After a very disappointing Nickelodeon Kart Racers experience in 2018, Nickelodeon persists in producing multiplayer games that work directly on Nintendo's platforms.
This time, it's in the brawler that the troublemakers of the TV channel gather to happily fight against each other. Cartoon Network had already tried this during the PS3 / Xbox 360 period, but had broken their teeth
Let's explore the Nickelodeon title together to see if it will take the direction of the dentist or the path of the All Stars...
Before starting this test, if you play on Switch, you can return to Super Smash Bros Ultimate, because Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl is not going to give you a better experience than Nintendo's unbeatable title.
Attention, however, this does not mean that we are not dealing here with a serious competitor, but that, faced with the game that has sublimated the genre, what Nickelodeon offers does not reach the same level of fun and depth.
If you play on another medium, on the other hand, it would be a shame not to stop a bit and read more, because the title has qualities, starting with its roster straight out of Nickelodeon's animated productions over the past 30 years.
Admittedly, twenty characters is not much if we compare this number directly to the base roster of Super Smash Bros Ultimate, but honestly, a Korra vs. Nigel Delajungle, Supertoast vs. SpongeBob matchup is priceless.
The gameplay is easy to access even if it is full of more or less annoying clumsiness starting with the controls. For example, we can redistribute the actions linked to the keys in order to be as comfortable as possible (and in my opinion, the basic layout is no more natural than anything else), but we have to do it each time time we launch the game, the latter not saving our preferences on our profiles. The game is fast and dynamic, but rather confusing and messy, even for this kind of game.
Each character has their own shots, but offers relatively similar sensations.
And it's a bit like all aspects of the game that are like that.
The levels are not very big and despite the originality of some, fighting in a good part of the arenas is more of a nightmare than anything else, whether because of the ambient chaos on the poor 3 square centimeters of playing surface or simply from the concept of the card. The flipper going to the arena in zero gravity and its floating objects that fall into the void if you stay on it for 2 seconds. Interesting concept, but in practice it's unplayable and luck comes into play more than skill. With some time and speed tweaks on those falling and floating platforms, the level could have been wonderful fun instead of constant frustration. And that's how it is on a lot of arenas (see sidebar for an example, although we agree the average AI isn't smart).
Yes, the game is clunky, but has solid foundations thanks to its accessibility and dynamism. Solid enough to be an alternative of its kind on platforms where Super Smash Bros Ultimate does not walk around. Especially since part of the fun is missing because of a concern that I had already highlighted on the kart game 2 years ago and that I would have hoped never to find in their games: the band his.
To refresh your memory, the protagonists were silent and made no sound on music created especially for the game.
Here it is the same. The characters don't speak, they don't even scream when they take hits or when they attack. We have the impression of having dolls that feel neither pain nor emotion. So I'm not saying that it was necessary to have the original voices, since some of the protagonists are very old, even if it's a big plus, but clearly a voice cast to interpret the fighters would have been more than welcome to add real ambiance. You have to be satisfied with the commentator who intervenes pre and post match, sometimes slipping a "Critical" or a little word, when a character performs a good action leading to one less life of an opponent.
By The arenas in all their awkwardness
But rather than keep talking about what's good and bad about the game, I'm going to do something different today in this test.
I liked the game despite its flaws, but at the same time I'm not motivated to launch it once the test is over, nor to offer it for evenings with friends in my living room or online. But if there is a sequel, and I sincerely hope there will be one that can build on these foundations and improve on all of this, here are the changes, additions and deletions that I would like to see made:
- A larger character roster (at least double) to cover more series and be very comprehensive. Why not cartoonize more characters from live series (with actors) Nickelodeon for example? I could see Sam Pucket equipped with his "butter sock" (iCarly and Sam & Cat) played by Genette Mc Curdy combing Captain Man (Henry Danger) and/or one or two members of the Thundermans family (The Thundermans) while they humiliate the rambunctious Skeeter (Cousin Skeeter). The cartoon catalog and live series produced being very vast over the decades of existence, there is enough to add a plethora of characters with interesting fun potential.
- Put on alternative colors or costumes to be able to identify more easily when several players take the same character. It's not the ridiculous indicator above the players' heads that helps in the heat of the moment.
- Add voices to the characters (preferably the original ones) to make the games more fun and lively
- Offer larger arenas that don't play too much into random wins.
- Allowing more fluid games online, because 2200 ms of ping compared to the opponent (while I have a really not disgusting fiber connection), that's what... For those who don't understand what that means 2200 ms of ping, press a button on your controller, go to the bathroom do a big poo, don't forget to wipe your butt or wash your hands, prepare yourself a nice hot chocolate, drink it, go get your mail and read it and wait another 1-2 minutes before you finally see the character react with often strange consequences. In short, unplayable because of matchmaking that does not optimize connections with other players to limit lag as much as possible. And this, despite a sorting by region already present.
- Make the gameplay a little deeper and more personalized so that the feeling of each character stands out a little from each other.
- Offer unlockable bonuses that have a minimum of satisfaction and commit to continue playing instead of winning player icons and artwork. Unlockable bonuses such as characters, arenas, game modes, etc.
- Add a story mode that is sorely lacking to give meaning to these confrontations, but also to have something more consistent in solo, because the arcade mode is very limited in the end.
In any case, as it stands, Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl manages, despite its flaws, to offer some nice fun times with friends. It clearly does not arrive at the level of Super Smash Bros, but the potential posed by the bases is such that with a little more content and a gameplay a bit deeper, we could have a very serious alternative to the SSB saga or even to the most modest Brawlalha.
- Xbox (version testée Xbox One)
- PlayStation
- Switch
- Steam
