It's appropriate that the first Kevin Smith video game is a retro throwback, because the stoner director's output has been increasingly insular in recent years. More power to him making things he wants to see, but the recent Jay and Silent Bob Reboot didn't endear us to the idea of a version of it we could play on Switch. Thankfully, Jay and Silent Bob: Mall Brawl is more enjoyable than its premise suggests.
For one thing, it's not just "NES style" - it is a NES game. Limited Run Games even offered a cartridge version of it. That lends an authenticity to the proceedings that makes the game inherently more interesting, knowing that what you're playing has been crafted within the limited specifications of the Nintendo Entertainment System hardware. Taking these into account, it's a genuinely impressive piece of programming – there's no sprite flicker, graphics are clean and colourful with multi-directional levels, it all runs at a decent speedy clip and it all feels well-made in a way that a lot of NES games sadly don't.
As you might expect from the title, it's a brawler; taking place after Kevin Smith's divisive sophomore effort Mallrats, Jay and Silent Bob: Mall Brawl sees the titular hetero-life-mates endeavour to escape the Eden Prairie Mall following their successful sabotage of Jared Svenning's "Truth or Date" game show. This means fending off such View Askew-infused enemies as hockey players, Mooby mascots, mall security legend LaFours and even a horse-riding Patrick Swayze in a lovely, unexpected nod to the underrated Clerks cartoons series. Indeed, there's a love for Kevin Smith's work oozing out of this game's pores - thankfully, it's not papering over the cracks of a substandard effort.
Taking most of its cues from the likes of Double Dragon and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Arcade Game, it's pretty straightforward belt-scroller stuff, but that's no bad thing. Both Jay and Bob have an arsenal of kicks, punches and grabs that can be chained together nicely. Completing combos on enemies will grant you collectable stars, which can then be used to inflict heavy damage with your next combo - this keeps the focus nicely aggressive, and the twin characters' move-sets are sufficiently different to make them both interesting. You can switch between Jay and Bob at any time by hitting the 'R' button, which you'll want to do when your health gets low as the "resting" character will slowly recover while the other gets stuck into the enemies. It's a more compelling system than the traditional lives and continues, and ultimately feels more demanding as you'll need to juggle the two to make sure you don't tap out to the next bunny-suited assailant. There's also a collection of weapons to pick up to bludgeon your many and varied enemies with.
It's not all good news, sadly. The ceaseless and baffling notion of "gameplay variety" rears its ugly head three levels in, with an appalling auto-scrolling segment akin to the notorious Battletoads "Turbo Tunnel", seeing you race through a grocery store on an out-of-control shopping trolley dodging hazards that appear erratically and without precise enough controls to dodge them reliably. And it goes on. And on. And on. The only way we could make it through was with constant pausing, and that isn't even remotely fun. This segment is a big, greasy stain in the centre of what's otherwise a rather neat side-scrolling beat-'em-up, and it's such a shame that developers still pull this kind of stuff. Is it accurate to what NES games were sometimes like? Sure, but not any of the good ones. The ones people, you know, actually want to play. The sheer spite of the shopping cart section is a huge mood-killer, bringing down what was until that point a rollicking bit of pugilism. As soon as it's over, the game picks up again, with a well-designed battle against the Golgothan from the 1999 movie Dogma. When it remembers what it does well, Jay and Silent Bob: Mall Brawl is a good time.
That's all you're getting, though; a good time. This is a fitfully enjoyable game in the manner of an above-average but far from classic NES brawler. You don't have the character progression or exploration of River City Girls, nor the ambitiousness of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Manhattan Project. Like all these games it's more fun with a friend, but you'll still have to play that atrocious auto-scrolling level, so it's not an easy recommendation for a quick co-op blast. And to be perfectly honest, at its launch price, you might as well drop the extra couple of quid on the Capcom Beat 'Em Up Bundle, if that sort of gameplay is what you're after. It's not a bad game by any means, but the impact of that wretched third level can't be stressed enough. It moves it from a breezy, fun thumbs-up to a grit of the teeth, a wince and a head tilt.
Conclusion
Jay and SIlent Bob: Mall Brawl is a strong achievement, a worthy NES throwback and a fun game for Kevin Smith fans and haters alike. Unfortunately it is hamstrung by a stage so bad that it brings down the entire experience and should, quite simply, be patched out entirely or made significantly shorter and easier. Still, persevere through it and you'll find it's sandwiched with joyful 8-bit face-kicking fun with two stoner icons. The whole world's against us dude, I swear to god.
Comments 37
Licensed beat em ups fall out of the sky with the river city license.
As for this game is like to play it and I'm happy I didn't crowdfund it.
I'm looking forward to this
As someone who's never heard of Jay and Silent Bob before this, I honestly thought those were the nicknames of a YouTube let's play channel duo. I've honestly only heard of Clerks through the animated adaptation.
