Early Access Spotlight: Broforce

Early Access Spotlight examines a game currently available through Steam Early Access. Since this is an unfinished product, it should not be considered an official review.

Freedom marches on in Broforce, the upcoming run-and-gun shooter from Free Lives. Nothing says "liberation" like guns, bazookas, and explosions. That's the ides when it comes to controlling some of the late 20th century's greatest bros (and female bros), each of whom have their own method of firepower.

There are several game modes in Broforce, with many of them currently in an alpha state. Many of the game's multiplayer modes are unfinished and undergoing refinement, which is fine, because the game's main campaign is where the excitement truly lies. Broforce stays close to its 80s roots, taking inspiration from classic games of the genre, but slightly improves it by offering each stage in small, bite-sized chunks. It's a blast to go through alone, though four friends can easily be entertained through the meta game of who can blow up the most stuff along the path towards freedom.

The only real problem I had with Broforce over the course of the brief campaign is the inability to select bros. Bros are picked at random and some are clearly more overpowered than others. The Bro-minator has a powerful chain gun (with the drawback of severe recoil), but on the other hand, Indiana Bro-nes can barely make a dent in anything with his whip, while Macbrover can only toss out dynamite packs. Which bro you draw can make the difference between bro-dacious victory and crushing bro-feat. Even with a short initial campaign, Broforce shows a lot of promise, with more content coming up and the ability to make custom campaigns. It's definitely a good pickup for what it is and it will only get better from here. For more, check out our more detailed impressions in the video below.

This evaluation is based on a digital PC copy provided by the publisher. Broforce is available on Steam Early Access for $14.99.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?