There are times that I look at the awesome amount of movie icons I have in action figure form and think, “Damn, that’s quite the assembly of badasses.” Then, something like this comes along, and I start thinking my badass quota has a long way to go.
If you haven’t seen or played Broforce yet, well, shame on you. I was like you until earlier this month when Playstation Network put this bad boy up for console play, and now there’s no going back. A completely unapologetic love letter to the Contra-style run-and-gun games of the 8- and 16-bit era, as well as 1980s and ’90s action movies, the game is an absolute pleasure to mess around with. Especially when you get a couple bros over and get into some old-school “same couch multiplayer”– a lost art these days — and unleash massive waves of annihilation on its destructible environments and legions of terrorists. And when those are done, there’s legions of Xenomorphs. And then, legions of supernatural baddies.
The best part is who you get to play as.
A literal who’s who of classic action stars get the bro-treatment here, from Rambro to the Brolander. And the random nature of the spawning/rescuing of these bros makes each playthrough a unique one.
And one of the upsides of that kinda roster is that, happy coincidence, you already have at least half of a Broforce action figure collection! Hell, you even have the alien infestation expansion covered. Inevitably, though, it pains me to point it out that we’re a few crucial bros short. There is a distinct lack of Brodell Walkers or Col. James Broddocks, as well as Time Bro and Broniversal Soldier. By the time I point out that we haven’t had a new Snake Brossken (in the movie figure scale) since the McFarlane days, or that we’ve never had a proper Bro Hard figures, well, it’s easy to get a little bummed, even if we do have a perfectly serviceable Ellen Ripbro, and even a Brochete.
And all bro-ing aside here, it’s a little surprising, and saddening, to note that to date we still haven’t touched some of these iconic movies, like Mad Max and Die Hard. And there’s just not a lot of excuses, even if there is some fan demand, for properties that are one-and-done like Kill Bill and The Matrix, which is a shame because our movie-based toys (particularly under NECA) have made massive leaps since those licenses had their day.
So this is the part where I dispense with things like “logic” and “licensing” and say somebody, somehow, get some talented folks a BroForce master license and get cracking. I have no idea how, and I don’t care how. Yes, there’s some wimpy “legal” stuff here and there, but these are bros we’re talking about here. Pop smoke, call in the helo, and lets napalm us some nay-sayers.
Well, not literally, but you know what I mean.
In the meantime, though, get on Steam or PSN and download this epic game. At the very least, it will enhance your appreciation for your already very cool movie figure collection, and it’s a perfect excuse to let Commando and Terminator, Robocop, and Judge Dredd hang out in your display together.
*Special thanks and credit to the BroForce Wiki for their excellent screengrabs and roster sheets. Somebody on there you don’t recognize, or is there a name you can’t bro-decypher? Head on over, get you some knowledge, sucka.
