Many of us might not be the cellphone game freaks but it is quite often that the developers do an amazing job in catching our entire attention and succeed in making us addicted to their simple yet smartly laid-out products. Brawl stars are one of those games that provide such a unique combination of action and strategy that almost anyone can be lured into its arenas. The exciting gameplay was developed by the intuitive minds of the famous company ‘Supercell’ who are also guilty of killing our time on their previous launches including ‘clash of clans’ and ‘clash royale’. This article would not only cover the details of the main constituents of the ‘brawl stars’ but would also open a discussion about the possible improvements/updates that I personally believe can enhance the overall user experience many folds.
Sportsman Spirit or Jewel’s Greed? (Arena)
There are various arenas offered but I would mainly discuss the populated ones, including my favorite and one of the most interesting:
- Brawl Ball:
It is basically a football (soccer) field where the game starts with a ball (more of a basketball) in the middle of 3 brawlers from each team (2 teams max). The ground is also decorated with obstacles and bushes so that delivering a through pass to another brawler might not be a Jorginho’s job. It requires more of the commando skills with a near-perfect Tiki Taka as the brawlers are not simply there to snatch the ball away but are in fact blood-thirsty monsters loaded with guns and some strange natural abilities that I would discuss in the later section. In a nutshell, the teams have to either maintain their survival or eliminate the opponent while scoring goals. Once a brawler has been knocked out, it revives back within 5 secs at the goalkeeper's position, allowing a very short time to the opponents to take a chance on their goal. The interesting factor is that once a brawler is possessing the ball, it cannot attack the opponents until it lets the ball go. There are no rules, the only penalty is brawler’s death and the team that scores 2 goals earns a spot on the victory podium (that only exists in our imaginations).
- Gem Grab:
In the making of this scenario, the developers were perhaps inspired by two of the main human psychological factors; greed and envy. The gameplay of this scenario is almost similar in terms of eliminating the opponents, however, the players are not required to carry something to the other end, instead, are supposed to collect the gems emerging one at a time out of the well that goes deep down into the planet’s core (probably). When the team members collect a total of 10 gems, the 15 seconds countdown starts for which they have to HODL them. If a brawler of the team holding any number of gems that add to the total count gets killed during the countdown, the number of gems collected by that/those brawlers drop down and the clock resets. The opponents can snatch those gems away and it would fall upon their shoulders to defend the loot for 15 seconds in order to claim a victory.
The other scenarios include ‘Showdown’, ‘bounty’ and ‘boss fight’. In a showdown, 5 teams participate in a knockout stage to collect tickets while in bounty is like a kill-deal to gain points. In a boss fight, a mega brawler emerges as the main alien enemy and the rest of the players despite their differences, join hands in the desperate hours to ‘save the world’.
Bullet on the Chest or Hit & Hide? (Brawler types)
When it comes to choosing a gaming character or brawler, I believe the selection is subconsciously connected to our own behaviors, emotions, style, and personality. There are a variety of options available but in my point of view the brawlers can be mainly categorized into 3 types hence, I shall introduce the representative of each;
- Close range Tanks:
The brawlers that could be included in this category are Shelly, Bull, El Primo, Darryl, Mortis, and Tara.
Among all the brawlers from this category, Frank (short for Frankenstein, Img. S.) is my favorite which has been recently unlocked in my profile. As you can see that the brawler holds a large sledgehammer type weapon or if we get him a caveman costume as I did, then perhaps a bone of Mammoth from the cave-age. Bashing the weapon to the ground delivers area damage to the nearby enemy units.
Meanwhile, like every other brawler, the bar on the Super (Ulti or Ultimatum) increases which once full can be played to stun the opponents for a brief period of time (usually 2-3 seconds). The stun is probably enough to snatch away all of the health (HP) that opponents may have and mostly by the time it finishes off its enemies, the Ulti bar is back to full and ready to be launched again.