Big fan of Kevin Smith and his pals and universe, but if the game is mediocre I'll wait for a huge price drop.
I don't want any part of the game cut, but if the cart stage is made optional, I'd appreciate that.
So, about that price point:
15 bucks little man. Put that game in my hands. If that money doesn't show me then you'll owe me owe me owe. My jungle love. Yea, owee owee owee ow. I think I wanna know ya know ya!
I remember going to malls when I was younger about 2 months ago. Good times.
The game is fun. It looks like he knocked 2 points off the review just because he sucked at the cart level! Haha. Wow!
@DrDaisy It is Nintendo hard, the way it was made. The reviewer seems salty because it wasn't a walk in the park.
I may eventually pick it up during a sale
Should be 10/10. This game looks true to the NES. NES games are supposed to be hard and if you can't handle it then you suck.
@DrDaisy It's definitely not Battletoads-level hard. It's not a OHKO stage. You have a health bar and there are powerups throughout. It's more of a "this will take you two or three times" challenge than anything.
Will cop on sale for sure Mallrats is the best! Should of been a genesis style game though right? Isn’t that what Brody is playing in beginning?
but why buy when you can get 99 vidas for a dollar??
@Noid ha haaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, how on earth have you never heard of them?
When someone makes a physcial nES game of jay and Bob and the cover art mimics DD2, i am 100% down. Cannot wait for mine to arrive.
@Noid bro they funny as sh1t like when they get thrown on the wall annd say sh11t nuggets lol
https://youtu.be/a_oXABjjbcM
@Shiryu bro can you pleease tell me how to post a clip like that
@sik187 it is a simple image gif, not a clip. Just use the tag <IMG></IMG> with the image url in the middle but replace the <> with the rectangular brackets (Alt Gr+8, Alt Gr+9).
@jimbojax And you're not being salty about the reviewer feeling differently than you about something?
@Rohanrocks88 yes it's an actual NES cart that you can play on the NES. There's reproduction carts for rare games and ROM Hacks as well. There's people who say it is very different to play on a retro console than a modern one due to things like input lag etc. adding to the challenge. Plus despite the SNES being around, there's still many who had the NES in the 90's.
@DrDaisy call me Salt Bae! Well written review, but to reduce the rating because they got frustrated at a specific level from my point of view lacks journalistic integrity. It is a retro NES game and they are challenging. Obviously this is my opinion. Are you being all sweet because salt is being thrown?
So then the reviewer's take on Super Mario Bros would be "It's all great but in the second world they threw you underwater and the gameplay changed...." along with a 6/10. I would hated to have him then go on to review Super Mario Bros 2 (USA), Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, or Castlevania II. The shock of change might have killed him.
@jimbojax To briefly address your comments, the placement of the offending level so early in the game is guaranteed to deter players less patient than I am - if I hadn't been reviewing this game I doubt I would have bothered persevering. At least the Turbo Tunnel in Battletoads gave you a preview of the next obstacle! The shopping cart section would be a misfire anywhere in the game, but a third of the way in it's a total buzzkill.
It's less about the level's difficulty taken in isolation, more to do with its placement. The rest of the game is pretty good, but I'd wager any more casual players are going to give up there. I think without it, or if it was slightly tweaked, I'd have given this a 7, which is well above average. I like the game, but I'll probably never play it again simply because I don't want to tackle that stupid stage! I'm versed in retro and retro-style games, I actively enjoy challenge, but it's got to be fun and that level was just frustrating.
If you like butting your head against that sort of thing, by all means add as many points to the score as you like.
@jimbojax You want some caramel ice cream to go with that salt?
Wasn't this a free game somewhere else?
@DrDaisy I would love some caramel ice cream to go with that salt! A cherry would be awesome as well!
@StuartGipp I Appreciate your response. Glad you could clarify your reasoning.
@construx Those who preordered Jay and Silent Bob: Chronic Blunt Punch got a free Steam code for this game as a preorder bonus reward.
@jimbojax How 'bout a Salty Dog to go with it? 😉
@bngrybt: Thank you for the info!
Okay, so that went straight off my wishlist. Been playing games since the 70s and I love a good challenge but I also know that kind of crappy levels destroy the feel of any game. Thanks for a great review!
Picking up Thy Sword instead after reading all the great reviews on Steam! Probably will get Infinite - Beyond the Mind and Huntdown too.
On Switch of course but the infopages here don't contain much.
@UmbrageHill Yup. NHL on Sega when Renee walked out on him. Crushing the CPU as the Hartford Whalers lmao.
@ClaytThaGreat I thought so haha the Whalers that makes me feel so old
@UmbrageHill hahaha same
@UmbrageHill
“That kid is back on the escalator!!”
And yes, totally playing Sega after, presumably, banging Shannon Doherty.
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