Broforce

Overview

Developer Free Lives originally made Broforce as a Ludum Dare entry in the Ludum Dare 23 Game Jam in April 2012. After gaining much praise and recognition, they decided to expand upon it, releasing the first prototype on their website (which they refer to as "the Brototype") in October the same year. The game released first via a Steam Early Access version on April 7th, 2014 after having been Steam Greenlit. Later it released on Windows PC October 15th, 2015, October 17th, 2015 on Linux and after being voted for as a PlayStation Plus title it released on PlayStation 4 on March 01st, 2016.

A final and free update, titled Broforce Forever, is slated for release in 2023. The update will expand the Bro roster and add new missions.

Gameplay

The game plays like many other action shooter games, but with a notable over-the-top level of mayhem and destruction. Allowing up to four players to play cooperatively both offline and online, players spawn in as a random Bro (who are all parodies of famous action characters spanning from the '80s to the early '00s, each with the word "bro" somehow shoehorned into their name) and rush to the end shooting everything that stands in their way. Along the way, players will come across various cages that are holding their fellow Bros captive. Rescuing the Bro will switch the player's character to the newly freed Bro and give the player an extra life. While the enemies will always outnumber the player, they are almost all largely incompetent, though can still kill the protagonist if given the chance. At the end of each level is a business devil who the players must kill which summons the evacuation helicopter leading to the next stage.

Every part of every level is completely destructible. Using the Bro's weaponry or the numerous explosives scattered about in each level, the player can very well reduce the stage to a flat line or even nothing at all. This of course can lead to players accidentally killing their fellow Bros or even themselves. While the game gives the player a finite amount of lives, the game is forgiving in terms of death with a fair amount of checkpoints along the way and a short wait time between each life lost.

The game features both an arcade and campaign mode. New Bros are unlocked as the player rescues more and more Bros. During campaign mode, when a Bro is unlocked for the pool of Bros they are introduced with a splash screen and the player becomes that Bro. The campaign features a 3D representation of Earth, with missions scattered around in different countries. Players fly a helicopter to the location, often with the aim to "liberate" it. Several locations get renamed with the word "bro" in the title, such as Cambrodia.

There are two types of mission available in the campaign. The first is the same standard game type found in the arcade mode. The second is a single bro challenge. Players are given 1 life and depending on the challenge are limited to using a specific Bro to complete the level. Completing these levels unlocks features for the other campaign missions such as ammo crates that replenish grenades and special abilities.

Each Bro comes with a unique special ability based on the character they're modeled on.

All Bros control in a similar manner. Players can shoot, sprint, duck, jump, use a special and flex.

Bros

System Requirements

PC

Minimum

• OS: Windows Vista or later
• Processor: Intel Core Duo or faster
• Memory: 2GB RAM
• Graphics: OpenGL 3.0 compliant video card
• Hard Drive: 150MB available space

Mac

Minimum

• OS: OS 10.6+
• Processor: 2.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo or better
• Memory: 1GB RAM
• Hard Drive: 150MB available space

Recommended

• OS: OS 10.6+
• Processor: 3.1GHz Intel Core 2 Duo or better
• Memory: 2GB RAM
• Hard Drive: 150MB available space