An isometric mech-shooter with a focus on fully destructible environments, highly detailed sprite-based graphics and a large selection of weapons, vehicles and gadgets to play around with. The gameplay is generally action-heavy, but does a good job at rewarding crafty tactics. Making full use of cover and luring the rather simplistic ai into ambushes is almost a must, especially with smaller, more fragile mechs. On that subject, there's a ton of different mechs, tanks, hovercraft and other vehicles to choose from, ranging from towering two-legged monstrosities exchanging mobility for thick armor plating and large weapon bays to modified delivery vehicles that while armored with tinfoil and armed with peashooters, may just be spritely enough to slip past the enemy forces with nary as much as a scratched paintjob. This variety extends to the weaponry: machine guns, railguns, laser shotguns, mortars, poison gas launchers, close-range gamma radiation emitters and god knows what else. Plenty material for all manner of hilarious warcrimes, as many of levels are practically crawling with yellow raincoat-wearing civilians, intent of getting in the way of your great stomping murder-machine. Collateral damage is not only tolerated, but actively encouraged, with end-level payouts rising the more destruction you cause, every building, vehicle and raincoat wearer trodden 'neath your hydraulic limbs adding a small, but nonetheless welcome bonus to your paycheck.
The reason for this can be found in the rather minimalist story, concerning the off-world mining colony of Solo Nobre, originally under the yoke of a cabal of generic evil megacorporations, which later came under the no less autocratic rule of the charismatic "Great Leader", following a violent worker's rebellion. After several years of building huge palace complexes and placing marble statues at every street corner, Great Leader gives up the ghost and his empire comes crumbling down among a brutal civil war between three major factions. The megacorps, sensing an opportunity to reclaim their blood-stained throne, hire "Brigadors", highly-paid lone-wolf mercenaries with well-stocked armories and extremely flexible morals, to retake Solo Nobre and make an example of its inhabitants. It's a grim setting, consisting mainly of various amoral factions endlessly slaughtering each other's members so that they one day rule whatever pile of rubble remains in the end. The plot remains fairly simple, but there's a surprising amount of flavor text accompanying mechs, weapons, pilots, etc. that does an excellent job at fleshing out this doomed world and its inhabitants, always ready to offer up a bit of pitch-black humor to inject some much-needed levity.
The presentation is another high point. The visuals showcase an obvious admiration for PC gaming of the mid to late 90s, completely bypassing tiresome polygons in favor of highly detailed spritework, which combined with the pumping synthwave soundtrack and abundance of stark colored lighting, brings the cyberpunk-inspired world alive beautifully. There's a decent variety of environments, ranging from grimy industrial areas through neon-lit shanty towns all the way to neatly trimmed high-class residential areas, each littered with various types of buildings, vehicles and various decorative elements, all of which can be destroyed, the carnage being made all the more visually pleasing with great destruction effects, letting enemy vehicles explode in balls of fire as the player uses a gigantic smoothbore cannon to punch a minivan-sized hole right through an entire apartment complex. Sadly, the care that went into designing the visuals isn't mirrored in the mission design itself, which tends to get a bit repetitive, especially in the pseudo-roguelite "Freelance" mode, which the regular campaign is essentially treated as a glorified tutorial to. This mode features randomized map and enemy layouts, however the actual objectives remain the same every time, which feels like a waste of potential if nothing else.
In the end, I find little reason not to recommend Brigador to anyone with even a passing interest in mechs, isometric shooters or games that revel in endless destruction. While level objectives can get a tad repetitive after playing for a while, the top-notch presentation, surprisingly elaborate worldbuilding and sheer catharsis to be found in the core gameplay, more than make up for it. If the trailer or screenshots look in the least bit interesting to you, then you pretty much owe it to yourself to give it a try.
Final rating: 9.1/10
originally written on 23/05/2024
