Brawl Stars: Is It Balanced?
Brawl Stars is a mobile game developed and published by the Finnish video game company Supercell. Players unlock and play with different brawlers in a variety of game modes, such as the battle-royale-inspired Showdown as well Brawl Ball in which players have to shoot at other players and kick the ball into the goal simultaneously!
Target Audience
According to the terms of service and privacy policy of Brawl Stars, players should be 13 years and above. However, given the easy to learn game mechanics and cute graphics, a significant portion of the player base is likely to be under this age limit. On the other end of the spectrum, some e-sports clubs sponsor players to play in Brawl Stars World Cup so there is also a strong base of players in their mid-20s.
Formal Elements
Mechanics
As mentioned, the game has relatively simple mechanics. The player uses a joystick to move in 2D space. In order to inflict damage to other players, the player can use a normal attack using the red button or a super attack, which usually has a unique damage mechanism, using the yellow button. A player can also trigger gadgets using the green button that can provide a temporary power-up.
Player Dynamics
This game has a variety of game modes, each featuring different player dynamics. For example. players can compete against other players in a 10-person battle royale called Showdown. They can also compete as a team in gem grab, where each team tries to hold on to 10 gems for at least 15 seconds, during which the other team tries to steal them back and reset the timer. The game also has a multiplayer co-op mode called Boss Fight where a team of three players has to defeat a super-powered boss within a time limit. Having so many different types of player dynamics keeps the game interesting as players can easily switch things up by trying out a different game mode. And these game mode transitions are extremely convenient as a player is usually matched to a game within ten seconds, regardless of game mode.
Objective
Despite having a wide variety of game modes, the objective in each mode is the same, i.e race. In Gem Grab, teams race to grab the gems. In Brawl Ball, teams race to score two goals. In a Boss Fight, players race to defeat the boss within the time limit. Having a unifying objective ensures that the players don’t feel like they are playing 5 different games.
Types of Balance
Asymmetry
There is a significant level of asymmetry in each Brawl Stars battle. For example, each brawler has a power level associated with it that can only be increased gradually over months of accumulating several in-game currencies. Therefore, veteran players who are already extremely familiar with the game mechanics also naturally benefit from having most of their brawlers at high power levels, which provides them with extra stats that make a noticeable difference. Fortunately, Brawl Stars has a trophy system that matches players who are of similar skill levels, thus balancing the playing field to some extent, especially for new players. However, players can still use in-app purchases to massively accelerate the natural growth of power levels, therefore, causing further asymmetry.
Also, in the current version of Brawl Stars, there are 40 different brawlers and all have different normal attacks, super attacks, star powers, and gadgets. For example, Brock shoots rockets and is good at long range attacks but suffers in melee encounters due to his low HP. On the other hand, Bull uses a shotgun and excels at melee range but is helpless at long-range where brawlers like Brock can easily target him. Therefore, players have to rely on the strengths of their brawlers and exploit the weaknesses of opponent brawlers in each battle, and also consider team synergy in cooperative modes.
Players also need to consider the current map rotation of each mode before jumping into battle, as the placement of camouflage bushes and immovable obstacles can provide an advantage to certain brawlers. Many third-party sites like brawlstats.com make it easier for the player by recommending specific brawlers for certain map rotations based on crowd-sourced statistical data. Interestingly, this forces players into using similar teams of brawlers, thus unintentionally leveling the playing field to some extent. On the other hand, it can be really frustrating, especially for newer players, if they don’t have one of the recommended brawlers for a particular map rotation.
Multiple Strategies
Each game mode, especially cooperative game modes, has multiple strategies to win the battle. For example, in the case of Gem Grab, a team can choose to play aggressively at the start and try to hold on to all the gems for the whole duration of the battle. A team can also choose to simply bide time until the other team collects a large number of gems and mount a single strong offensive, effectively stealing all the gems and starting the 15-second timer. Usually, the strategy of choice depends on the skill level of the players and the type of brawlers they are using. New players are likely to keep trying different strategies randomly as they are unlikely to win a lot more with a specific strategy. On the other hand, veteran players who are more familiar with the game mechanics are likely to consistently use nuanced strategies that work well at high trophy levels and keep using them. Therefore, the strategies are fairly balanced at lower trophy levels, where the majority of the player base resides. The imbalance only arises at high trophy levels where veteran players can discover subtle tricks that can give them a slight edge. The imbalance can also exacerbate when a new brawler is released that works unexpectedly well with another existing brawler. Fortunately, Supercell quickly detects such imbalances and frequently releases rebalancing patches where certain brawlers are ‘buffed’ or ‘nerfed’.
Game Objects
There are two main types of game objects in this game: Star Powers and Gadgets. Gadgets unlock at power level 7 and Star Powers unlock at power level 9 for a specific brawler. Each brawler has a selection of 2 Gadgets and 2 Star Powers and can equip one of each at a time. Gadgets usually provide an active but temporary boost to the brawler whereas Star Powers provide a passive but permanent boost to the brawler. For example, Brock’s Gadget increases the damage of the next rocket, whereas his Star Power permanently increases his ammo capacity. Other than the fact that these game objects are locked behind power levels and cause the same asymmetric imbalance, some gadgets and star powers are stronger than others. For example, Brock’s Rocket Fuel Gadget as described above can be used to quickly eliminate other brawlers and also prevent them from coming too close whereas his other gadget simply propels him into the air and can only be used as an evasive tactic. Therefore, while all Gadgets and all Star Powers cost the same amount of in-game currency, it is common to see certain pairs of Gadgets and Star Powers being used a lot more than others.
Types of Fun
Fellowship
Most game modes, except showdown and boss fight, involves a team of three fighting another team of three. Therefore, players are encouraged to play with a cooperative mindset. Otherwise, the opponent team would pick at the weakest link in the team. For example, in Brawl Ball, players are encouraged to slowly move forward and regularly pass the ball instead of playing the hero and jumping into enemy fire, which can easily give the possession of the ball to the other team.
Competition
In each of the game modes described above, competition exists hand in hand with fellowship as the two teams of players are always competing against each other as a whole. Interestingly, there is also an indirect level of competition between each player that comes into play with the trophy system. As players gain trophies with each win and lose trophies with each loss, trophies are generally a comprehensive indicator of the overall skill level and time commitment of a player. Therefore, players can use their trophy count to dominate local and global leaderboards.
Expression
The players can express themselves in multiple ways in this game. During each battle, players can conveniently share their emotions using in-game emoticons called Pins with the tap of a button. Interestingly, there is an in-game timer preventing players from spamming Pins, probably to prevent players from being too annoying and distracting.
Players can also equip their brawlers with special skins. Other than the obvious change in apparel, these skins also have special sound effects and animations that can be experienced during battle. However, most skins can only be purchased using gems, which is the most valuable in-game currency as it can only be exchanged for real money. This can create a paywall for free-to-play players who don’t want to spend money on this game. Fortunately, Supercell occasionally offers free skins during certain festive events and also as rewards for winning special monthly challenges.
Lastly, Supercell recently added a map-maker to the game. It has been surprisingly popular as the player base created 1.5 million maps on just the first day of release. Players also have an added incentive to make cool maps as they can enter the standard map rotation if many people vote for them.
Overall, Brawl Stars allows players to express themselves in a variety of different ways, which keeps the game interesting for veteran players who have already unlocked and experienced everything the game has to offer.
This game still has a lot to offer and I would recommend you give it a try!
