Brass Brigade
- October 2, 2019
- BrassBrigade
- 3h median play time
"Brass Brigade" is a single-player only, cartoon-style World War 2 shooter, blending classic gameplay of games like Battlefield 1942 with customizable bot matches. It features 6 nations and 21 iconic WWII battles, playable in both third and first-person perspectives. The game encourages historical immersion in a stylized, reimagined WWII setting.
Reviews
- Captures the nostalgic feel of classic WWII shooters like Battlefield 1942 and Medal of Honor.
- Highly customizable gameplay with various settings for battles, including bot count and difficulty.
- Active developer support with regular updates and a charming art style that enhances the experience.
- AI can be inconsistent, sometimes acting in ways that disrupt gameplay, such as getting stuck or not engaging effectively.
- Performance issues arise with high bot counts, leading to frame rate drops and lag.
- Lacks multiplayer options and mod support, which limits long-term replayability and community engagement.
- graphics114 mentions
- 40 % positive mentions
- 56 % neutral mentions
- 4 % negative mentions
The game's graphics feature a charming cartoonish art style that evokes nostalgia for classic titles like Battlefield 1942, while also being highly optimized for performance. Players appreciate the aesthetic appeal and the effective use of lighting and effects, although some express a desire for more detailed visuals. Overall, the graphics contribute positively to the gameplay experience, allowing for large battles and extensive customization without requiring high-end hardware.
“The game boasts a great art style with good lighting and effects, sound design is on-point, the models are great and have that classic military professionalism that's largely absent from new games, and the maps are large, fun arenas with a lot of approach angles, cover, and obstacles to navigate.”
“Furthermore, the game is highly optimized, runs great, the low-poly look looks great without looking too blocky or cheesy at all, the art style shines well.”
“A beautiful WWII game for people who do not understand the need to spend thousands of dollars on newer graphics cards every time one comes out when the current ones we have can run beautiful games like this one.”
“The graphics are fine, however the gameplay is substandard and could be better if they took a more realistic approach to the weapons and vehicle behaviors.”
“Worse still, if you try to bump up the amount of bots to something like, say, 64 vs 64, then the game slows down to a crawl and performance drops to a clunky 30 fps no matter the graphical settings you use.”
“You'd think the game would fly on it considering the low-poly aesthetic, but nope!”
- gameplay96 mentions
- 29 % positive mentions
- 63 % neutral mentions
- 8 % negative mentions
The gameplay is a blend of old-school Battlefield and Medal of Honor mechanics, featuring first and third-person perspectives, class-based systems, and extensive customization options. While it captures the chaotic fun of classic titles like Battlefield 1942 and Star Wars Battlefront, some players note issues with basic mechanics, AI performance, and vehicle handling. Overall, the game offers solid, enjoyable gameplay with a nostalgic feel, though it could benefit from further refinement and realism.
“The ability to customize the scale and difficulty is a very nice feature, and the gameplay (albeit not quite the same) reminds me of the classic Star Wars Battlefronts that I grew up on but WWII.”
“Gameplay is quick, fun, and intense—just the type that has you screaming in your mind 'runnnnn!' through the artillery and flying ragdolls everywhere; the ragdolls are funny to watch.”
“Great game, great gameplay, great maps, great balancing, great bot AI, and an amazingly cheap price; I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys Ravenfield and/or Battlefield games.”
“Very basic gameplay, meh sound, poor animations.”
“The graphics are fine, however the gameplay is substandard and could be better if they took a more realistic approach to the weapons and vehicle behaviors.”
“Simply put, Brass Brigade doesn't run nearly as well as it should to support the kind of 'epic' battles that the trailer might suggest, and on top of that, a combination of primitive animations and gameplay mechanics make the game feel pretty basic.”
- optimization32 mentions
- 19 % positive mentions
- 56 % neutral mentions
- 25 % negative mentions
Overall, the game's optimization is a mixed bag; while it runs smoothly on lower settings and has seen improvements post-launch, performance significantly drops with high AI counts, particularly on older hardware. Many players report that even with low system resource usage, frame rates can plummet during large battles, especially with mounted machine guns added. Despite these issues, the developers have made commendable efforts to enhance performance, particularly for modern CPUs, though further optimization is still needed.
“Furthermore, the game is highly optimized, runs great, the low-poly look: looks great without looking too blocky or cheesy at all, the art style shines well.”
“As of now the game is bare bones, but well optimized and runs well on my system despite my hardware limitations.”
“It's far from ideal but given the problem lies mostly with old versions of Unity, I think it's commendable that the developer put in as much optimization work as they reasonably could.”
“Terrible optimization; CPU runs at 11%, RAM at 20%, and GPU at 2%, yet the FPS is unplayable, around 2 to 5 frames per second.”
“Worse still, if you try to bump up the amount of bots to something like 64 vs 64, then the game slows down to a crawl and performance drops to a clunky 30 FPS no matter the graphical settings you use.”
“Performance is surprisingly poor for such a low-poly game, even on my gaming rig, which will run just about anything.”
