Speed Brawl

I have to give it to the developers ...they obviously worked a long time on the combat in this game because it is the most fun and satisfying combat I'v experienced in a really long time.
Speed Brawl mixes racing, 2D fighters and beat'em up all together to create a splendidly fast-paced brawler and I can't stress this enough ..it does it RIGHT.
This doesn't go on to say the game is perfect, it has its shortcomings and I'll get to that in a bit, but as logic has it I need to talk about whats good first.
Combat
you can move very fast and freely and use the world as you like, every character comes with its special and ultimate attacks, out of the total 6 characters in this game you can pick two and tag between each whenever you want and can create good combos using that, the stamina bar is what you need to use special attacks and once the focus bar is full you can launch your ultimate attack.
Each character has its own skill tree and can equip 3 items, a glove for damage, boots for defense and an accessory that has special effects, they all can come with the ability to either inflect or resist status effects.
The game focuses greatly on speed so you have to keep your momentum going which like I said before you can use the world with it, you can jump off walls or kick off them to bounce back, you can use poles to swing around and change your direction while maintaining your speed, you can use enemies to bounce to other ones, dodging and dashing are two things in the game, dodging you can use to ...well dodge attacks and perform counter attacks while dashing you can use to push through enemies or gain a higher speed or height, its all so fast and satisfying to score as many combo as you can and finish it as fast as possible, if you are familiar with 2D fighter games that allows you to call your mate to do a swift assist attack just like in king of fighters, you can do the same in this game, remember you can also tag and switch character instantly and its really cool, also if you ever got hit and knocked down you can instantly tag out rather than waiting for your character to get back up which consumes time.
Levels
are split between time limits or score, every level has a bronze, silver and gold tier, some levels are basically a race, how fast can you reach the end while spinning on poles spread around, some are fighting levels but speed still counts and some are limited time levels that pins you down with a boss and you try to beat it as much as you can before the time runs out, think of street fighter bonus car level style except it bites back.
The world is filled with speedboosts, poles, explosives barrels, chainsaws ..spikes and more, so you can't just run around you need to see where you're going, a nice touch to keep you on your edge at all times.
Leaderboards are a nice touch also, every level has its own leaderboard rankings and you can see how good you did and challenge yourself to a higher level.
Story
I'm not very impressed with the story, you're in the world of speed brawl where tournaments are held for brawlers like you to rush as fast as you can and kill all those scary monsters while the crowd cheers for you but the arena owners wants you to lose so they make more money because they bet on you losing, it basically goes like an old comic where the villain throws everything they can at you and your heroes beat it with the can-do attitude and the bad guys go all "OH NO you beat me but next time I will have my revenge" and it goes on and on ...and on ....and more so until the game ends basically leaving you with the desire to just skim through it but for the sake of writing a better review I stayed through it all.
The game is level based so every time you start a level they have to start a dialogue with the most cliche type of villains that says you'll fail this time and your characters are all crazy type of people, they're all quirky and insane but good people and sticks together, though I really wished they reduced the amount of dialogue, I hate skipping so I read it but I wanted it to be shorter and less cliche and obvious, you can almost tell what they're about to say next.
Visuals
They are simply outstanding, just look at how beautiful they all look, the animations are on point and all the flashy effects are brilliant, but perhaps it is too flashy and your character does blend in too well with it so you end up losing sight of where your character is especially if you're playing coop with a friend, you'll say stuff like "OMG where the hell did my character go" very frequently haha.
When it comes to difficulty in this game I never found it challenging considering that most of the time I finish a level in a much better time than the requirements for the gold trophy, usually games that have those type of trophies on each level makes the gold one being difficult to obtain, for this game however I got most of them on the very first try, I wish they had made it harder so I'd replay all of them because the gameplay is so satisfying that replaying levels is worth it
One thing I really disliked about this game is camera controls, in so many levels the camera would stay on the top side when you need to look down to see if there are enemies remaining or a trap and I tested this both with singleplayer and coop and on coop holy hell its on a different level of crazy, you GET used to it eventually you do but its very annoying I wish there were any type of controls in option to set it to get farther when we move away from each other rather than staying in an angle where we both lose sight of where we used to be.
I encountered several bugs in which a character, most notably Cassie, would clip through the walls and get trapped there and you can't escape, or when a chainsaw also clipped through walls and kept bugging out, or when a door is about to close and you're near it and you just get jammed there for good.
Managing your inventory sucks, you get drops after every level and its hard to keep track on whats good or bad so you wanna sell them, there is no "Sell all" button, you have to sell them each individually and it takes time since you have to click on it , go to sell and hit confirm, to the point where you'll want to do it quickly and end up probably accidentally selling an item you have equipped.
The game suffers from stuttering issues and freezes every now and then, when you finish a level or start a new one, or sell an item it freezes for a second which might be a problem with my laptop so I tested it in a gaming desktop and it had the same issue although a bit less frequent, so my best guess the game would run better on an SSD or just needs some optimization because it ran both my laptop and desktop's cpu/gpu on a high level, higher than Overwatch, CSGO and many other 3D games to the point where my laptop's GPU tempa reached 93C and it never did that on any other game at all
Pros
+ Outstanding addictive combat with tag-teaming and brawling combined perfectly.
+ Stunning visuals, animations and effects.
+ Brilliant soundtrack and character voices and sound effects.
+ Provides long time of gameplay and good replay-value to get the gold + Achievements.
+ Brings more challenge and fun playing it locally or online with a friend.
+ leaderboards tracking.
Cons
- Performance issues, stuttering problems and optimizations.
- Glitches that happens frequently when you glitch through a wall
- Very annoying camera movement that you have no control over.
Summary
Speed Brawl is a fast-paced mix of brawling, beat'em up and racing crafting them into a fantastic combat-racing that is both fun singleplayer or coop with a friend, a truly fulfilling experience and hoping for more games like this that aren't afraid of making something new

