Broforce

Broforce

Developer(s) Free Lives Games
Publisher(s) Devolver Digital
Director(s) Evan Greenwood
Engine Unity[1]
Platform(s) Microsoft Windows, OS X, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita
Release date(s) Microsoft Windows & OS X
April 7, 2014 (Early access)
2015
PlayStation 4 & PlayStation Vita
TBA
Genre(s) Run and gun
Mode(s) Single-player, co-op
Distribution Download

Broforce is a side-scrolling run and gun platform video game developed by Free Lives Games for release in 2014. Development began in April 2012 as a game jam entry and continued with developer and popular support. The game was released via Steam's Early Access on April 7, 2014 for Microsoft Windows and OS X with a full release scheduled for 2015.

Gameplay

Animation of miniboss fight, displaying gameplay and the game's destructible environment
In-game screenshot

The player-character is a bro, a hypermasculine action hero-style commando, who fights terrorists and rescues his bro teammates and prisoners of war from captivity.[2] The levels end when the player defeats a foreign devil boss, hoists an American flag, and leaves via helicopter while the scenery explodes.[3] The bro character names parody those of fictional action heroes such as John Rambo, Die Hard's John McClane, Chuck Norris, Mr. T, Alien's Ellen Ripley, and Terminator's T-800 by adding the word "bro"[2][3] (e.g., Rambro, the Brominator).[4] The Broforce team is under direction from "Nelson Brodela".[5]

The game's destructible environments wear away with the player's gunfire.[3]

Development

Free Lives Games, a South African indie game developer, submitted Rambros as an entry in the April 2012 Ludum Dare 23 game jam.[2][3][6] It won first prize for "fun" and received enough positive feedback to continue as a team project.[2] The developers thought to add a cooperative mode with another character, Brommando, which then became the core game concept of collecting "bros" with a "violent action movie feel".[2]

The game's interest in "bros" stems from game director Evan Greenwood's love for action films from the 1980s and 1990s, which led to the game's aesthetics, themes, and gameplay, like traveling to outer space, fighting a dinosaur, and racing sharks.[2] The bros share a kinship in each other's self-defense and when fighting terrorism together.[2] Greenwood has called Broforce a "loving portrayal of action heroes".[2] The developers debated the addition of female heroes and their place alongside the game's existing tropes.[2] They chose not to add a "token female" or to create a rival female Broforce for plot or romance purposes, and instead made the female characters part of the existing team so as not to distinguish by gender.[2]

The game was designed to be a lighthearted hyperbole of the 1980s action film genre.[2] Greenwood noted the difficulties of translating the genre's trope of remorseless violence into the 2013 climate surrounding foreign relations and human casualties of battle, particularly the stories of individual heroes waging unilateral war on a region.[2] The team balanced what it saw as a modern perspective on war with their cultural heritage from the 1980s films, and hoped that their game would challenge "bro culture" stereotypes of irresponsibility and drunkenness with a sense of righteousness and a positive manliness.[2]

In July 2013, Greenwood commented that the team wanted to build a space opera with roguelike elements, Contra-style aliens, themes of Satan in big business, betrayal, and bro identity, explosions that create weightlessness, and a story where the Broforce themselves are rescued.[2] He discussed a cyborg bro who questions his bro and human status for not having feelings before realizing that the other bros do not feel either.[2]

A free Broforce game demo called "Brototype" was released from the developer's website, which sampled the gameplay but not the game's narrative.[2] The game was approved on Steam Greenlight on July 24, 2013[7] and open for Steam Early Access on April 7, 2014 with an planned full release in Q2 2014 for Microsoft Windows and consoles.[8] The final game is expected to include online multiplayer, deathmatch arenas with leaderboards,[9] a level editor, and better graphics.[3]

In August 2014, a standalone expansion based on The Expendables 3 film called The Expendabros was released. Later, The Expendabros expansion became free to play in order to promote The Expendables 3 film and will remain so until December 31.[10][11]

Reception

Eurogamer‍ '​s Jeffrey Matulef described the game demo as an "instantly addictive throwback to retrogaming" and noted the uniqueness of its destructible environment.[3] Several reporters compared the game to Terraria.[3][9]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Adams, Dan (June 17, 2014). "The Unity Community Out in Force at E3". Unity Blog. Retrieved February 11, 2015.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 Corriea, Alexa Ray (July 5, 2013). "Broforce devs talk female heroes, 80s action appeal and cultural sensitivity to games". Polygon. Vox Media. Archived from the original on July 6, 2013. Retrieved July 5, 2013.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 Matulef, Jeffrey (September 6, 2012). "Broforce is what The Expendables game should have been". Eurogamer. Gamer Network. Archived from the original on July 7, 2013. Retrieved July 7, 2013.
  4. ↑ Smith, Adam (June 25, 2013). "No Emotions, Just Explosions: Broforce!". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Retrieved July 7, 2013.
  5. ↑ Kim, Ben (June 3, 2013). "Nelson Brodela leads the Broforce onto Greenlight". PC Gamer. Future Publishing. Retrieved July 7, 2013.
  6. ↑ "Rambros by Black Ships Fill the Sky | Ludum Dare 23". Ludum Dare. Archived from the original on July 6, 2013. Retrieved July 6, 2013.
  7. ↑ "Deadly Premonition and 13 other games greenlit on Steam". Eurogamer. July 24, 2013. Retrieved July 24, 2013.
  8. ↑ Corriea, Alexa Ray (April 3, 2014). "Broforce hits Steam Early Access on April 7". Polygon. Vox Media. Archived from the original on April 3, 2014. Retrieved April 3, 2014.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Polson, John (September 4, 2012). "Playable Brototype: Broforce (Free Lives)". IndieGames.com. UBM Tech. Retrieved July 7, 2013.
  10. ↑ Jorge López. "Noticias broforce: Broforce muestra su nueva expansión, The Expendabros". IGN España.
  11. ↑ "Steam Community :: Group Announcements :: Broforce".

External links