- humor18 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is characterized by amusing moments involving bot behavior, such as vehicles getting stuck and friendly units targeting players through walls. Players find the cartoonish graphics and ragdoll physics entertaining, with chaotic gameplay leading to funny scenarios that evoke laughter. Overall, the game's lighthearted approach and comedic elements resonate well with fans of similar titles.
“Gameplay is quick, fun, and intense, just the type that has you screaming in your mind 'runnnnn!' through the artillery and flying ragdolls everywhere; the ragdolls are funny to watch.”
“They sometimes use their skills, they do attack the objectives, but they obviously move in big dumb groups like you'd expect a bot swarm to move: it looks quite funny as they run across the fields of Europe, constantly firing their guns with their upper bodies completely immobile because there's no aiming animations.”
“A delightful single-player battlefield, with funny cartoon graphics.”
- replayability14 mentions
- 14 % positive mentions
- 64 % neutral mentions
- 21 % negative mentions
The game offers significant replayability, featuring 16 historically-based battles with customizable settings that enhance the experience. Players appreciate the variety in characters and weapons, which contribute to a diverse gameplay experience, making it easy to revisit and enjoy multiple times. Overall, it is recognized as a strong singleplayer experience with ample replay value.
“What the developer has made is a great singleplayer experience that offers plenty of replayability.”
“The game has a total of 16 battles to play through based on actual WWII battles (Iwo Jima, D-Day, etc.) with options and settings to customize the battles that give some decent replayability to them.”
“I cycled through every type of character and weapon offered and was surprised to find enough differences between them all to allow for a lot of replay value for me.”
“It's easy to customize battle settings to your liking, adding to replayability.”
- story10 mentions
- 20 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 30 % negative mentions
The game lacks a significant story, with players noting it primarily as a WWII shooter featuring cartoon-style graphics. Many reviewers express a desire for a more engaging narrative and additional content, such as a story mode and multiplayer options, to enhance replayability.
“☑ no story”
“Just keep updating and add a story mode with multiplayer added in the future.”
“It's a nice little WW2 shooter with a cartoon style of art. It reminds me a lot of Ravenfield, but sadly it does not include workshop support, which in my opinion for games like this is absolutely essential because after you have done all the missions once, there really is not much to bring you back.”
- stability8 mentions
- 25 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 75 % negative mentions
The game is generally well-optimized and runs smoothly, with a visually appealing low-poly, cartoony art style that helps mask minor glitches. While players have reported a few minor issues and camera annoyances, updates have been infrequent, and troubleshooting options are limited due to the game's niche status. Overall, stability is decent, but some users express concerns about potential CPU utilization problems.
“The game is highly optimized and runs great. The low-poly look is impressive without appearing too blocky or cheesy, and the art style shines well.”
“The game is highly optimized and runs great. The low-poly look is impressive without appearing too blocky or cheesy, and the art style shines well.”
“I'd love to be proven wrong... but the game is so niche that there's practically zero troubleshooting, and even if there was, I doubt that CPU utilization problems could easily be solved on my end.”
“There appear to be updates in spurts lately, and I've only encountered a few minor glitches and some camera annoyances.”
“Visually, it's a simplistic style; 'cartoony' is the word used, and I like it because you don't notice the visual glitches so much with this style.”
- atmosphere8 mentions
- 25 % positive mentions
- 38 % neutral mentions
- 38 % negative mentions
The atmosphere of the game is widely praised for its immersive quality, reminiscent of classic Battlefield titles, despite some criticism of the graphics. The presence of numerous ragdoll dead bodies enhances the overall experience, contributing to a dynamic and engaging environment that players find compelling. Overall, it is considered one of the best WWII games in terms of atmosphere.
“Amazing atmosphere, and the bad graphics remind me of the old Battlefield days.”
“The high amount of ragdoll dead bodies really adds something special to the atmosphere and gameplay.”
“Love the atmosphere, there is a lot going on!”
“Best WWII game so far, like the Battlefield atmosphere.”
- music8 mentions
- 38 % positive mentions
- 38 % neutral mentions
- 25 % negative mentions
The music in the game is highly praised for its beauty and immersive quality, with players noting that it enhances the overall experience and allows for hours of enjoyable gameplay. The opening music draws comparisons to iconic films like "Saving Private Ryan," and there are suggestions for incorporating period-specific tracks to further enrich the atmosphere.
“I could just zone out, put on some music and play this for hours.”
“The soundtrack is beautiful and the sounds are great.”
“Opening music is like 'Saving Private Ryan'!”
“Opening music is like Saving Private Ryan!”
“- add some period music (Erika for German victory, Soviet national anthem for USSR victory, etc)”
- grinding4 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 50 % negative mentions
Players express that the grinding required in the game is excessively time-consuming, suggesting that it feels like a task that could take up a second life to complete.
“You'll need a second life for grinding.”
- monetization2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The monetization aspect of the game is perceived negatively, with users comparing it to the original Battlefront games and criticizing it as a cash grab, similar to the second installment of the franchise.