Battle Block Theatre: Awesome

People usually have pre-conceptions about all manner of things. For example, 'healthy choice' being an unappetizing, low calorie husk of what food should be, instead of a self explanatory statement. When it comes to Indie games, the two big assumptions people will make, is its either an unpolished product awaiting some poor souls to buy the Early Access version and wait 14 years to see a games development outlive the investors own hairline. Alternatively, some gamers will view the indie industry through some rose tinted thick-rimmed glasses. Citing the virtues of small development teams and retro, pixelated gameplay. As someone who owns far too many games, I can say with confidence that indie games are more chaff than wheat, but that makes the gems shine all the brighter, and Battle Block Theater is a gem for sure.

Developed by Behemoth Studios & Big Timber Studio, Battleblock Theater made its way onto Xbox, PC and Linux in the year 2013/14. The Behemoth Studios two prior games, Alien Hominid and Castle Crashers were both successful titles, but I think it's Battle Block Theater takes the cake. This is due to both quality and originality.

Theater's outstanding quality rests atop solid gameplay, stimulating puzzles, and frenetic gem collecting gameplay. But the cheese on the proverbial nachos is the stellar narration and commentary by Will Stamper. It really adds so much character and personality to the game, finishing a session literally had me in a better mood, wanting to come back for more. Trust me, there's few games that have this effect on me. 

Game progression makes the Lego franchise proud. Every level features a series of gems to collect, Golden Yarn, and is given a letter grade on completion. Gems are used to free more of your Block-headed comrades and Yarn used to buy weapons. Replay-ability is huge for this title, especially when you get to meat and potatoes of the gameplay itself. 

Battle Block Theater (theatre for us canucks) handles better than some triple A titles. The game masters the golden "easy to play, hard to master" quality that great games have. Controls are intuitive and smooth letting players jump, slide, climb and crouch their way to course completion. As the game progresses, more and more elements of complexity and difficulty are introduced. This all leads to a much more puzzle based experience towards the end of the game. It all adds to the replay-ability, knowing how to quickly navigate some head-scratching courses and snag the gems in record time is nice. 

Finishing the game was about a 12 hour experience for me, a little over the 10 hour average on HowLongtoBeat.com, though it's listed completionist playthrough is listed at about 40 hours. It really does feel like a Lego title, but with more engaging gameplay, not to mention a kick-ass song titled 'buckle your pants' to reward players before teasing the plot to their next title, The Pit People (I already bought it). Battle Block Theater is neither overly long or difficult to beat, so it's a no brainer as a purchase, if its in your backlog, play it. If its not in your backlog, add it. Buckle your pants, and get on stage, Comrade!