Speed Brawl is one of those games that I'm not really sure of how it ended up in my library. Must've been something like a Humble Bundle? Regardless, that is a damn shame, because I genuinely wish I had purchased this game at full price.
Speed Brawl is a 2D sidescrolling brawler, where speed is your friend. It features one of the most satisfying combat systems I've played. The faster you move, the more damage you do. You can pick between 6 different characters (you start with 2 and unlock the others later), and you tag team the levels. This means that you can swap between 2 characters at your leisure. The game also features couch and online co-op, and online leaderboards.
I've looked around for reviews of this game and there doesn't seem to be many. Of note, I do remember one in particular (which was more of a first-impressions video than a review) where the commentators felt the complete opposite of what I did. They complained that they weren't feeling the whole "speed" aspect of the game, besides the basic timer on the screen. These commentators also proceeded to finish half of the levels they played with a silver rank. I'm not bringing this as a way to insult their skill, but rather to bring up a very important point: If you're not trying to play the game as fast as possible, of course you're not going to feel like it's a fast game. You've got a wide array of moves and mechanics to play with, if you're not using them as much as possible to try and finish levels with a gold rating, then of course you won't "understand" the game.
Gameplay
The playable characters fall into two classes: The faster but weaker class, and the slower but stronger class. Honestly though, I've stuck to the same 2 characters (the starting ones, Ebba and Bia) throughout the entire game (and my subsequent platinum runs), only picking the first unlocked one (Cassie) on a specific level or two. Cassie is, by far, the best character in the game, as she's the fastest and has amazing aerial attacks. I mostly stuck to Ebba, however, as I felt like I had more control over her special abilities than Cassie's. Each character has it's own playstyle, so you might end up going with a different setup, I just personally found that the first two fit me fine.
The game's levels consist of arenas. You enter one arena, clear the screen, and move to the next one until you reach the finish line. Some levels bring up gimmicks, like needing to touch all the poles on the way to the finish, having to do as much time as possible, etc... Each level then awards you a rating based on how fast you were, from bronze to gold (and later on, platinum), and some randomized loot. You earn some money and XP (which go towards skill points), which you can use to buy more loot with, or unlock buffs for your characters.
The loot system is, well... It's there. It exists, but there isn't really much to think about. Just equip the items with the larger damage/defence numbers. Supposedly, different types of loot are more effective toward some enemy types, but in practice you really won't be feeling this difference (I finished every single level with Platinum using the exact same loot that I got at the end of my first full playthrough).
The skills do make quite a bit of difference, but you do need to pick your branches wisely, because you will not be able to unlock all of them (you can undo your skill points if you want to change it up). In practice, I've found that max'ing the first row, almost maxing the second, and putting some points into the third row, is the best setup for all the characters.
Difficulty depends on what medal you're trying to get at the end of the level, but I overall found it pretty alright to get golds at the end of each (outside of a few, especially pole races), getting them most on my first try. After my first playthrough, pushing myself to get platinums in all levels eventually got me to pretty consistently getting platinums, so it's very much a skill thing (except levels featuring the mantis-like bosses. In those, it's primarily luck based as you need to hope the boss gets in a staggered state so you can do more damage to it). The one thing you might struggle with initially is getting the timing of the dodges right, but with some practice, you'll start to figure out how it works (hint, don't dodge when you see the flash, you need to wait a bit for the enemy to attack).
Co-op exists, and it's perfectly servicable. You don't get new characters, so in the beginning you and your friend are stuck playing Ebba and Bia with slightly different palettes or skins. The levels are exactly the same, except enemies get double the health. One small annoyance is the fact that camera controls don't exist, and while you don't need them for singleplayer at all, you definitely do for Multiplayer, because you and your friend are sharing the same camera and the game won't care if one person is faster than the other. I tried playing two people on one keyboard, but I don't think it's possible as the game requires the other player to be on a controller (however, you can use controller input mods to trick it into thinking your keyboard is a controller).
Visuals
Not a major complaint here. Looks great, animations are incredibly smooth and bouncy, backgrounds are lovingly rich, and the particle effects are satisfying to look at. Each character has a distinct silhouette, and the enemy and level designes are distinct. However, as the levels change, the enemies pretty much just change their palette, so it might end up feeling like you're just hitting the same things over and over.
The UI is perfectly fine, though managing your items can be a bit annoying as your window is so small and fiddly. Probably not very fun to do that with a controller...
Story
Story is this game's weak point, and to be honest, you're not really looking into fighting games because of their story. It's not bad, but it is very predictable. Probably because of the game's structure, there is only so much you can do on this front without interrupting the gameplay.
You're fed story between levels, as the main team exchanges dialogue/quips/insults with the owners of each Speed Brawl league. The characters are cliché/stereotypical, which is why you can usually figure out what they're going to be saying in each exchange. The story itself doesn't really bring anything new to the table, as it's your typical tale about how teamwork prevails.
One thing I do appreciate is the little lore tidbits that are present in the loading screens, item/enemy descriptions, and the fake advertisement billboards in the background of each league. Thought that all of that was a nice touch.
Sound/Music
The sound effects are grisly and punchy. They really work well to sell the impact of your punches and kicks (or paddlings). Voice acting is perfectly fine (not really much to talk about, as in the dialogue scenes you only get some grunts or laughs, and during gameplay you get more grunts and shouts).
Music is fantastic. Vibe Avenue made a fantasticly catchy theme song, and there are many variations of it as you play, so I sure hope you enjoy ear worms. My only complaint is that I couldn't find any CD versions of it (because I collect CD's), but the soundtrack is available in lots of different digital media.
Bugs
I don't think I encountered anything horrible throughout all my playthroughs. Of the issues I did encounter, I have brought them up in the game's forums, and the developers have said that they will look into and/or have fixed it for an upcoming update.
Overall
Fantastic feeling, fantastic looking, fantastic sounding. If these sorts of fast paced beat-em-ups are your thing, or you love speedrunning, then this is the game for you. I really hope to see more people playing this game in the future, because it's some of the most fun I've had in a while.
8/10

