Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 is a major step up from its predecessor. There’s more content, complexity, and charm than the previous game had, making it an impressive platform fighter – even if it has the occasional bug.
Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2
Developer: Fair Play Labs and Ludosity
Price: $50
Platforms: PS4, PS5 (reviewed), Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, and PC
MonsterVine was provided with a PS5 code for review.
When I reviewed the first Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl, I saw potential within its unpolished shell. Though I jumped off the game shortly after my review, I was excited to check out the sequel to see if it built on the foundation of the first title. Thankfully, it did, with Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 standing out as one of the better Super Smash Bros. alternatives.
The roster is filled to the brim with beloved characters from across every era of Nickelodeon’s reign on television. If you grew up with anything from Rugrats and Ren & Stimpy to Jimmy Neutron and Avatar: The Last Airbender, you’ll find a character that will appeal to your childhood nostalgia. I respect the commitment to including so many characters from wildly different shows, though it’s still strange to me that so many Hey Arnold! characters are present while Arnold himself isn’t.
Playing All-Star Brawl 2 is a blast, as the battles are fast-paced and dynamic. Each character has a wide variety of different attacks that match their source material while also providing a lot of moveset diversity. I had a lot of fun messing around with each of the fighters as I figured out who was the most fun to use, though I expectedly ended up maining Jimmy Neutron. There’s a satisfying smack to each attack, which makes matches with friends a continuously pleasant experience. I noticed a few small bugs that had me lingering on the victory screen until I reset, but I imagine those will be patched out soon enough.
“I had a blast running through the Campaign over and over, battling bosses and taking on minigames while proceeding through the fanservice-filled narrative.“
In addition to battling locally or online, there’s a fairly standard Arcade mode and a surprisingly robust Campaign mode. The latter sees you battling “mind-controlled” versions of the roster to recruit them in a roguelike gauntlet that’s similar to Super Smash Bros. Brawl’s Subspace Emissary mode mixed with All-Star. There’s quite a bit of voice-acting in this story mode for each character, which impressed me quite a bit. I had a blast running through the Campaign over and over, battling bosses and taking on minigames while proceeding through the fanservice-filled narrative.
All-Star Brawl 2 addressed a major issue that many had with the first game by bringing a good deal of charm and polish to everything. There’s copious voice acting, more expressive animation that often pays homage to all of these iconic characters and shows and an overall greater feeling that a lot of passion went into the game’s look. This is the thing that’s often missing in these crossover platformer fighters, so it was refreshing to see that All-Star Brawl 2 has this down.
The Final Word
Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl takes all the good of its predecessor and builds upon it quite a bit. The roster is varied, the additional modes go a long way in giving the game some extra juice, and the combat is smooth and exciting. There are some bugs here and there that hinder things, but I have confidence that the future of All-Star Brawl 2 is bright.
MonsterVine Rating: 4 out of 5 – Good
