I’m a very fickle gamer, what i mean by that is that i very rarely stick to one game at a time, and as much as it shames me to say it, i don’t complete most games, and after playing the same few titles since the Xbox launch last week i found myself in a predicament, i was a bit bored.
I wasn’t in the mood for my usual routine of FIFA and Forza, so i decided to have a look through the games currently on the Xbox One marketplace, this is where i stumbled across Max The Curse Of Brotherhood.
Now i’d seen little bits of the game, but i’d never really looked at it that much, anyway, pretty much as a spur of the moment thing i bought it, i think it was £12.99 and i can honestly say i was very pleasantly surprised, not surprised that the game was good, but just how much fun it was.
Max The Curse Of Brotherhood is a single player only, side scrolling, platform puzzler, if i was to compare it something i’d say imagine Limbo, but a lot more colourful and less serious. You play as Max, and after placing a spell on your brother and sending him into the clutches of the evil Mustacho, (Mustacho is a very stereotypical looking bad guy, and if you couldn’t have guessed he has a rather fetching moustache!) You are forced to jump into this alternate world to save him and bring him back home.
I think the reason i enjoyed the game so much was the fact that it’s something different, original, which can’t be said for much out there on Next Gen consoles at the moment, and its pure simplicity.
Max has his one weapon, a magical pen. This must be used to solve puzzles and get from one place to another, the puzzles aren’t as challenging as the ones you may find in Limbo, but are enough to make you have to think and still feel rewarding.
The other aspect of the game that makes it so nice to play is how smooth and aesthetically pleasing it is, when you are drawing your vines to swing from and leaping from platform to platform it all just seems to flow so nicely, and some of the credit for that has to go to the controls as well, they may be simple, but they’re very effective.
When i say the game is aesthetically pleasing there are certain moments that spring to mind, every now and then you’ll be swinging over giant kazams, or over huge lava pits, and the game will go into slow motion as you attempt to draw yourself a path, these sequences look, and feel great.
I think they may have missed a trick by not having any multiplayer, co-op in particular i think could work quite well with the game, in a similar way that Portal 2 introduced it, but this is always something that could possibly be added at a later date via some DLC.
It’s only a short game as is often the case with these sorts of games, but after finishing it last night i honestly think it might be the most fun i’ve had on a game so far on this current generation, it’s the type of game that you can play casually, and this is what makes it so much fun, i think everyone needs a break from the serious games every now and then and Max The Curse Of Brotherhood is definitely a game that can fit that bill.
I’ve also decided from now on that when i talk about a a specific game i’ll give it a rating out of 10, this should help give you guys a definitive idea of what i thought of a game and make it easier for me to compare and contrast games.
(Max: The Curse Of Brotherhood trailer)
Max The Curse Of Brotherhood- 7/10
+ A really fun, not too serious experience
+ Great graphics with bright vibrant colours
+Smooth Gameplay
– Not a very long game
– No Online
That sounds like an interesting game. It reminds me in some ways of “Okami”. That game has drawing elements, as well, which makes the game really fun because of all the different things you can do with it. You can draw different kinds of lines in order to injure enemies, cut things, or create a gust of wind, to name just a few uses.
I’ve not heard of that before, have to look at it, sounds very similar, you basically have Water, Fire, & Ground lines that you can draw, it’s a pretty nifty pen :P
Sounds like a fun little game. I definitely saw a similarity to Okami like the duck mentioned or perhaps LostWinds. Sounds like something I will have to try out when I get an Xbox One.
This looks interesting to me, as well, what with the “Okami” similarities. I loved “Okami”, so a game with a similar concept might be fun.
I really enjoyed it. I played through it about a month ago and managed to snag all the collectibles. It’s a little buggy, but definitely worth 15 bucks.
-Mileson
Uh-oh, what kind of bugs did it have? At least it’s better than a $50-60 game with bugs. The more it costs, the more upsetting bugs are, for sure.
A few of the achievements and challenges didn’t register when I completed them and I’ve had enemies random shoot across the screen without any animation.
After Okami did it so well, I’ve always wanted to see another game try it’s hand a decent drawing mechanic. I’m glad to learn that one now exists! Thanks for reviewing it and revealing that it exists!
Now if I only had an Xbox One…
I’d not even heard of Okami before, but i was just looking at some gameplay- it looks ace! There are definitely similarities, it’s just that in Max you tend to draw to solve puzzles, or get from A to B, rather than in a fight sequence. How the fighting occurs on Okami reminded me of Pokemon and now i want to play that!!