Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 Review (xX_berried_Dead_Xx)
So this is Fair Play Labs second attempt at a brawl; it is definitely a step in the right direction; the game play feels much smoother this time around, and the combat feels very much like Smash itself; however, there is something new here that changes the Smash gameplay, which we were all used to up a bit.
That being the slime o'meter, a gameplay addition that slowly fills up overtime during combat that allows you to strengthen base moves and/or completely fill up for a “final smash” rather than everyone fighting over a smash ball.
The game also has a nice attempt at a campaign mode, which is surprisingly good. It's sort of like a brawl roguelike with randomly generated paths (the maps themselves you'll fight on aren’t randomly generated, though), but that’s expected and probably for the best. The maps themselves, though, are beautifully detailed and filled with small references here and there.
I also noticed that there is a fair bit of dialogue here; however, you won’t get to see it all if you only play one brawler. Each character has dialogue lines when talking to characters from their respective series or unique dialogue with bosses or NPCs.
There’s also a returning arcade mode from the first game, although this time around we have branching paths we can choose after each match, letting you choose who you’ll fight or what minigame you’ll do. This new arcade mode also has mini bosses as well.
There’s also a single-player boss gauntlet mode, allowing you to take on all bosses one after the other. I haven’t really played this yet.
The online multiplayer unfortunately seems dead. I’ve tried numerous times to get a game in any of the vs modes but couldn’t find a single one, which is very unfortunate as this game definitely has a lot of potential. EDIT correction there is an contingent of players online however you have to change your region most players seem to be in the USA region i got a lot of matches doing this.
I now want to address some concerns.
I’ve seen a lot of people very dissuaded from the game due to its price tag, as the first game was much cheaper, and while I can understand that perspective as someone who doesn’t like buying a lot of new games due to their $100+ asking prices nowadays, I have to admit I can sort of understand why this is 50 dollars. There is so much more effort put into the production of this game; the first one felt very cheap, jank, and stiff; however, the second entry is far more polished and completely remade from the ground up; the move sets have mostly been tinkered and changed, and the level designs have also been remade.
With the added campaign and the depth of it, I can see why they’re asking for this price. The game has a lot more depth and a much higher budget this time around, and, to be honest, $50 is nothing compared to what most triple AAA developers are asking for a bug-ridden, unfinished game at launch, and at least you’re getting a game with no microtransactions like Multiverses, which will easily see you pay over $50 if you want to unlock anything fast.
The complaint I'm probably most sympathetic to though is the removal of some previous fighters, which I do agree does stink. I don’t mind them removing some and replacing them with new characters from their series, i.e., Hey Arnold and/or Jimmy Neutron, but the removal of Cat Dog and Oblina now means there are no representatives for these particular series.
I do hope that in further DLC (if we get a season 2) they add either these two characters back or a character from either series and hopefully two more from Nickelodeon series that don’t have representation yet.
All in all, the game is probably one of the best smashlikes out there right now, and I honestly recommend getting it on sale. It's way better than the Janky first game, and if you’re a reoccurring smash player like myself, then this game will feel much more at home for you than the first game.
Note: The game does have some small bugs, but I haven’t encountered anything major or game-breaking yet, so hopefully these will get patched out eventually.
All n all i give this game a 8.5/10