Long gone are the days of flying dirigibles and zeppelins that aren’t led, but that doesn’t stop Cannon Brawl from being an awesome game. Cannons fire and wills are tested in this Worms-esque RTS. There’s different airships and maps, which adds a little variety to a tried-and-true formula. The airship acts as an aggressive mouse cursor, allowing you to control every aspect of the battlefield. Each airship not only allows you a more direct approach to battle, but also come with their own abilities. Some abilities seemed more useful than others, but they are diverse enough that everyone should find something that fits their play-style. There’s plenty of them to unlock as well as other buildings to vary the way you can play. While you can’t attack with the ship directly you can place various towers from basic cannons to shields and bomb bots. Only the player can fire from the installation though, leaving you racing from tower to tower firing off all your arsenal. Everything can be upgraded too, rewarding players for keeping towers standing.
Once you hone your strengths you can take to multiplayer for local and online play. Here there are even more towers and characters to collect and battle. There’s leaderboards too if that’s your thing, though most plays may never see their names in the Monthly Top Ten. Besides that there are various puzzle challenges that start as cute brain teasers and end up becoming masterfully orchestrated wars of wit. Speaking of music the soundtrack is powerful and fitting. I found myself leaving the main theme on so that my writing could feel half as epic.
Normally here I would write about all of the things horribly wrong with a game, but Cannon Brawl has left me with nothing to work with. This game does everything it’s supposed to do in all the right ways. The story could be better written as right now it is nothing more than a way of getting from one fight to the next or an upgrade, but it’s entertaining enough to keep you playing. This is a cute little gem that packs a punch you wouldn’t expect, just like the cannons it is so aptly named after.
Cannon Brawl Gameplay Commentary
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebNp2ajS8To