Strange Brigade

While Strange Brigade can be frustrating at times, the charm of its 1930s world, the wonderfully exaggerated English alliteration of its narrator, and solid level design, combat encounters, and four-player co-op make it a strong, stylish third-person shooter. Hopefully this isn't the last time a situation calls for the expertise of the Strange Brigade.

Strange Brigade is a delightful cooperative shooter with some technical issues and an idea that isn't given enough room to breathe.

Rebellion serves up another enjoyably pulpy shooter, though Strange Brigade struggles to stand out.

A bare-bones basic shooter that's good for some fun with friends, but there are other, better co-op adventures out there.

Fleeting, forgettable fun at its most flamboyant, you'll likely enjoy Strange Brigade for a jiffy before shortly moving on to bigger, better things.

While far from revolutionary, Strange Brigade makes it hard to dismiss it as “just another horde shooter”. The pulpy adventure aesthetic and the focus on the use of traps are a definite draw, and while a more interesting, self-aware story would have been nice to see, it's the satisfying shooting, well implemented online co-op, and interesting game mode variants that help stave off the tedious repetition that quickly end up haunting many horde shooters.

Strange Brigade is an odd bag. It tries to capture a 1930s charm but instead of being charming, it becomes unbearable. It attempts to wrap a story around a horde mode experience but the narrative is unoriginal and the threat of being overrun with enemies is rarely present. Strange Brigade is a disappointing and repetitive experience that offers mildly enjoyable combat but is otherwise entirely forgettable.

Should you buy Strange Brigade? If you have some friends looking to invest some time in this game playing with you (and some money too, since they'll have to buy their own copies) then yes, absolutely. With pals, this is a great ride. Looking to go solo? Um, it's a bit more of a hard sell. You can jump in with people online of course, but it's not the same as your friends being along for the ride.

Strange Brigade is one of those difficult games to review, the one where for every positive thing you have to say about it, there's a downside related to or accompanying it in some way or another.

All in all, Strange Brigade is a solid romp that runs very well on Nintendo’s limited hardware. If you and a few friends are looking for a good cooperative diversion to blast through on the weekend, then you can look no further. If you’re hoping for a true successor to Left 4 Dead on the Switch, temper those expectations a bit.