Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl Review

Synopsis:
Nickelodeon All Star Brawl brings together your favorite Nickelodeon characters for one bombastic battle. With a power-packed cast of heroes from the top shows within the Nickelodeon universe, face-off with all-stars from SpongeBob Squarepants, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Loud House, Aaahh!!! Real Monsters, Avatar, The Wild Thornberrys, Hey Arnold!, Rugrats, and many more to determine ultimate dominance.

Publisher: Maximum Games
Reviewed on: PS5
Also available for: Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PS4, PC, Nintendo Switch

Developer: Ludosity & Fair Play Labs
Directors: Diego Rodriguez, Sergio Chacon
Lead Gameplay Design & Programmer: Elias Forslind
Art Director: Diego Hernandez Cruz

Suppose you’re a fan of Nickelodeon franchises such as Hey Arnold!, Avatar: The Last Airbender, CatDog and SpongeBob Squarepants. In that case, you’ll get a kick out of pitting these cartoon favourites against one another in brawls. For those seeking a Smash Bros alternative, Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl is your best one, even if there’s plenty of room for improvement.

There is no denying the Smash Bros influence on Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl. The core mechanics are the same, with light and heavy attacks thrown with a rock, paper, scissors system deciding if a low kick from your opponent beats your uppercut. Each Nickelodeon character has unique characteristics and moves that show their respect, some love, and you’ll even brawl on stages inspired by the shows. On the default difficulty, it’s the first person to throw their opponent off the side of the map three times to win the match. Still, there there’s plenty of difficulty settings making Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl accessible for all types of gamers or Smash Bros experience types.

Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl launched with twenty different brawlers from thirteen different Nickelodeon franchises. Avatar: The Last Airbender’s Toph can earthbend, Ren & Stimpy team-up for combo moves, Nigel Thornberry flails around like a fish, and two Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Leonardo and Michaelangelo strike with precision, while CatDog works together to attack from both sides. All fighters feel unique, and the love for their personalities comes through in how each move set and little quirks have been designed and showcased. That said, none of the characters in Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl contains voice acting, which is a big letdown. It looks great, and the character models are all fantastic, but it’s apparent that developer Ludosity didn’t have the money to get the voice cast into a studio.

The core mechanics in Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl and move-sets are solid, but many of the characters can feel the same. Whereas Super Smash Bros Ultimate has recently gone into detail about how Sora from Kingdom Hearts is basically weightless, that attention to detail is missing from Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl. The twenty characters at launch also feel surprisingly small, especially when there are two Ninja Turtles. There are several characters like Helga, Zim and the worst character in the game, Patrick from SpongeBob Squarepants, that plain sucks, and you should never play as him.

Mechanically there’s a lot to work with here, and Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl feels like the first step for what could be a great franchise. But what makes the game feel cheap is the lack of exciting content. There’s a story-less Arcade Mode, but you don’t even unlock alternative costumes for any fighters. There’s little reason to play through the Arcade Mode with each character without worthwhile content to unlock.

Of course, most of Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl’s longevity will come from players challenging each other in either local or online multiplayer. Unfortunately, I was unable to find a single game in either Quick Play or the Ranked mode. Instead, I duelled it out with Ciaran Marchant in a private lobby. It provided the necessary proof that the game has both the elements for hectic matches and tedious duels, thanks to a couple of characters’ unbreakable combos.

Play

Outside of the main game, there is a ‘Sport Mode’ in which players are split into teams and try to hit or throw a ball through a hoop. It feels tacked on at the last minute to get some additional content into the game, especially as there are no changes to the maps in the game to make the change of game mode feel balanced for the new challenges.

As a fan of many of the Nickelodeon franchises in Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl, I had a blast playing the game. Even if their lack of voice acting was glaringly noticeable at first, the music and love in each stage pulled from these accompanying franchises like the Flying Dutchman Ship from SpongeBob SquarePants or CatDog’s house made up for it in some way. There’s a lot to like here, even if there’s plenty of room for improvement. It’s far from esports ready, but it does feel like a solid first step for a great new franchise.