When I walked by the booth there were groups of friends and random strangers yelling and talking trash to each other. I have to say it looked like a good time and I had to stop by. We were handed Xbox One controllers, given a quick run down then thrown into a two-minute, four player free-for-all.
Brawlhalla is a 2D platform fighter with a great art style, solid mechanics and fast paced gameplay. Each character has its own set of statistics and weapons as well a special move. For all of you familiar with Super Smash Bros, this is a very nice, simpler version for PC that can be played with a keyboard, mouse and keyboard, or a controller. Controller support is probably the best way to go from my personal opinion and friends who have also tried the game. It feels more natural, and even after trying the other options, I went right back to my Xbox One controller for when I played it at home.
The scoring is simple: 2 points when you knock a player off-screen, -1 point when you get knocked off-screen and -3 points for character suicide. A cool mechanic that adds some strategy is the ability to wall hug on the side of platforms, which makes for some interesting strategic and timing decisions. Wall hugging resets your ability to jump around the level each time you hug the platform. While playing the game at PAX South, I won my first match and finished second in the next, but it was well worth the quick play. I have to admit I completely abused the ability to throw any item on the map to keep people from getting back to ledges, but it’s all in good fun, right?
The game is a blast and free to get into, so if you’re interested in playing in the closed beta, head over to www.brawlhalla.com to put in your email. There are also weekly tournaments being organized by the community that are going to be held every Saturday. Head over to http://steamcommunity.com/app/291550/discussions/ and check out the discussion.
