LadiesGamers Cannon Brawl

Cannon Brawl Review

Game: Cannon Brawl
Genre: Action, Adventure, Strategy
System: Nintendo Switch (Also on Steam (Windows), PS4 and Xbox One)
Developer|Publisher: Turtle Sandbox LLC | BlitWorks
Age Rating: EU 7 | US Everyone 10+
Price: UK £8.99 | EU € 9,99 | USD $9.99
Release Date: April 14th 2021

Review code provided with many thanks to BlitWorks.

A Blast from the Near Past

Cannon Brawl is a 2D action strategy game released on Nintendo Switch in 2021. However, Blitzworks considered me worthy of reviewing this game for 2023. After playing through it this really is a game that deserves some renewed exposure.

Cannon Brawl is an absolute blast, and that pun is definitely intended. A game that offers pick-up and play fun alone or with some buddies (local or online). Delivering flexibility and experimentation to its gameplay and an original concept that’s been executed so well. In short, you should go buy it. But if you need more convincing, then read on.

LadiesGamers Cannon Brawl
Prepare for destruction

Build, Defend and Fire

The goal of the game is to take out the enemy base but to do that, you need to build a mixture of weapons and defences whilst also mining for gold to pay for everything. You fly around in a zeppelin steampunk-like airship, which is able to head to your base to buy structures, which can then be carried to designated spots on the level which cover your territory highlighted in blue; this area can be expended by placing additional balloons. Once your territory hovers over a gold supply, you can build a mine to harvest the gold which can then be used to purchase weapons and defences.

To begin with, your weapon is a cannon. Once built, you can fly, take direct control of the weapon and fire on the enemy. But you’ll soon learn your cannon has rather limited range and will take time to reload before it can be fired again. Once you have upgraded it a couple of times with more gold, you will be able to expand its fire range to reach the enemy base. By this point, your enemy has already made headway in building their own weapons and defences.

The game becomes this fast but highly entertaining loop of managing your structures while trying to push ahead to take on the enemy. As for weapons and defences, you have quite a variety, but you can only choose five to take with you into a battle, so pick carefully. You have lasers which can cut through the terrain. Shields which can block incoming shots and a repair station to repair damaged structures. You can even launch a nuclear-style weapon which can cause all sorts of devastation but takes a long time to prepare. It’s impressive the range available.

LadiesGamers Cannon Brawl
The terrain is left in quite the state after a match.

Flexible Options

What I found really impressive it’s the amount of flexibility in the options available to the player. There isn’t really a right or wrong way to defeat the enemy base. You can choose to build your defences up, like shields and repair structures and go for the slow but steady approach or you can play risky and go more offensive, focusing on attack and firepower. With weapons, you can even choose to get up close and personal with bombs or hold back and go for a long-range attack with various cannons and lasers.

You can even score more unusual wins by literally destroying the terrain below the enemy base causing the base to fall to its doom. Moments like this felt very satisfying and brought a huge smile to my face when pulled off effectively. You’re also never quite sure how the enemy will react, which may keep you on your toes and can cause you to rethink your strategy. Flying your airship frantically to each structure to take control soon becomes pretty hectic but fun. The amount of experimentation available to the player is what had me coming back again round after round.

LadiesGamers Cannon Brawl
Shields up

A Bad Uncle

When you start out, you’ll want to jump into adventure mode, which does a good job of introducing you to the game’s mechanics. The general story is that your bad uncle wants to take over the kingdom and kidnapped your father, brother and some other folk. So it’s up to the King’s daughter to pilot her ship and take down the bad uncle one minion at a time.

As stories go, it’s pretty basic, with the story presented in text boxes and a little bit of witty banter between your pilot and the bad guys. Some of the dialogue got the odd snigger out of me, but other than that, it didn’t do much for me. The graphics are pretty straightforward, too, but it feels family-friendly. There’s this comic steampunk art style with an epic soundtrack to accompany you in your battles. Structures have nice detail to them, but it gets a little lost in handheld mode. Performance is excellent on TV and handheld. Its overall design feels like a mobile game, but it more than makes up for it with its gameplay.

Unlock New Weapons

As you complete each level, you’ll unlock a new weapon, defence or even pilot. New pilots can be selected at the start of each levelling, offering unique perks like quicker cooldown times or more terrain damage. Then the next level will briefly summarise how to use the new structure, which was very useful. The adventure mode is generally quite easy, with the odd boss battle to up the challenge a little bit. Once you have conquered this and unlocked the main structures, you’ll unlock a nightmare campaign that ups the challenge significantly. Within the adventure are also a few puzzle levels to mix up the formula. These might include destroying the enemy base in a set number of hits or defending your own base within a time limit.

LadiesGamers Cannon Brawl
Why are the Uncles always evil?

Play Alone or With Friends

As well as the campaign, you can take on the AI of varying difficulty in an assortment of levels if you’re looking to play a quick session, maybe while the washing machine finishes a cycle. By completing short games like this, puzzles or the nightmare levels, you unlock experience points that can be used to purchase more structures and power-ups. But unlike the main adventure, these take a while to unlock.

Got a buddy? You can play Cannon Brawl with a friend locally or online. This would make a great game to set up on the table where you can throw the controller to a friend and play a quick game. But do be kind to them if they have never played it. While I would say the game is pretty easy to pick up and play, it may still take a friend a few games to get used to things. You can even go online to take on random players, but unfortunately, I had zero luck finding an online match, which is a shame as this game is so much fun.

LadiesGamers Cannon Brawl
Falling to its doom

Conclusion – An Absolute Blast

Cannon Brawl is pure pick-up and play bliss. It quickly draws you in with its straightforward control scheme and simple objective. But with the varied tools at your disposal, the game offers a rewarding space to experiment and, most importantly, enjoy that process. Some plans worked out surprisingly well for me, and others fell destructively flat. Either way, I never found myself bored or frustrated. Every session I spent on Cannon Brawl felt entertaining. Whether you want to enjoy the game alone or with a friend, I can not recommend Cannon Brawl enough. It’s a game that shoots for the stars and absolutely meets those heights.

Final Verdict: Two Thumbs Up

Two thumbs up

 

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