During his 25-year existence, British studio Rebellion has become a relatively well-crafted video game maker. The authors have gone through the development of a really large number of titles or genres on more than a dozen platforms. With their hands passed the series like, Medal of Honor, Aliens versus Predator, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six or Midnight Club, but in the last few years, they have made connections with the Sniper Elite series. In total, it brought up to six pieces, the last only last year, and even now it is not possible to talk about the bad game - just the opposite. In our review, we rated the Sniper Elite 4 with a high mark. Anyway, developers just a few months after the release of the Sniper Elite 4 have announced the arrival of a brand new brand that attempts to crawl in a different genre. The title of Strange Brigade turns away from pureblood tactics and rather focuses on direct action in the fight against enemies who are some time after death.
Strange Brigade, however, combines several elements of known games. He is most inspired by the action of Left 4 Dead, because the essence of both titles is in cooperative killing waves of zombie enemies. The game is mostly a cooperative fun, but if you do not have friends, the Internet or just a taste to play with other players, you can play it without the help of others. Strange Brigade includes a campaign that is, of course, possible to play in online co-operation, you can also find a pure online mode or old good "arenas" that will test your ability to handle huge flurries of enemies.
The storyline of the game offers a very simple yet interesting story. You, as a part of a special unit that has a peculiar reason for being strange, have been sent directly to Egypt, where you will have to fight through a number of supernatural beings in the form of bosses in order to get to the final. Egypt's most beloved pharaoh, Sekta, decided not to be the most popular among the locals. Her inhuman manner of rule, as she herself, exists only in legends, but after the opening of the tomb by archaeologists Edgar Harbin her soul escaped. Right at this moment, they will invite you to join your team (if you do not play your own ...) to get Seteki back under control.
The campaign can be completed within 10 hours, and each level will take you about an hour. So there are nine separate missions that will always take you to a completely different environment with other pitfalls and challenges. Each of them is overwhelmed by a wide variety of enemies in all the waves that will make your journey quite annoying. You have to be ready for an unexpected attack from all sides, but the game helps you graphically display the hands on the left or right of the screen. However, the enemy blows, fortunately, are not usually fatal - if you happen to forget, you can literally breathe it without any problems. Health is in the game by combining automatic treatment with ampoules. Up to a certain level, your health is regenerated automatically, but if you want health more for a certain reserve, you need to be sharp and note the items on the ground.
At the end of each mission is present as a boss, so is the so-called cage of souls that Seteki uses to strengthen his power. By destroying each of them, its strength, of course, decreases, so that you end up standing in the face. Testing your patience, dexterity and precision are partial bosses at the end of each level. As a rule, it is not hard to beat them, but only science, if you can avoid often deadly wounds, wait for the right moment and make perfect use of the situation and place the exact wound into a weak spot. The levels themselves are more or less open, but it also has its own justification. They are placed with various collectible items, sculptures or scrapbooks that are made for the trophy hunters. However, the open environment has its advantages and disadvantages - most of the enemy waves that you shoot can be bypassed without any problems, so their presence is virtually utterly inaccurate. The situation varies only when there are important fights when the space is closed and you play without destroying without destroying an important goal.
On the first contact with the game, my control did not seem very friendly, but I gradually used my character to move the character. The same is true for a combat system that is as simple as possible. All you have to do to overcome enemies is to be able to dodge and shoot. Fortunately, the game distinguishes between enemies wounding wounds - you can literally dismantle them by shooting them, kicking them to the ground and still being dangerous, while, of course, the most effective shooting is on your head. Authors have played with the environment that a player can often use directly in combat. Rotating knives, spears, or flame, all this can make it easy for you to work hard. Also interesting are oil lamps on the ceiling, which when firing fire on enemies. There are also smaller elements of close combat, but you can use them to revive repetitive battles rather than to better manage enemies. For example, it is the arrival of an enemy that is already on the ground, but without problems you can do without such brutal attacks.
The game also includes a system for upgrading and buying new weapons. It is also modest, and certainly it would not hurt if something like that was applied to the character itself. I very much appreciate the presence of various puzzles. Their nets are just a few, and some are repeating, but they do not miss a more sophisticated puzzle. If you decide to play in collaboration, you can join with your friend or friends, or join an existing open lobby group. Even though the game is built from the groundwork for cooperation, I personally did not have such a feeling in the game. If you do not play explicitly with friends or friends, I would say that you are rather limited by other players. With multiple players, developers had to deal with balancing the difficulty, but they decided for a very simple way - instead of adding more zombies, they only increased their lifetime to respond to the shooting of two, three or four players.
When you run out of campaign, you can start playing the remaining side modes. In the first of these, horde, your skills are standardly tested on waves of enemies that you have to gradually reflect. The more you survive, the more enemies you will have to deal with, but the game will also make it easier for you to open the next part of the map you are playing. After each wave you have a short time to regenerate or exchange weapons. Four maps are available, which is not the most, but it is enough for this mode. The second mode, Score Attack, is similar, but as it is clear from the title, it focuses rather on your overall score rather than the wave you've been able to accomplish. Of course, these modes can also be played in cooperation.
On the graphics side, the game holds a standard of study, and therefore does not deviate from the average. The game does not look bad, but in the current year I would expect a slightly more graphically-tuned environment, even though I played the game on PS4 standard. Technically, the game is good - if the screen does not make too many characters, the slide does not tend to drop. The loading times after the kill are also very short, and at least you do not have to be frustrated with every ball that flies your character.
Strange Brigade is a game that has no problem confiscating most of the lovers of shares from a third person perspective. However, there is no breakthrough title that would bring something revolutionary but rather an average game of well-known elements. Positive is the presence of full cooperation in all modes for up to four players. At the same time, the game offers a completely thought-out level design wrapped in a simple story, which is accompanied by the storyteller with his funny comments all the time.
