Broforce is one of those games. Graphically not spectacular and the concept is very simple and borrows heavily from cliches... yet maybe just because it doesn't take itself seriously and has some interesting gameplay mechanics it just somehow seems to work.
Broforce is a multiplayer side-scrolling indie action game from the studio Free Lives, and its main central theme is... well, simply 'MERICA! It's a complete tribute to the 80s action flick, which means all the enemies are obviously very evil, the levels are very obviously set in jungles abroad, blood sprays everywhere upon impact with an enemy and pretty much everything explodes at some point. Even the playable characters are from that era of movie history (with the exception of a few), and all of them have 'bro' somewhere in their name (Robrocop, Indiana Brones, Rambro... it goes on). All of this makes for a very fast-paced and quite manic game. Yet the game still requires some skill to play.
The first few levels are easy enough to just blitz your way through with whatever gun/rocket launcher/ridiculous weapon you have as your character. Each playable character has their own attack set and learning how to best play these characters is one of the skills you need to master in order to be very good at this game. And you'd best learn to handle as many as possible because to gain extra lives in this game you rescue 'prisoners of war' being held in animal cages, which then changes what character the rescuer is playing as (it also lets a player bring back a dead teammate if playing with others). Oh, and dying brings you back as another random Broforce member so adaptability is a must here. Rescuing enough 'extra lives' though will unlock new and more powerful Broforce members though so it's worth learning how to use each character for the chance to unlock these characters.
Another thing that needs mastering is learning when to blitz forward and when to wait and judge situations. Some later enemies can only be beaten in certain ways and some 'rooms' are set up so that you need really quick reflexes in order to escape without becoming a bloodsplatter yourself. Those 'extra lives' run out a lot quicker than you'd think they do, especially if you allow yourself to get carried away in the fast-pacing of the levels. Another ability that all Broforce members share but can only be triggered in multiplayer mode is that a high-five somehow triggers... bullet time. It's ridiculous but also utterly wonderful.
Right now the game is through Steam Greenlight and the developers are attempting to get extra funding before the game is released in Beta by offering pre-orders with the chance to get early access to the game before it comes out, when it will be arpound £4.99 and support up to 4 players. The pre-order money is being spent on further developing the game and recently a trailer showing 'bro' versions of characters from the Matrix joining in with the rest of them and making baddies explode into showers of gore. There's even a demo version of the game available now if you want to experience the madness of this game for yourself.
Further example of this game's insanity? Getting to the end of the level triggers a cutscene with a flagpole, your character gets carried away by a chopper as the level below you... explodes. Because why would it do anything else in this game?
Click here for the Demo
Game can be pre-ordered here