Summary
- Broforce is a run & gun game filled with parodies of classic action heroes, offering new challenges, bosses, and Bros to play.
- Players must carefully choose their Bros, as if one dies, they have to switch to a different character with different skills.
- Each character has unique abilities, such as the ability to confuse enemies, invincibility, jetpacks, and time manipulation.
Made by the South Africa-based studio Free Lives, Broforce is a run & gunner packed to the brim with stars, stripes, eagles, ‘Murica, and a whole host of parodies based on classic action heroes. It started as a game jam demo in 2012 before reaching the PC in 2015, the PS4 in 2016, the Switch in 2018, then the Xbox One on August 8th, 2023, alongside the “Broforce Forever” update.
It provides more levels with new challenges, new bosses, and new Bros to play with, like the fly-human hybrid mutant Seth Brondle, the guitar-swinging Desperabro, and Broffy the slayer of vampires. But unlike other shooters, players have to pick their Bros carefully. If one dies in their quest to free hostages, kill bad guys, and get to the chopper, that’s it. They’ll have to play as a different Bro with different skills. As such, they might as well pick the best Bros in the game.
8 Bro In Black
The Bro in Black makes protecting the Earth from the scum of the universe look good. His Noisy Cricket has a 9-block range that does 35+ damage point-blank, and 29 at its edge. Like its counterpart from Men in Black it has a ton of recoil that makes the whole screen shake, but it has a quicker fire rate that can be upgraded. He’s also quick on his feet and has a decent 4-5 square jump, making him handy with his knife.
If people don’t remember that from the movie, they will remember his Neuralyzer. It's his special skill that will confuse mooks into attacking each other. That said, it can be tricky to use and make the most off, and his main gun isn't exactly subtle. If players want someone who requires more brainpower to go with his firepower, they can't go wrong with the Bro in Black.
7 The Brominator
Unlike his movie equivalent, the Brominator can’t swear to avoid killing anyone. Not when he’s armed with a minigun. It takes half a second for the barrel to spin, but once it does, it will unleash a torrent of bullets that reaches for 8 blocks. Each bullet deals 4–8 points of damage, which quickly adds up in between head-shotting foes and making bodies explode.
The recoil will force the Brominator back, but if he sheds his skin to reveal his Endoskeleton, he’ll handle it better. He’ll also be invincible to all damage (bar pitfalls) and his minigun won’t have the spin-up time. Shame it only lasts 5.5 seconds before he re-skins, so players have to use it wisely, especially as he's one of the slower Bros in the game. But if they get used to him, they'll have a walking tank that absolutely will not stop until everyone's dead.
6 The Brocketeer
Broforce does give off a 1980s vibe with the heavy firepower, the largely generic enemies, and most of the Bros' bases. However, the Bros do branch out into other decades for their homages. For example, the Brocketeer is based on the 1991 Disney flick The Rocketeer, which was based on a 1982 comic, which was a tribute to 1940s serials. As the name suggests, the Brocketeer's big gimmick is his jetpack.
He can blast any foes or flammable items around him with fire every time he jumps. Holding jump will make him go higher and hover for a bit, giving players time to decide where to aim his powerful Brocket Dive attack. He also has a Luger for capping foes, but anyone who uses the Brocketeer for his gun is using him wrong. Players have to master his jetpack to truly soar through levels.
5 Indiana Brones
If players want another character that homages a character that homages old cinema serials that’s better with a gun, they’ll have to call Dr. Brones. His Revolver only holds 6 shots, but it has a long 17-block range, pierces rows of enemies, does 15–35 points of damage depending on range, and can be used while he’s climbing walls. He’s also quite sharp with his pickaxe in melee situations.
However, his true lifesaver is his Whip. On paper, it doesn’t do much damage. In practice, its Fear effect can make bigger foes like the Bruisers run away before they can strike if Brones uses it fast enough. That is if they even need to, as the Whip can also latch onto the terrain. With some on-the-go planning, players can platform their way to the end goal without needing to get up close and personal with anyone.
4 The Boondock Bros
The Boondock Bros’ big pro is their number advantage. The two of them together shoot pretty fast with their pistols, which have a 12-block range and can headshot mooks. Their Pistol Whip is pretty snappy if any of them get up close. Plus, they can take 2 shots as getting hit once will kill one Bro, leaving the other PO’d and OP’d as they enter Enraged mode, making them fire faster.
Even better, players can use their Backup skill to bring back their fallen Bro or add a third one in Bro Duce. He’ll automatically knife any foe that gets too close and adds to the firepower with his own dual pistols. If push comes to shove, he’ll also get Enraged if a Boondock Bro dies, or leave both Bros Enraged if he dies, giving foes a double dose of blasting bullets to deal with.
3 Mr. Anderbro
How can any other Bro improve upon the Boondocks’ bullets? Mr. Anderbro can by realizing there are no bullets. Not any he can’t stop with his Bullet Shield anyway. It can repel any projectile fired by the enemy back toward them, which is very handy against machinegun-wielding enemies. Sadly, it can’t deflect lasers, falling objects, explosions, shockwaves, or enemies barreling toward him.
For them, Mr. Anderbro can punch them away, or use his Blink to dash through them. It can inflict 35 points of damage with splash damage, even causing an explosion if he Blinks into surfaces. He can use it to dash in midair too, albeit only once per direction without needing to land on a surface. But it’s enough to give Mr. Anderbro the agility of Indiana Brones with much more stopping power.
2 Tank Bro
In the world of Broforce, “Bro” is a gender-neutral term. The Brode (a la Kill Bill’s Bride), Cherry Broling (Cherry Darling from Planet Terror/Grindhouse), and Ellen Ripbro (Ellen Ripley from the Alien movies) are all women, all Bros, and all pretty good. The best of the fairer sex is Tank Bro, based on co-Gorillaz member Jamie Hewlett’s Tank Girl. Her bazooka is slow to fire but smashes anything in its 7-block range with 30+ damage.
It also serves her well in her melee attacks and mobility via her rocket jumps. Best of all, she can summon a tank that can crush enemies on arrival, ram through anything, and take a lot of hits too. If she does die, then the next Bro can use the tank and continue the rampage. Just watch out for small mooks like Headcrabs as they’re short enough to avoid the gun’s range.
1 Time Bro
When it comes to the most Bro-ken Bro in Broforce, it's hard to top Time Bro, based on Jean-Claude Van Damme’s character in the cheesy action classic Timecop. He’s got a standard gun, the Broretta, that can hit anyone within 9 blocks, and a wide variety of Kick-jutsu melee moves.
Combined with his Time Slow skill, these otherwise humble moves become lethal. For 8 seconds, everyone and everything except Time Bro moves much more slowly. He can blast and kick every mook and boss before they can even get a shot off. The player only gets to use it twice per level, but that’s more than enough to deal with even the trickiest levels.
Broforce is currently available on PC, macOS, Linux, PS4, Xbox One, and Switch.