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When we played Broforce earlier this year we labeled it as "one of the greatest homages to the brotastic action movies of the ’80s and ’90s that we've ever seen." Developer Free Lives and publisher Devolver Digital either thought the same or totally read our preview because this week they released The Expendabros, a game that takes the successful and over-the-top violent fun of Broforce and meshes it with the upcoming film The Expendables 3.

The Expendabros is entirely free, a standalone expansion of sorts to Broforce. No freemium nonsense. No in-game DLC purchases. It's simple a smart marketing partnership blending the bro-tastic gameplay with the bro-tastic film releasing next week.

The game features the core cast of all three films with one of the new characters played by Wesley Snipes. The trailer down below will do a better job of introducing Sylvester Stallone's Barney "Broney" Ross, Jason Statham's Lee "Bro" Christmas, Arnold Schwarzenegger's "Trent Broser" Trench, Dolph Lundgren's Gunner "Broner" Jensen, Wesley Snipes' Dr. "Brocter" Death, Randy Couture's Toll "Broad" Road and Terry Crews' Hale "Bro" Caesar.

With so many stars, some miss out, including series regular Jet Li and franchise newcomers Antonio Banderas, Kellan Lutz, Ronda Rousey, Harrison Ford, Kelsey Grammer and Victor Ortiz. Maybe in the next Broforce?

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As you can see in our quick playthrough of the first stages up top, each character has a unique primary weapon and secondary grenade/ability and players are forced to switch between characters as they rescue their teammates. As players rescue characters they not only earn extra lives for the stage they're on, but also unlock additional characters until all of the above-listed mercenaries are acquired.

The Expendabros have assembled and set their sights on the forces of ruthless arms dealer Conrad Stonebanks in the forests of Eastern Europe. Battle in a flurry of bullets and non-stop action through ten full-throttle missions set amongst the picturesque tree tops and the absurdly dangerous lumber mills teeming with enemy soldiers, excessive artillery, and inconveniently placed circular saws. Rescue your brothers in arms and play as seven different legendary soldiers – each with their own unique weapons and special attacks – with up to four players at once in local multiplayer co-op mode.

The Expendables 3 Synopsis

In The Expendables 3, Barney (Stallone), Christmas (Statham) and the rest of the team come face-to-face with Conrad Stonebanks (Gibson), who years ago co-founded The Expendables with Barney. Stonebanks subsequently became a ruthless arms trader and someone who Barney was forced to kill. or so he thought. Stonebanks, who eluded death once before, now is making it his mission to end The Expendables -- but Barney has other plans. Barney decides that he has to fight old blood with new blood, and brings in a new era of Expendables team members, recruiting individuals who are younger, faster and more tech-savvy. The latest mission becomes a clash of classic old-school style versus high-tech expertise in the Expendables' most personal battle yet.

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The official trailer for The Expendabros:

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The game is quite simply fun and we only wish that we could play with friends online as well as local. This is one of those cases where a simple, yet great idea was realized in a way that's awesome for gamers. Download the game free here.

The Expendabros is available right now on Steam for free but will only be there until December 31, 2014.

Follow Rob on Twitter @rob_keyes.