Brawl Stars review: Good now, but great in a few months

[Daliath.]

A year and a half after soft launching, Supercell’s latest action-packed title Brawl Stars has been released globally. With all of the in-game advertising in Supercell’s other hit games Clash of Clans and Clash Royale, Brawl Stars is destined to be a hit.

But is it worth your time? Keeping reading for the full Brawl Stars review.

A whole new world
Brawl Stars is Supercell’s first new game in more than two years, and it’s a significant departure from the two Clash games that the company is best known for. This title trades the goofy barbarians, giants, and skeletons for a colorful cast of characters, called Brawlers.currently 22 characters to unlock, each with a unique basic and special attack. Character designs are great, as are the animations and voice acting.

To unlock new Brawlers, you’ll need to either open Brawl Boxes and Big Boxes through gameplay or purchase them for real money in the store. Your chances to unlock a new Brawler increase the longer you go without finding one, but it will still take months (or years) to unlock all of them.

Brawl Stars is gorgeous
Regardless of the grind, Brawl Stars looks and sounds amazing. The cell-shaded top-down graphics feature a level of polish a step above any of Supercell’s previous games, which is really saying something at this point. 

It’s difficult to pin Brawl Stars to a specific genre, but it’s a mix of MOBA and quick-action hero shooter, with a dash of battle royale for good measure (it’s 2018, after all). That’s a lot to take in, but if anyone can pull off an ambitious new style of mobile game, it’s Supercell, right?

The first game mode (or Event) you’ll find yourself in is Gem Grab, where two teams of three try to collect 10 gems and hold onto them without dying until the countdown expires. There are several other 3v3 Events, like the deathmatch-style Bounty and the base-defense-esque Heist. There’s even a soccer mode called Brawl Ball that was added to the game just prior to release.

Getting around the arena

In each match you move your character around using the left joystick (or by tapping on the screen, if that’s your thing), and shoot by dragging the right joystick in any direction and releasing. You have limited ammo, which replenishes at different speeds depending on which character you’re using. As you land shots, your super meter fills up, and can be executed by dragging yet another joystick and releasing. 

Movement and shooting are pretty smooth for mobile, but don’t expect anywhere near the precision of console or PC action games. Movement feels loose, so making tight turns around corners or even coming to a complete stop in the right spot is tough. This isn’t news for anyone who has played similar mobile action games, but it can be frustrating for the uninitiated.

While gameplay is fun, it’s leaning much further toward the casual side of gaming than Clash Royale. Considering Supercell wants to bill this as another mobile esport title, it doesn’t quite seem to fit. Sure, there’s plenty of skill involved, much more than their other competitive title Clash Royale, but it feels and looks like a really well-polished casual game, which might make it a hard sell as an esport.