Retro Replay Review

Gameplay

Bristles delivers a straightforward yet surprisingly deep arcade experience built around painting entire buildings one room at a time. You and up to three friends choose from eight distinct player sprites—male or female—and race against the clock to cover every wall before your brushes run out or time expires. The six skill levels, each with eight unique buildings, push the challenge from a leisurely start straight into intricate obstacle courses that demand both quick reflexes and strategic routing.

Movement relies heavily on timing: you step on elevators to change floors, but miss the boarding window and you plummet down the shaft, losing one of your precious brushes. Three basement ladders offer alternate escape routes, creating moments of high tension when you’re being chased or low on time. Flying Half-Pints swoop across most floors at random, forcing you to jump or duck, while Dumb Buckets on level two onwards follow predictable patterns — understanding their loops lets you plan safe passages but leaves little room for error.

As you advance, the hazards escalate. Starting at building three, Brenda the superintendent’s brat appears in alternating buildings, smearing fresh paint and forcing you to backtrack unless you find and toss her a candy cane. By building four, the relentless Bucket Chucker begins tailing you with unpredictable speed; you must lure him into the paint mixer or trap him in the basement to survive. Steam pipes pop up in building five, tripping you if you aren’t alert, and brush-wear kicks in by levels six through eight, requiring strategic refills at oversized brushes scattered throughout. Each new element keeps the formula feeling fresh, turning a simple painting task into a pulse-pounding race for survival.

Graphics

Visually, Bristles embraces a bright, cartoonish style that feels right at home in an early arcade or home computer collection. The characters are small but well-defined, with enough color variation to distinguish players and hazards at a glance. Rooms are outlined in bold lines and primary shades, which helps the paint coverage mechanic read instantly on screen—each swept tile stands out clearly against unfinished walls.

Animation is minimalistic yet effective: elevators slide smoothly, Flying Half-Pints zip across with a satisfying flapping motion, and the Bucket Chucker’s lumbering pursuit conveys menace despite simple sprite work. Brenda’s handprints splash onto walls in a rapid smear, punctuated by a brief sound effect, making her interruptions both visually and audibly recognizable. While the visuals lack modern polish, the charming retro aesthetic and functional clarity ensure you’re never confused about what’s happening or where to go next.

Background details shift subtly between buildings to signal rising difficulty, from plain apartment hallways to industrial boiler rooms with exposed pipes. The limited color palette sometimes leads to visual repetition, especially over extended play sessions, but the core artwork remains clean and bright. For nostalgia seekers and fans of 8-bit era games, Bristles’ graphics hit the right notes, balancing old-school charm with gameplay clarity.

Story

Story in Bristles takes a backseat to action, but there is a quirky narrative twist embedded in those painted walls. After completing each building, you receive a fragment of a special message, eventually revealing six cryptic statements—one per skill level. This collectible element gives each stage a sense of purpose beyond high scores, encouraging replay to uncover the full text and discover what the developer intended.

The premise itself is delightfully absurd: you’re a mural painter dodging airborne pint jars, malicious buckets, and a paint-slinging toddler. Brenda, the superintendent’s brat, is more than comic relief; she actively forces you to adapt your route and prioritize power-ups like candy canes. The Bucket Chucker’s silent but persistent chase feels like the game’s primary antagonist, lending a faint narrative thread to what might otherwise be pure arcade repetition.

While there’s no sprawling plot or character development, Bristles’ light backstory and message fragments provide enough context to make each level feel part of a larger puzzle. The competitive or cooperative multiplayer adds its own emergent storytelling—seeing a friend bail you out of a tight spot or watching Brenda thwart your solo run creates memorable moments that turn routine painting into shared adventures.

Overall Experience

Bristles may look simple on the surface, but its layered challenges and multiplayer options keep players returning. The core loop—paint rooms, dodge hazards, and grab power-ups—remains engaging for hours, especially when you tackle higher skill levels. Cooperative play turns frenetic, as teammates scramble to finish rooms while protecting one another from incoming threats.

The pacing is relentless but fair. Early levels ease you in, teaching elevator timing and basic enemy patterns, while later stages demand mastery of all mechanics. The six-part message system offers a sense of progression beyond mere completion, and the variety of obstacles ensures the experience never feels stale. The retro graphics and sound design might not win awards today, but they perfectly capture the essence of classic arcade fun.

For anyone seeking a pick-up-and-play title with enough depth to hold long sessions or quick bursts of competitive chaos, Bristles is a cupboard must-have. Its blend of timing puzzles, obstacle navigation, and light puzzle-collecting strikes a satisfying balance that both casual and hardcore players can appreciate. If you’re ready to don your painter’s overalls and face everything from Flying Half-Pints to the dreaded Bucket Chucker, Bristles delivers a colorful, challenging, and entertaining romp through every floor of its quirky world.

Retro Replay Score

7.2/10