Solo players and teams enjoy choosing arenas and characters

Go toe to toe with friends and rivals in game modes ranging from ‘steal the bacon’ to soccer, while attempting to configure the ultimate team in the online game Brawl Stars.

Currently the game has six game modes that cycle every day, Monday through Friday (Showdown, Bounty, Gem Grab, Heist, Brawl Ball, and Siege). On the weekends, three additional game modes are available to play (Big Game, Robo Rumble, and Boss Fight). Two of these weekend modes are three players against CPUs (computer controlled enemies) while the third is a five vs. one match up with real people. Every game mode has multiple maps that change as they come available.

With the new addition of ‘Carl’ to the game, Brawl Stars is home to a whopping 24 characters. Each and every character has a different style of function, whether it be getting up close to blaster enemies in the face or to keep annoying them from afar with poison darts.

These characters are obtained through winning in game modes and earning trophies on the trophy road. They can also be won through Brawl Boxes and the luck of the draw.

My favorite game mode overall is Showdown. Showdown has a wide variety of maps. It is also one of the more difficult modes to finish on top because you are playing with real people who are at your skill level and you do not regenerate after you die.

In  the Showdown game mode, advantageous characters vary with the different arenas. If the arena’s center is very wide open without many bushes or walls, a sharpshooter character like Brock or Piper provide ample firepower away from danger. When the stage has many barriers, the characters Shelly or Bull provide effective short range damage.

In the following podcast, Ethan Castiglione explains his favorite parts of Brawl Stars.

In other modes like Gem Grab or Brawl Ball there are specific roles different types of characters play in achieving the goal of that mode. In Gem Grab there are two main roles to fill: gem carrier and power house. The gem carrier is typically a character with high health like Pam or Carl or a healer like Poco.

The powerhouse character requires high damage output to protect the gem carrier from enemies. As two of the best powerhouse characters, Colt or Piper provide damage from afar. The last character choice works well across all brawler types.

Brawl ball is more geared towards brawlers with high HP(health points) like Frank, Mortis or Bull and specials that allow them to move forward in one way or another such as El Primo, Darryl and Carl. These brawlers make it difficult for the opposing team to kill your team while they are holding the ball.

Showdown is the only game mode to have a single player option. This places it at the top of my most played game modes for the single reason of solo play. I enjoy playing by myself, because of the safety of not being placed on a team with people who have little knowledge of how to play.

When entering a 3v3 game mode, players will be paired up with random people who might be a lot worse or a lot more skilled than they are. This either makes it impossible to win, because their teammates are so unskilled, or the better players carry the whole game and don’t let the less experienced player do much.

Like most of Supercell’s games before, this game includes a community feature called Clubs. Clubs are groups of players who can team up with each other in Duos Showdown or the other 3v3 maps so that you know who you are playing with and what their skill level is.

One aspect I enjoy about Brawl Stars is the amount of team game modes and the push to create community and camaraderie. Most of the game modes are based around teamwork and how best to work together to get to the goal of the game mode, whether it be scoring a goal in brawl ball or defeating the giant robot in big game.

The overall amount of 3v3 maps could be improved in this game. The idea of a multiplayer cooperation game is great, but personally I would enjoy it more if there were multiple options for solo play in the game.

To learn more about other games, read Spirit Island invites cooperative gameplay.

For more articles read CSPA Convention 2019 recap or Choices: Teen pressures, substance abuse contribute to health issues, social misconceptions.

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