun break from the usual free-for-all fare, but it's not enough to make the game feel like a lightweight in terms of overall content.
Positive early impressions and confident developer deep-dives showcased the legitimate potential for Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl to be a stellar standout in the world of platform fighters. I even found myself indulging in the possibility of this nostalgic brawler standing toe-to-toe with the undisputed king of the genre, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. While interest for this title among the competitive fighting game community was undeniable, it's time to discuss where it stands several days after release.
Like Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl's obvious inspiration, this title delivers casual and competitive players an engrossing fighting game experience. Try-hard brawlers like myself can study the specific hitboxes of characters, identify viable counters, and work to master the perfect block. At the same time, the average fan can select Reptar and scorch enemies with devastating fireballs. Thanks to the universal control scheme for all characters in Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl, anyone, regardless of skill level, can pick up and play any fighter. However, the more competitive-driven community should be excited about the nuance between playable characters. Technical fighters like April O'Neil might seem mediocre to some, but once the camera into microphone combo clicks, it opens up a whole new world of destruction.
Despite my laundry list of criticisms regarding the current state of Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl, I'm still having a tremendous amount of fun with this platform fighter. If you're someone who loves Super Smash Bros., but primarily plays on Xbox, this is absolutely a title you and some friends can have a blast with. Forming online lobbies with other players and smacking each other around as Oblina and CatDog is genuinely something no other game can offer. There's a great deal to celebrate when it comes to this nostalgia-driven brawler. Even with an objectively rocky launch, I'm still hopeful for the future of Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl.
Leaked box art for Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl has revealed several new characters, including Aang and Korra from the Avatar: The Last Airbender franchise and Ren and Stimpy. The upcoming platform brawler looks to borrow heavily from Super Smash Bros., but it will feature a large roster of characters from throughout Nickelodeon history. From Spongebob Squarepants to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the game is set to be a veritable "who's who" of Nicktoons celebrities.
Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl's lineup of animated warriors is instantly recognizable to any cartoon fan. Several residents of Spongebob Squarepants' Bikini Bottom will be playable, including the titular yellow sponge and his dim companion Patrick Star. At least two of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Michelangelo and Leonardo, will also bring their advanced martial arts moves to the fray. Some more obscure characters, like Powdered Toast Man of The Red & Stimpy Show, will be represented in the platform brawler. Two additional characters, the animal hybrid CatDog and TMNT's April O'Neil, have recently been revealed as well.
Aang and Korra, alongside Ren and Stimpy, serve to further expand Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl's roster. The Avatar: The Last Airbender franchise is immensely popular, combining mysticism and action to create an amazing young adult universe. While Ren & Stimpy is a bit less subtle than Avatar, the wacky cartoon's insane stars are sure to add flair to the all-star fighting event. 041b061a72