The game was provided by GameMill Entertainment for review. Thank you!
When I was younger, there was one game that my friend group and I would default to whenever we would gather to play games together, Super Smash Bros. We would gather around the TV with our plates of Chicken Nuggets and Ketchup, pickup our Gamecube controllers, and get in rounds of Melee to see who would be champion. In the end, it was always between myself and my friend Talon, with our victories being split among us. 2D platformers like this can be some of the greatest games to play with your friends, and Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 is taking some significant steps forward to be one of these games.
While the first game shows that this style could work, it is this entry that proves what All-Star Brawl can truly do. Like the previous game, the core loop is the 2D platform fighting. After you choose one of 25 characters, you will run, jump, and fight one of up to 3 opponents using a mix of basic, special, and power attacks. There are the usual elements included here, like double jumping, air dashing, and taunting, but Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 pushes it a bit further with the new Slime mechanic, which can augment attacks or use Final Smash-like cinematic moves, and greatly refined movesets.
The characters usable in the game have a good chunk of variety, with much better animations. I do wish the characters from last game returned, I do miss Hugh and Toph, but the new and returnng characters here are fantastic and fit in perfectly.
Then we have the campaign, which is a roguelike-esque system with a decent story that will have you choosing a character and going through randomly-generated challenges to get to the other side. Along the way, you will get new equipment and perks, which augment your run, and currency you can use to buy and unlock passive abilities you get each time you start a campaign. While it isn't as detailed as games like Hades, this mode is awesome. It feels like a worthy addition to a game like this and adds some good, single-player moments outside of the frantic multiplayer ones.
Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 is an improvement in almost every single way from the original and I can't say that enough. Some of the cinematics do have a decreased model quality, but it is purely during these ultimate attack cutscenes and not during the game. And it is almost perfect on the Steam Deck, though it has a small issue that needs addressing.
For the most part, All-Star Brawl 2 should be running wonderfully by all means. Without any changes, or TDP limits, full matches usually drain around 12W - 14W, while some of the campaign matches with lots of enemies have gone up to 19W. And while the game does hit 60 FPS, it has a problem, stuttering. At the default settings, which are on high, there are small stutters that happen regularly, which puts a big hamper on playing competitively or smoothly.
Nothing I tried with GPU frequency, TDP limits, Proton layers, or SteamOS 3.5 fixed this, and there is only one graphical setting to choose. The Medium setting still has this stutter, as does the Low setting, but it is lowered more. So, I would recommend keeping the settings at Low and no TDP liit to ensure it has all the power it needs to stick to 60 FPS. I did also notice that whenever you have to press a button to begin a match, it shows the icon for the "Start" button, but it is the "Select" button that needs to be pressed to pause the game and start matches.
For its settings, the game does allow changing different volume sliders, changing online regions, toggling crossplay, and changing rulesets (like time limits and stock counts). You can also create different profiles, where you can change your keybindings and toggle different options like double tapping for dashing or short hop macros.
Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 doesn't support 16:10 resolutions, so there are some black bars, or cloud saves, but it does have full controller support.
Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 is a competent 2D platformer and a significant improvement over its predecessor. The combat has been refined and enhanced thanks to its Slime mechanic, and the new roguelike campaign mode is a great way to play the game alone. The small stutters are a bit of a turnoff from playing the game in any competitive manner on the Steam Deck, but it is still playable at the low graphics quality and it is a lot of fun regardless!
Our review is based on the PC version of this game.
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Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 is a fantastic 2D platform fighter that improves significantly on the original, but it does need a little work on Steam Deck.
