Broforce Review (PS4) Review

Broforce, the insanely fun run and gun shooter by Free Lives has been a PC phenomenon since it broke into Early Access on Stream back in 2012. Since then the game has gone onto a full retail build in October 2015 (You can read our full review of the PC version here) and now it’s first console port on the Playstation 4 has arrived and has been pimped out on the Playstation Plus Monthly Free Game program. Does Broforce retain all it’s bro-ness in this port or does it bro-fail?

Title: Broforce 
Platform: PlayStation 4, Steam 
Publisher: Devolver Digital
Developer: Free Lives 
Genre: Shooter 
Release Date: Available Now
Price: $14.99 (Source: Playstation Network Store)

There isn’t really a story in the traditional sense with Broforce. The basics are that you play as a random assortment of ‘Bros’, mostly made up of the 1980s and 1990s action movie characters that have Bro-based puns in their names, and you go around a fictional world shooting terrorists till you raise the American flag and end the level. Taking into consideration that this is just one giant 1980s action movie cliché, the plot never mattered then and it doesn’t matter now.

Gameplay wise, Broforce has not changed one bit between the PC Steam release and the Playstation 4 port. All the controls remain the same and the action is fast and furious.

As Broforce is one of those twitch reaction style games where a single misstep can see you ending up a bullet-riddled gibbet on the ground, it is a bit annoying to have to deal with the ultra-sensitive nature of the Playstation 4 controller. Some jumps in the game require tiny touches in order to avoid or make, along with some falling objects require you to dash quickly. At times, the Playstation 4 controller would either send you sprinting when you didn’t need to, or just not respond at all. This is more of a fault with the nature of the controller rather than the game itself. But maybe a sensitivity option would help correct that issue.

The other thing that you can do with Broforce is to stream it to your Playstation Vita handheld and play it that way, but you get the same issues with the PSVita as you do with the PS4 controller. Not to mention that at times Broforce would stop responding while in the middle of the game. Again, it’s a hardware issue rather than a game issue.

Broforce’s graphics are minimalistic and detailed at the same time. The cartoon intro sequences for each Bro you unlock is amazing, but when in game they are just these tiny minimal sprites that you would see in an early NES game. Explosions go off at the drop of a hat and are one of the most detailed sprites in Broforce. You never have an issue telling who is who and what you are shooting at, though sometimes you can get hit be a slightly invisible second bullet that was tailing the first one. This is cheap, but not much of a problem.

The sound in Broforce is nice a clear for the most part. Explosion sound loud and forceful, the terrorists scream in star-spangled terror, and the soundtrack used as you exit a level is like an audio version of the American flag. The only let down is that anything spoken sounds hollow and muffled, though it does add to the authenticity of the 8bit style that Broforce was created in.

Broforce on the Playstation 4 is an almost perfect port of the amazing PC game. When the only drawback is that the controller is too sensitive, then it’s a nit-pick at best. Overall, Broforce is a MUST HAVE game, and now that it’s on PlayStation 4 (also available for Free to PlayStation Plus members in March 2016) you have less and fewer reasons to own and play this masterpiece of a shooter.