Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 review for PlayStation, Xbox, PC, Nintendo Switch

When it comes to Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2, I feel like we could almost re-run our review of Dreamworks All-Star Kart Racing from a few weeks ago with only a few words changed here and there. Swap in Nickelodeon characters for the Dreamworks ones, change the kart racing references to Smash Bros. ones, and take out the embarrassingly awful voice acting, and you’re basically set.

And, on the one hand, that’s really the gist of what there is to know about Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2. Have you ever wished you could play Smash Bros. but with characters like Spongebob, El Tigre, Danny Phantom, and Donatello, and about twenty other Nickelodeon cartoons? Then this is the game for you. As far as the gameplay goes, it’s about as close to Smash Bros. as you can get without actually playing that iconic series – which, admittedly, on a non-Nintendo platform, isn’t the worst thing to be.

Having said that, there are a few other points in Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2’s favour. For one thing, there is that fact I just alluded to that it’s basically Smash Bros. for non-Nintendo platforms. The gameplay here may be nothing new, but it’s done well enough that if you’re after an arcade brawler, you’ll get that here. Given that there are plenty of poorly made clones out there, being competent in your thievery is nothing to sneeze at.

Secondly, Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 has a pretty lengthy single-player mode if that’s what you’re after. It’s a roguelike campaign where you have to go back again and again, getting stronger through each playthrough until you’re finally able to take down the final big boss. Given how the fun of Smash Bros. and its imitators is often found in multiplayer, it’s neat to see this game recognize that some players will want to just play it on their own, and it gives them a reason to do so.

But again, everything in Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 comes back to how much you like Smash Bros., and how much you want to play a game that’s similar to it but ever-so-slightly different. If your answers to both of those questions is “a lot”, then you’re definitely going to want to check this one out.

GameMill Entertainment provided us with a Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 PS5 code for review purposes.