REVIEW: Jay and Silent Bob: Mall Brawl

Jay and Silent Bob Mall Brawl, an 8-bit companion to Interabang Entertainment’s upcoming Jay and Silent Bob Chronic Blunt Punch, is a prequel companion. While Chronic Blunt Punch remains in development, Mall Brawl will be released on Thursday, 7 May 2020, for PC and Nintendo Switch.

Mall Brawl is an homage to the 8-bit arcade and side-scrolling beat-em ups of the Nintendo Entertainment System. It was created as a digital bonus game for the Jay and Silent Bob Chronic Blunt Punch crowdfunding campaign.

Jay & Silent Bob Mall Brawl lets you take control of Jay & Silent Bob as you battle your way out of the mall and back to the Quickstop. Chief Rent-A–Cop and his off-duty officers hunt the hetero-lifemates throughout the mall. Although it seems easy to escape, there are many enemies and boss fights. These include Mallrats and skateboarding delinquents as well as eatery mascots.

Mall Brawl is a classic arcade-style game. This means that you only need to know a few buttons. There are two attack buttons and a jump button. The directional controls can be used either on the Switch (analogue stick, or arrow buttons). Combining these buttons can allow for great combo attacks and tactical approaches to many enemy types while you escape the mall.

You'll have to beat up Mallrats and other officers, but there are many other challenges.

If you fail to complete any of the tasks and Jay or Silent Bob both lose their entire life bars, then you can be ready to go back to the beginning of that stage. There are no checkpoints on the stages. This means that death is not an option if your goal is to reach the final stage. You can save your progress by starting a new stage.

This game requires a lot of trial and error. You will be facing multiple enemies, including skateboarding enemies and charging enemies, which may require you to jump attack more, dodge more, or charge more. There are enemies with range attacks like a ninja with shurikens (throwing star) that might require you to take a closer approach to avoid being killed by ranged attacks.

Fear not, if you are worried about your death, Keep an eye out for any items that may be dropped by enemies or other smashable objects if one of your characters is killed in a brawl. These items can include chicken wings, burgers, and other foods that can restore health. If your only character survives the brawl, you'll have more time for your defeated character, to recover half of their health and then be revived. This is especially helpful when you are facing multiple enemy types. The mascots, for example, have more health and hit harder than other enemy types. Avoid their attacks and dance around until you feel confident that you have a backup plan to defeat them if one character is defeated.

You will come across a variety of objects that can be broken, such as trash cans or crates, which when they are destroyed, drop items. You can find food, as well as weapons from these objects, including a sock containing quarters, a baton of the police, and even a hockey stick. These weapons can deal some damage to enemies, but only at a very short range. You can hit them before their eyes get too close.

The game is a throwback to the NES era and offers Smith's Askewniverse fans a challenging, but fun, game to play while we wait for the Chronic Blunt Punch. You can also enjoy the original, upbeat chiptune soundtrack that enhances the speed and action. You can play the game at any time. However, you will need to complete the entire stage. This is great for players who want to challenge Jay and Silent Bob as well as their foes.