Game Reviews

Bravoman: Binja Bash

Star onStar onStar offStar offStar off
|
iOS
| Bravoman: Binja Bash
Get
Bravoman: Binja Bash
|
iOS
| Bravoman: Binja Bash

Bravoman: Binja Bash's intro tells you everything you need to know about the game.

Not in a concise, "oh, so that's how it works" kind of way, you understand, but rather in the sense that it highlights the developer's skewed priorities and some of game's worst failings.

Based on a web comic which is in turn based on a cult Japanese video game from the late '80s, Bravoman: Binja Bash finds itself looking dated in all the wrong areas.

By way of an introduction

The intro in question is a lengthy comic book strip that introduces you to the game's cast of zany Japanese anime and video game parodies.

It's extremely well drawn and written, provided you can stomach heavy and sustained doses of snark and numerous knowing winks.

However, it goes on far too long, it's impossible to skip, and it performs terribly. Yes, that's right. A scrolling comic book strip suffers technical problems, loading in jerky increments while you scrub at the screen fruitlessly.

It's almost as if the developer were so focused on telling an amusing story that it forgot it was supposed to be building a game. And that's why the intro is so educational.

Stretching credibility

If the intro has you hoping for a witty homage to the great platform beat-'em-ups and cartoons of your youth, you'll be sorely disappointed.

This is a clunky semi-automated platformer with hopeless controls, a frustrating IAP system that prompts you to pay for continues, and terrible shooter interludes.

Starting out as Bravoman himself, you run from left to right, jumping over gaps and obstacles in clumsy fashion. Tapping on the right of the screen launches a Dhalsim/Inspector Gadget/Mister Fantasic (delete according to childhood experience)-style stretchy limb attack in the direction of your press.

The trouble is, these limbs take ages to get to their target, and prove almost useless against the frequent small, fast-moving missiles that zig-zag towards you in between waves of lunk-headed cyborgs.

Shaky platform

There's a parry move that can help guard against such attacks, but it seems unresponsive and inconsistent in its effect.

There's also a smart-bomb attack that charges up over time. Oh, and the ability to latch on to the odd hook-point, but this is even more inconsistent and tricky to pull off than the other moves, so it's best not to bother unless you have to.

Occasionally you'll utilise Bravoman's ability to turn into a submarine (really), which sounds interesting, but actually constitutes the most limited and clunky shooter section you've ever played. It's laughably bad despite, again, some strong artwork.

Suffice to say, by the time you reach the first proper boss and find yourself plummeting to your death due to the game's woolly platform mechanics, you'll probably be about ready to call it a day.

Wait in between issues

Even if you resolve to persevere, there's every chance you'll have to wait to continue. You see, once you've used up all your continues, you have to wait looking at the game over screen for up to five minutes for them to recharge.

Of course, you could always opt to 'Get More' using the game's IAP system. Yes, it's very annoying.

The game throws the incentive of a bunch of unlockable characters at you, which can be 'assembled' by collecting sufficient parts during your play through, but when the core game is so poorly executed, why would you want to?

People frequently get sniffy when the worlds of video games and cinema collide, but Bravoman: Binja Bash suggests that we should be similarly wary when it comes to comic books and games.

Bravoman: Binja Bash

A nicely executed comic book stapled to a sub-standard action-platformer, Bravoman: Binja Bash has its priorities all wrong
Score
Jon Mundy
Jon Mundy
Jon is a consummate expert in adventure, action, and sports games. Which is just as well, as in real life he's timid, lazy, and unfit. It's amazing how these things even themselves out.