Blast Brigade vs. The Evil Legion of Dr. Cread [Xbox]

Allods Team’s Blast Brigade vs. The Evil Legion of Dr. Cread is an action-adventure platformer where a team of agents known as the B.L.A.S.T. Brigade have been dispatched to an island belonging to the evil Dr. Cread when the plane they’re on blows up - sending them all flying down to the island, separating them (and their arsenals) in the process.

The first member of the team that you’ll take control of is Jeff Jefferson - a smart-talker with a shoddy memory when it comes to names - who sees himself as the main hero of the Blast Brigade. Starting out with his basic weapon “Just a Rifle”, you’ll eventually gain access to additional weaponry such as his Boomstick as well as a grenade launcher that is unique to Jeff that allows you to open up new areas; and a bunch of different modules for your PDA, which enable different skills and abilities when activated. Later you’ll unlock other characters - including Shura, a KGB agent who wields a sniper rifle and a grapple hook; a cyborg Scotsman named Galahad, who naturally had us interested as fellow Scots; and Vortex, who is looking to reclaim her island using her chakram-powers - all of whom can be switched between using the Phaseshift Duplicator, a strange device that allows multiple people to be shrunk down to the Quantum realm for safekeeping, with one being active at any time.

As you explore, you’ll uncover more of the story via various notes left lying around from both B.L.A.S.T. and Dr. Cread, case files that can be found, and wanted posters on notice boards. You’ll also have short segments overhearing enemy chatter; story cutscenes that utilise a still-image style that surprisingly works really well; as well as being able to talk to some of the NPCs you encounter, with many of these situations being humour-filled.

SSH Fabricator Kits can be found dotted around the map, as well as pieces of hearts and battery parts, all of which will help you in the long run. The Fabricator Kits enable you to upgrade and add on new elements to the shop; heart cell pieces are fairly standard, with every four of these adding a new heart onto your life; and battery parts will add extra batteries to your inventory once you’ve collected enough, and these allow you to activate various PDA modules that can be purchased in the shop using the gold you’ve collected or found out in the world.

There’s a fast travel mechanic utilised by motorbikes which you’ll find at some locations - and these can be helpful to get you around quickly - particularly when backtracking to newly accessible areas once you’ve gained certain skills such as dashing or grappling. The metroidvania style gameplay encourages you to explore, and with movement feeling fluid and responsive, you really get a feel for how each character travels, which gives you a good idea of when to head back to revisit some earlier spots. Combat feels satisfying too, with different weapons having different strengths and each characters unique abilities making sure you’ll switch between them frequently.

With a fantastic cartoon style that perfectly captures the emotive faces and comedic antics of the characters, in a world that is stunningly designed. Character designs are gorgeous, with each of the playable characters being very individual to each other, having their unique appearances and personalities, as well as their different abilities. Bosses have great designs too, with each being well suited to the different areas of the island, and they all offer up a good level of challenge with attack patterns you’ll have to learn in order to successfully take them on. Voice acting is really well done too, wih plenty of humour injected into the lines. Oddly, there seemed to be a good bit of voice acting with most things having spoken dialogue, however there were a few areas that it was only written, which at first felt like it was a glitch due to how infrequent the non-spoken parts are!

There are various references you’ll notice as you progress, from Snake Plissken and Ellen Ripley bobble heads in the opening cutscene, to a mask on the wall of the shop that’s suspiciously similar to Aku Aku and a sewer-lair filled with pizza boxes and weapons familiar to a bunch of turtles. Hidden around the world you’ll find treasure chests as well as various collectibles (with some unlocking new costumes for your characters) and new modules for your PDA to unlock new skills, and this all prompts you to keep your eyes peeled as you wander around each area.

Overall, Blast Brigade is a truly enjoyable game, and one that we could recognise as being something special very quickly upon starting to play. Priced at £16.74 on Xbox, it can seem on the higher end for a lot of indie titles, but turns out to brilliant price for the amount of content you get, and it’s one I’d definitely recommend most people to check out - especially if you’re already a fan of adventure platformers such as Shantae.

In the end, we decided to give Blast Brigade vs. The Evil Legion of Dr. Cread the Collecting Asylum rating of 9.5/10.

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Thank you to Evolve PR for the Blast Brigade vs. The Evil Legion of Dr. Cread Xbox review code!