Strange Brigade Review

"Thrilling Adventures"

Campaign

Strange Brigade is a really enjoyable time presenting a cooperative focused adventure with a 1930's campy style to it. I loved this idea and I've been closely watching it since the initial announcement. It's also great that it really does focus on providing an environment for four players to work together. This is a great addition and it scales well, it's also a blast if you just want to play it by yourself. You're easily able to find others online as you wait, join them through a server browser or just play and let them join in progress.

The campaign is based around fighting this ancient creature and it takes place within Egypt. The enemies and environments are reflective of this location. You visit open landscapes, creepy tombs and some unique mythical places. Levels feel similar in structure, yet they do vary greatly. There are boss fights, fairly simple puzzles and so much to do. There are a ton of collectibles and the game has a neat way of presenting them within levels. Aside from the campaign are score challenges for levels and even a horde mode. The latter is wave based with areas to move through as you gain coins and survive longer, it's well done.

Gameplay

Going back to my comment on collectibles, the levels are very neat in terms of their structure. They're linear so you never get lost, yet open in that multiple paths are present. You're usually able to pick different routes or even go off the path to find puzzles. With this largely being a shooter the puzzles are straight forward being based within the environment and I liked how they didn't detract or take away from the pacing. The levels are gorgeous and on Xbox One X they really are stunning.

They feel vast, while still being heavily detailed in every aspect. It's very impressive visually, I did notice some slight performance hiccups yet nothing too detrimental to gameplay. There are tons of things to collect and that includes various weapons or objects to improve performance. There are special guns to buy from crates and potions of health to gather. You're able to activate creative traps, and work in areas to survive enemies. The enemies are varied, dynamic and offer a good challenge for your team. The custom classes, while simple were appreciated.

The Conclusion

Strange Brigade is an exciting and excellent cooperative adventure for players to work through. There's a ton to do with lengthy levels that look fantastic and lots of extra additional content. It does seem like a very much straight forward experience, but with the extras there's a determination to explore.

The enemies are fantastic and I loved the humor. I thought the narrative could have been structured better, but it does nail that random sort of jump into the action style. It's easy to hop in at any point online and not get lost while having fun with others. The additional modes add extra value and this is a great package.

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Strange Brigade Review on Xbox One X
Review Code Provided by 47

Rating Overall: 8.5