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App Army Assemble: Brok the InvestiGator - "Should you snap up this point-and-click meets beat 'em up?"

We ask the App Army

App Army Assemble: Brok the InvestiGator - "Should you snap up this point-and-click meets beat 'em up?"
  • We handed Brok the InvestiGator to our App Army community
  • The voice acting and art style impressed, giving off Saturday morning cartoon vibes
  • The mix of genres divided opinion slightly

Brok the InvestiGator is a point-and-click adventure with some beat 'em up elements thrown in for good measure. It sees you playing as the titular alligator detective as he goes about his job. How you do that is up to you. So we decided to hand the game over to our App Army to see which route they'd take.

Here's how they got on:

Jojó Reis

Simply amazing! Undoubtedly, it is a great surprise for the mobile game world. BROK is a hack-and-slash style action game, but it has exploration and that makes it different from most games in this style, it's like a final fight of the 16-bit era only with more depth in gameplay. Here you fight and investigate, make decisions and then beat up. The graphics are beautiful, the controls are great, and the music and sound effects are good. As you can see, this is another amazing mobile game. Without a doubt, it's worth your purchase, you won't regret it

Swapnil Jadhav

Brock the licensor game is such fun to play. An action-packed point-and-click game with cute comic-style graphics. Controls were not that great but still, the gameplay is fun. Very well ported on mobile. Dialogues and sound effects are so funny. The voice dialogue was simply great. The game will be awesome on a tablet.

Chad Jones

Brok the Investigator is a part point-and-click and part beat-em-up. If you are a beat-em-up fan this game may not be for you. There is a disconnection between going from investigating to a Beat-em scenario but I feel as you play onward you get used to it. The visuals are great. Sound fx and music work well, and the touch controls are pretty good it does get difficult in the very few platforming sessions but luckily there is controller support.

I ended up playing most of the game on a Chromebook with a controller. I have to say I absolutely love this game and have put 10 hours into this game and worked through the 5th chapter (out of 6). The story is really good although a bit grim and dark. Everything you do in this game has a consequence and makes me want to play again to see how different the story is.

Jim Linford

I’m with Chad on this What drew me to the game was the idea of a mixture of genres tbh I’ve never been much of a point-and-click gamer. It is more about the beat 'em-ups for me. That’s not it to say the point-and-click sections aren’t good. They just feel like the game is constantly switching speeds. The beat 'em up combat side is nicely done and the point-and-click side too. It takes time to adapt to the momentum/pacing of the game. The voice acting is good. It feels like a Saturday morning cartoon. The setting is great also. Very dystopian. I can tell a lot of effort went into the game. Give it a try if you’re interested

Tom Chan

One of the interesting things about "Brok the IvestiGator" is that we can switch to "action mode" at any time in the scene to crush any objects or people we don't like. In addition, we can fully explore the stage by jumping into action mode. In this way, the action system becomes part of puzzle-solving, rather than just actions.
In a traditional puzzle game, it usually involves a particular set of routes for you to follow. However, in this game, you have different ways to achieve the objectives. For example, in a mission that requires you to get a particular item, you can complete a series of objectives, or you can beat or blackmail the NPC to get the item.

If you just beat through your way to the puzzle, you would miss out on the interesting design of the game. However, this game has multiple endings, offering replayability. It allows you to jump through plot points to play the part you like. Sometimes, your fists can’t solve all your problems as you don’t know who to beat. You can find ads in different places or buy from robots. Finally, when playing the game, the voice-over makes people feel like they are watching a great animated movie.

Bruno Ramalho

Brok the IvestiGator on an iPhone 12 Mini. I think there's always a first for everything and everyone, and I must say this was a first for me. I've been playing Point and Click games since I was a young boy, but never have I played a mix of a point-and-click with a beat 'em up. I like both genres, so, it strangely works very well for me. As a private investigator, there are all kinds of things you need to find to help you solve puzzles and further the story. But, you can just switch to action mode and use your knuckles to get past some obstacles, like knocking down a door if you're stuck solving a specific puzzle.

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And fights are popping up here and there, and you really need to go into action mode, so there's no escaping it, even if you don't really appreciate the Beat' Em Up genre. If you're really into it you can even change to a more advanced joystick in settings (where you can have a block button and attack button), and even better still, just connect your Bluetooth controller and you're all set for this aspect of the game.

There's also a VR booth where you can go in and just kick ass to level up your experience. It's quite fun actually. This is a big game I can imagine, there's a lot of dialogue, and I can see an hour go by very fast, and you barely moved an inch from the place where you started.

The voice acting is great, and it's like watching a cartoon show. From the beginning of the game, I felt right away that this is going to be a dark story, because of our character's nightmare. The puzzles are fun, there are a lot of them, and a lot of fighting also. There's also some platforming action thrown into the mix, so beware of that. You can even play with other characters, which helps to break up the pace a little. I really like this hybrid of a game. It was a first for me, but I would enjoy to play another one like this. Very well done.

Mark Abukoff

A point-and-click adventure with a twist- you can switch to action mode. It breaks up the sometimes inevitable crawl of searching for things and listening through dialogue to get past the scene, as well as breaking down the occasional stubborn obstacle. Pleasantly different from most offerings. There’s also a sense of humour to this game, plus it doesn’t really pull any punches (excuse the expression) with violence and bad guys.

And an early traumatic experience that caught me by surprise and hard to imagine what a very young child might think. Having said that, it looks great and has very good voice acting. As others have said, the voices and visuals give a definite Saturday morning cartoon vibe- other than (in my opinion) the early nightmare experienced. I like the alternate choices and story paths that make for good replayability.

And the fact that it gives little hints along the bottom if you’re having trouble. The controls work well and I had no trouble reading anything on my iPhone screen (the close-up view you can get on items really helps). Absolutely worth checking out the free first chapter and considering picking it up.

Oksana Ryan

This is a point-and-click/fighting game, coupled with a lot of reading/listening. The general mechanics are easy to use, the feel of the game and storyline are good and the comic book-style graphics are bright and well drawn. The sound effects are slightly corny but suit the game. You can change modes on the game and there are items to search for to progress through the story.

As a whole the game should appeal to a wide variety of gamers because of the unique form of gameplay, but although it played well, I personally found it a little slow for my taste, because of the breaks given over to the narrative. If you want a steady game that will give you hours of play then I think this would suit.

Armaan Modi

Brok the Investigator is a cool detective game you can play on your phone or tablet. It mixes mystery-solving with fighting action. Even though it looks friendly, the story is actually pretty serious and intense, which makes it more interesting. The characters in the game talk to each other, making it feel much more fun and there are a ton of conversation lines in the game.

There's a lot of talking and playing, so you have plenty to do. And it's great that the game is made easy for people who can't see well to play too. You can try a part of the game for free to see if you like it. If you do, you can buy the full game. Plus, it works on iPhones, Android phones, and iPads, so you can play it on whatever device you have. I look forward to playing more and completing the game soon!

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Stephen Gregson-Wood
Stephen Gregson-Wood
Stephen brings both a love of games and a very formal-sounding journalism qualification to the Pocket Gamer team.