The Takeover is the latest game in The Baz extended universe

Another Storm Has Come

There’s never been a better time to be a fan of 2D, multi-plane beat ’em ups. With the Capcom Beat ‘Em Up Bundle, River City Girls, Fight ‘N Rage, Streets of Red already out, Castle Crashers making a comeback this year, and Streets of Rage 4 is dropping any second now, lovers of a good brawl almost have too many options these days. 

The Takeover stands out from that crowd in a couple of ways. The first is its visuals. It’s one of the only games on the market today that emulates the look of the original Killer Instinct games, with intentionally “frame-y” animation and character models that feel like plastic action figures. The second is the inclusion of The Baz, a creation by the Two Best Friends team based on a rejected Street Fighter design. Including his appearances in Divekick, Shovel Knight, and roles planned for  Pocket Rumble, Colossal Kaiju Combat, and Okinawa Rush, this makes the sixth time The Baz has been invited to be a real video game character. (Make that seventh. I somehow forgot Indivisible, even though it came out less than six weeks ago. Thanks for the reminder Trey Allen).

The game made a sudden leap from Early Access to, uh, Right-On-Time Access on Steam this week, and it’s coming to Switch (and PS4) soon. Baznificent!