If the classic game GoldenEye 007 was released today with only four-player local multiplayer being an option, do you think it would’ve hit the level of popularity it did back in the days of the N64? I’m not talking about a remaster, which I am sure would still make millions due to nostalgia alone, but what if it was released today as it was back in 1995? The same could be said for a lot of the popular games from this era, such as the original Super Smash Bros., which Bounty Battle leans heavily on as inspiration, for better or worse.

Bounty Battle is a traditional arena brawler that pits up to four players in a battle royale situation, requiring you to either outlive your opponents’ life bars or knock them out of the ring, something that anyone who’s played an entry in the Smash genre will be familiar with. The one thing that separates this from the pack is the inclusion of guest characters from a number of popular indie franchises such as Dead Cells, Blasphemous, Darkest Dungeon, Guacamelee , and around 20ish others that I know a lot less about, in addition to a few original characters exclusive to this release. Each fighter comes packing a few unique basic attacks, as well as super abilities and special moves, all of which is par for the course in this type of game.

Overall, the battles are what you’d expect, but after a few match-ups the big issue that stood out was how weighty the characters feel. Usually, the fighters are fairly light and can jump a few times, as well as float back towards the arena if they get knocked too far out of bounds. In this, that is almost always a death sentence as they fall into the abyss of nothingness like they have cinder blocks attached to their feet. This essentially negates the point or thrill of trying to ring out your opponents as quickly as possible, leaving you to chip away at your opponent’s life bars in the somewhat bland arenas that typically only offer a single level within the playing field. Maybe I was expecting a more traditional Smash style game, but the combat left me losing interest pretty early into the game.

The one original mechanic it brings to the table is the ability to pull in minions of sorts to help your hero in battle. By defeating enemies within a battle, you’ll earn points that can be used to bring in the secondary AI-controlled being that is unique to your character. This was a nice perk, but the complete omission of pickups or secondary weapons left me wanting yet again. The same can be said for the options in terms of modes.

As you can probably guess from the opening of this review, the game is limited to local play with only the single-mode and a small, extremely limited amount of modifiers offered. I enjoyed playing as a team and in a free for all style brawl with my son, but the joy only lasted a few battles before both of us were ready to move on to something with more meat. I can see the appeal of playing this locally with a group of friends, but at this time in my life, I just don’t run into many situations where I have this many people around at the same time.

The single-player modes don’t offer up much more in variety, as you’re limited to a bare-bones single-player campaign that locks you into completing six rounds as each character. My big issue with this isn’t that it’s only six rounds, or that there aren’t any really enticing goals for completing the mode (outside of perfect wins getting you extra color palette options), or even that there isn’t a real ending, just a flashy drawing of the character in question upon completion – it’s that you have to play the characters in the order the developers chose for you, which is from left to right across the character select screen. I really wanted to start off with The Prisoner or Penitent One, but no, I was locked into this legally safe knock off of Zelda and had to complete around 10 of these sets before getting to my goal. Outside of this mode, the single-player offerings are limited to a CPU battle, for when you don’t have three other friends available, as well as a challenge mode that is akin to a survival-style mode, and then practice, which really feels unneeded since there is little strategy needed here – just keep mashing the varied attack buttons to succeed.

Despite the huge cast of characters (that are available from the start) from varied franchises and art styles, the game utilizes an art style that brings everyone together in a similar style that resembles paper cut-outs, which is hit or miss depending on the character in question. Some of these characters, specifically the Zelda look-alike, feature some jerky movements that looked off when on-screen with one of the more fluid characters. It may be my established love for The Penitent One or The Prisoner, but they are exceptions that look downright amazing in this style that smooths out their original pixelated designs into fluid characters that are a joy to play; it’s just a shame that they were not given a better package to perform in.

Bounty Battle is by no means the worst arena battle game on the market – it’s just a small package that lacks anything to keep it interesting in the long game if you don’t have extra players available on a regular basis. I can see the appeal for those that do, but sadly, I am not that player. Even if I was, I think I’d rather jump into The Facility for some bathroom camping as 007.

5 out of 10

Pros

• Tons of Guest Characters
• Overall Design Brings Varied Characters Together Into a Single Visual Style
• Fun Battle Royale Style Gameplay…

Cons

• …That Becomes Tiresome Quickly
• Lack of Progression Based Rewards
• No Online Play
• Lack of Game Modes
• Overly Heavy Characters

Bounty Battle was developed by Dark Screen Games and was published by Merge Games. The game is available on NS, PC, PS4, and X1. The game was provided to us for review on X1. If you’d like to see more of Bounty Battle, check out the publisher’s site.

 

Here at GBG we use a rating method that you are more than likely familiar with – a scale of 1 to 10. For clarification, we intend on using the entire scale: 1-4 is something you should probably avoid paying for; 5-7 is something that is worth playing, but probably not at full price; 8-10 is a great title that you can feel confident about buying. If you have any questions or comments about how we rate a game, please let us know.

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