Due to close range attack and higher HP, the brawlers can be used to tank i.e. a term used in gaming work to mean 'lead the fight while taking most of the damage from the opponent’s attack'. The damage received is often enough to vaporize the tanks but they are the ones that take the hit for the greater good of the team. Other than Frank, the one that I often choose is the gothic style brutal shot-gun holder ‘Bull’ (Img. S.). He is not only a deadly close-range shooter but he can also drag his opponents farther or approach them quickly using his super sliding ability.
2. Long range shooters:
The brawler category includes Nita, Jessie, Brock, Poco, and Pam but the ones that I mostly play with are Colt and Rico.
From the looks of Colt (Img. S.), it seems that he had a childhood identity crisis. His family probably wanted him to be a good Cop but he was more inclined towards the gang-like Cowboy culture. He finally ended up with some sort of Godfather position in brawlstars where he is taking down other beasts with his automatic revolvers in both hands. He has weird eyebrows, a scar in the middle of the chin, a vest, sharpshooting line and well, don’t judge but maroon colored hair. His super fire can pierce through even the strongest of the opponents and in fact any wooden/stoned obstacle in its aim.
The brawlers from his category are mostly a fair combination of HP and fire damage because of which they can be used as the second line of attack after the Tanks. The next most interesting character is Rico (Img. S.) who is similar in many aspects but is a lovely robot whose bullets only penetrate flesh and can reflect back from any hard objects, delivering extra damage to the opponents along the way. Poco and Pam have got splash damage and healing abilities that can help themselves or the team members to stay in the field for a longer period of time.
3. Clever minions:
These fragile yet vicious little creatures are made for those who cannot stand the sight of the blood or in truth wish to assassinate, taunt, pinch, irritate, torture and frustrate their opponents. The category includes Dynamike, Barley, Piper, Gene, Spike, Crow, and Leon.
Truth be told, I hate every single one of these and if you wish to feel the intensity of my painful statement, you should probably try playing against one of these coward minions. For example, if we talk about dynamike (Img. S.), this little thing holds a bag of dynamites and he showers them around the field in pairs causing a slow pain leading to death. A pro player handling this brawler can drive the opposition mad as it gets hard to approach it especially if you have got close range tanks on your side. By the time, anyone reaches this golem, it has collected enough Super bar to launch larger dynamite that would blow off the whole enemy unit with an insanely huge AOE (area of effect).
Basically, they are behind the screen culprits of the opponent’s massacre and till the time any player realizes the true source of damage, the game was already lost. I am positive that the brawlers from this category receive get curses like raindrops but deep down they enjoy and feed on your frustrations so next time you find one in the arena, hold your nerves and either target it as quickly as possible or just run for your life. The good thing is that they are fragile and a couple of shots can do the job but they have got a lot of tricks. Spike (Img. S.) has some nasty spiky grenades in his vest that can slow down a brawler of any size or category. Crow's attack is poisonous, Piper’s bullet delivers huge damage, and Leon would just vanish into thin air.
Improvements that I would like to see:
- Call team members:
Such kind of multiplayer mobile game industry has grown a lot with time but one thing that I think should have been introduced by now is the call teammate option. I usually play this game with my little nephews who are residing at a different location so in order to enjoy the game a step further, we usually have to make a group call using ‘whatsapp’. We really enjoy talking to each other while playing brawl stars and it makes the overall experience amazing. I would like to see this option being available within the app itself and I am sure many would love it.
- Camera view:
This is a minor one but sometimes due to various lighting issues in the surroundings, it becomes a pain in the eye to focus on small-sized brawlers. A zoom-in option or the one that can allow a change in the camera view can possibly help save the eyesight.
- Single player storyline:
We all know how close we can get to our selected characters if we have suffered along with them through their lives. A short and interesting storyline for each brawler would at least get my attention as they all seem amazing and I would love to watch them in some single-mode actions. Whether it would be about fighting with some local vagabonds or leaving for an adventurous treasure hunt, that would be fun.
Be safe from spikes, see you around but don't forget to leave a comment about:
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