Breakfast Brawl Game Review

BY: BRIAN ROBBINS  |  Advergame reviews, Advergames

Frusion Breakfast Brawl is an advergame promoting Dannon’s Frusion. The game is a Flash-based pixel art game. The gameplay is basically a remix of the old Punch Out boxing game.

You play as a tiny scrawny little player, and have to figure your way past 4 “unsatisfying breakfast” opponents. The controls are a bit complex for a typical advergame requiring both hands for the arrow keys and z,x and spacebar.

What I liked: This is a fun game. They do a great job of replicating Punch Out in a way that feels good. The entire experience is light-hearted, and the game is very polished. The characters all have different attacks, and each fight thus feels very different.

I also really like how they integrate the overall brand theme, without resorting to too much over the top cheesy brand inclusion. You spend the entire game fighting against boring breakfast alternatives.

I also really like the scoreboard. It is just a local scoreboard, but it allowed me to place 2nd, giving me something to strive for if I want, while not being completely unattainable by the 1000’s of other people who have completely mastered the game.

What I didn’t like: I think the controls may be a bit complex for an advergame. The controls aren’t super complex, but if their target market is more than just mid-20’s and below, they need to be even simpler than they are. If this game could be played one-handed, I think it would be a lot more accessible. I’m not sure if it could be done with just a mouse.

The product inclusion also seems a little bit cheesy and forced to me. That said, it is quick and not over-emphasized so it isn’t too bad.

The game itself could be a bit longer. I probably wouldn’t have kept playing beyond the 5-10 minutes I took to get through, but if I wanted to there’s nothing left for me to do.

Overall: This is a solid advergame. It appeals well to the early Nintendo generation, and it is fun enough to attract others. I’m not sure how much long-term success it will have given the relatively short play time, but I expect it to be seen by a large number of people.