Blast Brigade demo preview — Secret agent BLAM

In case you were wondering, this game’s full title is Blast Brigade vs the Evil Legion of Doctor Cread. If you weren’t wondering that, well, now you know it. You can’t unknow it. Okay, that’s not true. You’ve probably already forgotten it. It’s a long title. The game is a Metroid-like that’ll see you swapping between four different characters while going up against the titular foe. It’s also set to enter Early Access later this year. I got a sneak peek at a roughly hour-long preview of Blast Brigade to see what it’s got in store for secret agent fans. Just a single paragraph in and already two puns. Good start.

Blast Brigade opens with a surprisingly gorgeous fully-animated cutscene. How does an Early Access game even get a cutscene like that? Jeff Jefferson, a heavily armed idiot, and the rest of the members of the titular team have had their plane shot down over Dr. Cread’s island, leaving the squad torn and filthy. It’s up to the player to guide Jeff towards his teammates and greet them with arms wide open.

The game doesn’t take itself the least bit seriously and the dialogue reflects this. It’s cheeky, well-written, and generally witty, so I enjoy it. The gist is simple. Jeff is the only playable character available in the demo, but you have some run-ins with who I’d imagine to be the second one. You walk across an interconnected map while trying to figure out how to get into Dr. Cread’s base and at least look at him before you put a bullet through his head. That’s three Creed references so far.

We’re all held captive out from the sun

There’s another one. Anyway, Jeff initially starts with an infinite assault rifle, putting everything in his path at a distinct disadvantage. Later, he finds a shotgun with limited ammo. The assault rifle is aimed with the right analog stick and shooting feels great. Every enemy you kill drops big coins too. Speaking of dropping coins, Jeff loses money when he dies, but you can go back and pick it up a la that game no one ever shuts up about.

Blast Brigade‘s visuals are beautiful with lavishly animated vector artwork with plenty of personality to spare. The demo even features three boss battles, one of which is against a big robot. This is looking like it’s right up my alley, so I’m eagerly awaiting the game’s Early Access launch, as I want to do some more blasting and try jumping between those rings that Jeff can’t interact with. I mean, what’s this life for if I can’t explore areas by using recently-acquired abilities? Okay, that was my last Creed reference, maybe.

Blast Brigade vs the Evil Legion of Doctor Cread is set to launch later this year, and we’re looking forward to checking out more after this preview. If you’re in the same boat as us, we hope you manage to avoid this many Creed jokes. Otherwise, I feel it’s gonna rain like this for days.