Brigador: Up-Armored Edition

I hate to give smaller developers bad reviews, but Brigador is not fun to play. The controls are frustrating to figure out and really never runs smoothly. It's also impossible to see your aiming reticle since it is tiny and camouflages into the colorful background. That's a problem because you occasionally lose track which is the front and back of your mech. So instead of weaving between cover, strafing enemies, you'll more often be slamming into walls and spinning in circles trying to orient yourself because the environment is littered with obstructions to get caught on. A few of the mechs are so clunky they make the game even less fun and can't even strafe. Postal and Diablo figured this out like twenty years ago. I don't why this game struggles with fluid isometric movement. Level design is monotonous, flat, and uninspired. I guess there's a story, but it's not like you will even notice since there are no voice actors nor cinematics to give any personality to this.

Isometric twin-stick-ish shooter RTT semi-stealth game that's got a synth track and some quirky dark cyberpunk lore to it: a) stomping a mech through houses playing peekaboo with hostile tanks b) laying down an acid gas cloud trap in the neon-glow of the road intersection that I can lure the enemy mech into but realizing I am now kinda low on ammo c) blowing up that one big target building and realizing I have kicked over an anthill of hostiles with more firepower than I have, as my screen lights up with red tracer fire d) boxed in by buildings, tracers flying, I pick a direction with the most enemies and open up with all the direct firepower I have left, unable to see what I'm stepping over due to sheer explosions and smoke clouds, knowing if this doesn't work, I'm hemmed in and doomed. e) and me panicking and realizing I need to make a mad dash for the exit with the narrow sliver of health I have if I want to keep all my <> mercenary contract winnings Fully destructible environments. It's also a game that respects your time. There's a single-randomized-level option that plays out in 10-15 minutes, you can get into the groove of the game even just in that one level, and you can customize the difficulty of even that level just by changing out your pilot (which affects aggro), vehicle, and weapons -- and the game rewards you for cranking up the difficulty level. Upgrades are not gated other than “points”, and it's not going to take you long to put together a build that you kinda like. The deluxe edition comes with 4 albums of music, and a 7 hour audio book. At least one of those albums (the first one) has a decent groove to it. The audiobook is about what you would expect from a Battletech but gritty. Things I wish this game had added: a “keep this as default weapon loadout for this vehicle” checkbox. That’s it. Disclosure: got this for free at the holiday giveaway. Would totally buy it again for full price given how fun and flexible this is.

I bought this game a week ago and have logged 25 hours, can hardly keep my hands off it. I did not expect the action to be this deep or satisfying. The tactics feel realistic, in the sense that you have to take everything into account, from your vehicle and weapon parameters, to the geography and architecture of the battlefield. You need a familiarity with the controls, and steady nerves, in order to accurately engage multiple moving targets with the mouse while maneuvering your own vehicle with the keyboard. There are many ways to play. The Campaign missions (story mode) start off slow by introducing you to the different vehicles, weapons, and enemies. Later, they become much harder and they give you a variety of 3-4 preset loadouts to choose from. As a rule of thumb, choose the largest mech or tank available if you want a more forgiving (or mindless) experience. Their armor and heavy weapons trivialize firefights that would spell death for one mistake in a lighter craft. I would describe this game's visuals as retro-futuristic, maybe cyberpunk, or a term that I just learned because of this game: "neon noir". They match the synthwave OST. I love the aesthetic. I don't know what else to say about this, the game is gorgeous and immersive. So I'll mention the bad points about Brigador. 1) The controller support is bad. I wanted to play on a controller, but you must use the right analog stick to control your aim, and it is so clunky compared to the mouse controls that it is essentially unplayable. 2) This game's story is told entirely through setting, atmosphere, and text blurbs. There is no voice acting, no cutscenes, no NPCs, no script. It's like Dark Souls, 'the lore is in the item descriptions'. It's forgivable because it's an indie game, and everything else about it is so solid, but you know how it is with a good indie game: You see where the budget limited them, and can imagine how much more cool stuff could have been added. Still worth full price.

This little game has the perfect mix of relaxing music and an abundance of mindless destruction. If you want to take some time off and forget about your worries play a couple of hours of it. For the price it sold, I whole heartedly recommend it. 5/5

This is a solid entry in my favorite type of videogame: the "use strategy and tactics to kill everyone on the map" genre. Do not confuse it for a twin stick shooter. It's more like a real time tactics game, sort of like Men of War if the whole game were in direct control mode. Stealth is important, armor direction is important, weapon properties like penetration and firing angle are important. The directional armor system means that it plays better with tank controls. I wish it had more varied mission objectives but aside from that I had a great time with it.