What?s this" Nostalgia for something other than 80s synth music" Ancient Egyptian tombs, brain teasers, hordes of undead enemies and transatlantic narration" Oh yes, it?s Strange Brigade! Can our heroes at Rebellion conquer the beast of PvE with charm and follow through with the game?s promise" Find out on the next several paragraphs of this review.
Starting with this one, where I must deliver the unfortunate news that Strange Brigade falls short of what seemed like decent potential, failing to create interesting environmental puzzles and showcasing flat, boring, rote gameplay.
Hardly a Challenge
I remember previewing Strange Brigade at E3 last year. I was intrigued by the game?s potential, but noted some glaring flaws that absolutely needed addressing, not the least of which was its lackluster implementation of environmental puzzles. It?s not like I disagree with the core concept. Who doesn?t love good puzzles" After all, you do play as a group of expeditioners looking for ancient loot while killing any revenant corpses that dare get in its way, a concept ripe with potential for interesting, challenging conundrums. For the most part, though Rebellion simply landed on a game of Where?s Waldo" In almost every level, you?ll come across a door with at least three symbols, where shooting those symbols in a particular order will unlock the door. Where do you find the order" By looking around for it in the environment. Once you find it, enter i...