Blast Brigade vs. Evil Legion of Dr. Cread Review

Blast Brigade vs. Evil Legion of Dr. Cread is developed by Allods Team Arcade and published by MY.Games. This game has been in early access on Steam since 2021 and has recently saw it’s full release, it’s a very tongue-in-cheek and it’s a send-off to the testosterone-fueled spy in action movies in the 1980s while being at its core a crossover between Metal Slug and metroidvania, let me tell you this was something I never thought I wanted but it was an absolute blast no pun intended.

The game itself sets the tone very early as you begin with a cut scene of the plane being blown up in the sky as the pilot and the scientist who is one mission away from retirement grab a parachute leaving our hero Jeff slumbering away in the back of the plane, Jeff is abruptly awakened and sensing the impending doom all around him chooses his gun over the parachute and plummets to the tropical island below, this adventure wastes no time in setting the tone that it is a wildly over-the-top send-off to spying action movies of old, once the action started I was impressed with the absolutely gorgeous visuals as it felt like it was taken back to a crisper cleaner looking version of Metal Slug on the Neo Geo, from here I was introduced to the controls which all felt smooth and responsive and it wasn’t long before I found my first weapon and got a feel for the gunplay.

Overall the gunplay felt great it took me a few minutes to get a feel for aiming with the right analog stick and once I got comfortable with it mowing things down became second nature as I explored the early areas of the game and later more and more weapons and tools became available like a grappling hook and a teleporter, there’s just a huge arsenal of weapons for your to mess around with and upgrading them is super fun, the game has an entirely separate upgrade system that allows you to further customize elements of your character adding faster reload times higher ammo capacities or a magnetic lock-on that draws items to you and while destroying enemies I took in the various tropical island backdrops, various enemy types ranging from a variety of robots to tropical monstrosities all the while taking in the background music that served as a perfect set piece for the tropical island setting.

The characters switching is a feature that is highlighted quite often also in trailers. There are 4 playable characters but on a technical level, the main difference in each character is their special skill to unlock certain obstacles or move around the level, outside of that, there aren’t many differences, so for the largest part I find myself sticking to the character that’s needed for the respective area I am in. It’s a neat addition that fits well with the story, but the gameplay impact is minimal. The bosses are a highlight of this game and remind me a lot of bosses from Metal Slug, they all have different attack patterns and none of them feel cheap and with enough practice and paitence, you will be able to defeat them.

Overall, Blast Brigade vs. Evil Legion of Dr. Cread is a absolutely well made game, you can tell by the time and content that they’ve put into development during Early Access. I’ve encountered no bugs during my playthrough of the full release and the campaign should take you around 20 hours which is worth every cent for the asking price. If you enjoy Metal Slug and metroidvanias then this game is highly recommended!

Purchase Blast Brigade vs. Evil Legion of Dr. Cread on Steam!