“Brawl Stars” is a mobile third-person multiplayer shooter game, and was released to the world on Dec. 12, 2018, by a Finnish game company called Supercell. In the game, you can choose different characters, called brawlers, and use them in different modes to earn rewards. Other popular games they’ve made are “Clash Royale”, “Clash of Clans”, or “Hay Day”.

Although there is lore for the “Brawl Stars” universe, the game itself does not have a storyline to follow. Therefore, this review will be in the following order; Gameplay, Gamemodes, Progression Systems, Unlocking Brawlers, Visual, and lastly the Overall.

Gameplay

Every gamemode in “Brawl Stars” has a different objective, but they all use the basic controls. To move the brawler, players drag the blue joystick on the left side of the screen. The red joystick on the right side of the screen is your attack button. Dragging it allows you to aim your attack. The button with the skull on it is called a “super”, once you charge the super, the button will turn yellow and will allow you to use it. Depending on the brawler you chose, both attack and super will be different.

Gamemodes

Progression Systems

“Brawl Stars” has different kinds of progression systems. The main one is the trophy road, where all your hard earned trophies go to. To earn trophies you must win games, the amount you gain or lose will depend on the gamemode, your rank (only applies to Showdown), and the brawler’s rank. Speaking of the brawler’s rank, the trophies you earn or lose not only affect your trophy road, they affect your brawler’s rank. The more trophies you have on your brawler, the harder the matches become, since “Brawl Stars” create matches depending on the brawler’s rank.

Another progression system is the seasonal Brawl Pass. You can either do just the free Brawl Pass or buy the Brawl Pass with gems. Instead of trophies to progress, the Brawl Pass uses tokens. You can earn tokens by playing in matches or by completing quests. Buying the Brawl Pass will allow you to unlock a brawler of the chromatic rarity, called chromatic brawlers. Each season has a theme and a chromatic brawler that fits the theme.

The rewards you get from these progression systems will help you upgrade, unlock, and get cosmetics for brawlers.

Unlocking Brawlers

Surprising a lot of players, Supercell removed the loot boxes on Dec. 12, 2022 and changed it from luck based to a faster and rewarding way of unlocking brawlers: credits. Depending on the rarity of the brawler, the amount of credits needed will change. When you’re able to unlock your first legendary brawler, the cost of credits are halved. Chroma credits are used to unlock chromatic brawlers who were once unlockable in the brawl pass. Of course the system now isn’t all perfect, chroma credits are still a huge issue, because of the amount you get per season. This makes unlocking all brawlers for newer free to play players an impossible task.

Visuals

The game’s visuals are simple and clean. Brawlers are all unique in their appearance and their attacks. There are brawlers that are robots, humans, a walking cactus, a child riding in a cannon, a robot who uses their head to explode onto others, and my favorite is a crow that throws poisonous daggers. You can also get different looks/skins for your brawlers. Maps look different, but they have most of the same elements. Maps also have different environments.

Gallery • 12 Photos

The home screen of "Brawl Stars." The brawler shown is Crow in his skin called Crowbone.

Overall

Overall the game is fun, competitive and easy to learn and play. The game can be played casually or competitively, solo or multiplayer — it all depends on the player’s style. “Brawl Stars” also allows other players to invite each other, leading to fun experiences with them; just make sure to have a good attitude even when facing loss. The game also has big updates every season, adding new brawlers and skins, leading to a never ending experience.