LEGO Brawls was launched as an Apple Arcade exclusive in 2019. Three years later, the title landed on PC and Console, trying to attract young and old with a well-established game formula, since the project is inspired from the classic Smash Bros. Unlike the Nintendo title, LEGO Brawls offers a slightly modified game formula by offering variations of the classic deathmatch and steal flag, absent from the Nintendo title. Will that be enough to convince brick fans? Let’s be clear from the start: LEGO Brawls is a fun title because it’s able to offer a high degree of customization that many Brawler titles lack. You can create all kinds of characters, the only limit being the creativity of the player, but unfortunately the aspects that make this title unique end there. The main modes of the title are two in number: Brawl and Party, the first mode allows you to jump into the fray against other opponents if you want to play online, otherwise our challengers are simple bots; the Party mode sees the player confront with others a series of modes that recall those already known and seen in other multiplayer titles, among these we find the classic deathmatch, a variant linked to the score obtained, the steal flag or the collect thon which allows the team that collects the predetermined number of objects to win the match.
The gameplay is a mix of scrolling fighting game and brawler. The action of the game takes place in arenas consisting of various platforms with the objective of conquering, defending or eliminating the enemy depending on the objective of the game mode. The action takes place in two dimensions and the camera system works quite well even if it is sometimes easy to lose sight of your character in the most agitated phases. The game controls are very intuitive, you move with the left stick and you fight with the front buttons, there are some power-ups that help the player during the fight by giving you immunity or increasing your strength, while the respawning is almost immediate, which increases the speed of the game a lot. We found the environment of the game neat, the arenas are drawn from different themes, from the pirate castle to Jurassic World park and Ninjago. It is however a pity that due to a rights problem, the team could not include the Marvel, Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings sagas, which are present with titles dedicated to them but absent from this brawl. There’s no shortage of scenario variety and it’s easy to switch between scenarios, and even more surprising is the care taken with each individual element.
A glaring lack of content.
What is not convincing in LEGO Brawls is that it fails to entertain the player for a long time, because after a few hours he ends up with a finished product missing content and this also affects the sessions on line. It is often difficult to find matches due to the lack of players and at this time one opts for the offline mode, which in the long run tends to get boring due to the poverty of the content. The few game modes and lack of motivation to keep fighting leads the player to a sometimes frustrating gaming experience, finding themselves battling match after match just for fun, but the game modes are too few to entertain a long time and compared to competing titles, the offers of LEGO Brawls are almost nil. The rarity of the content can also be seen in the list of production trophies/objectives, twelve trophies and all obtainable in less than an hour of play. The impression given to us is that the team intended to offer the title on consoles and PC with a minimum of effort, without adapting it to the current standard and putting it on sale at a really disproportionate price for the content offered! LEGO Brawls aims to win over brick-and-mortar fans with no guarantee of post-launch support and a very minimal content offering, and frankly not enough at all. The road to success is really tough and the title will probably never reach the standards set by similar titles such as the recent Multiversus or Smash Bros.
VERDICT
LEGO Brawls is a lightweight title that can keep you company for a few hours and lets you have fun with a whole host of characters. It’s a shame the team failed to deliver more gameplay variety with additional modes and content, especially considering the launch price. However, we appreciated the choice to avoid microtransactions in this title.