fun & satisfying combat, early game is a bit mediocre but it'll get better later, the soundtrack is a plus.

Wow, this game is amazing. First few rounds left a mediocre impression, as I spammed basic attack chains. But once I weaved in the godly Dash button, the training wheels were off. Kudos to the dev team for how much fun they put into that single button -- Dash attacks, Wall attacks, Pole attacks, directional input sensitive and chargeable. Great movement flexibility around the screen, being able to link basic attacks, up attacks, down attacks, double jumps, and dashes all while airborne. Plenty of depth with different specials, ultras, assist calls, and tag attacks between the 6 characters. Probably my favorite 2D combat system across hundreds of similar games. It hurts that this game didn't find a larger audience.

This game is effing awesome fun. so much fun, runs like a dream and the soundtrack is just delightful. I got it free on the store that shall not be named and after an hour i thought "i want this in my steam library" so i bought it. Call me crazy if u like, you won't be the first ;P

The character-design and soundtrack are really, really good!
Combat's got a nice curve wherein you learn to get better and better at building your momentum along with your combo-weaving. You'll continuosly be challenging yourself to get faster and faster, more and more accurate!
A solid recommendation!

Seeing some reviews I have no idea how you can rate a game with literally less than 20 minutes played lol. That said I can say with 2 hours in so far the game is quite fun. It takes some time to get use to the combat. You do more damage based on how fast your moving. Sometimes it can be hard to counter certain attacks with the small window they give you but when you do it feels good. Missing the gold by mere seconds makes me want to go back and try it again. And not many games can do that for me. Also the music is great! At only 20 dollars this is a great buy.