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BROTHERS: A TALE OF TWO SONS (PS3)Publisher: 505 Games. Developer: Starbreeze Studios.
Released: September 2013. Genre: Adventure. Other versions: PC; X360. Posted 20th February 2015. By Alan Passingham © 2015 |
Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons is one of those new-fangled mature story-telling type games that everyone seems to admire greatly. The powerful plot subsumed with pathos, the beautiful surroundings, some ethereal acoustics; it certainly packs a punch that would fell the most ardent of complete bastards. These hallmarks, however, are also largely associated with Telltale Games’ The Walking Dead, a game that at best resembles King Kong’s first dump of the day. Sadly and in rather similar fashion to the errant zombie title, the unnerving quality on show has kind of blind-sided many to the huge absence stuck at the core of Brothers’ soul. Just where in the p!ss is the sodding ‘game’?
Two brothers haunted by the death of their mother leave the sanctuary of their local community to venture forth and find a magical tree that extolls a medicine to cure their ailing father of illness. At first all is rainbows and cheeriness as the boys traverse happily through the local village and surrounding farms of the land they call home. But their enchanting laughter slowly fades the further into the wilderness they venture as the journey becomes dark, dangerous and increasingly fantastical. It’s a growing of age tale, an allegory focusing on that particular moment where childhood is left behind and the hardships and realities of real-life kick-in. And boy does Brothers end up kicking one square in the nut-sack.
Two brothers haunted by the death of their mother leave the sanctuary of their local community to venture forth and find a magical tree that extolls a medicine to cure their ailing father of illness. At first all is rainbows and cheeriness as the boys traverse happily through the local village and surrounding farms of the land they call home. But their enchanting laughter slowly fades the further into the wilderness they venture as the journey becomes dark, dangerous and increasingly fantastical. It’s a growing of age tale, an allegory focusing on that particular moment where childhood is left behind and the hardships and realities of real-life kick-in. And boy does Brothers end up kicking one square in the nut-sack.
Brothers could never be accused of lacking visual panache
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A tricky spot for the fish to swim upstream
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The emotive content of Brothers is subtle enough to be the driving force of the title. It captures the player’s imagination from the outset – a sequence where the younger of the siblings stands at his mother’s grave is compelling enough to not let go throughout and keeps hold well into the closing denouement. This is ably supported by the quirky control mechanism, where both siblings are controlled at the same time using the control sticks. It seems a difficult ruse to manage at first, but it quickly becomes second nature to zig-zag effortlessly across the wondrous top-down 3D scenery to solve the occasional puzzle in tandem. Indeed, the graphics are rather superb; it’s the kind of game with water effects to die for, animation to make the heart quiver and multi-directional scrolling that drives you to lick your own nipples. Magic moments include a battlefield of dead giants as rather spiffing backdrops, sailing through Orca jumping ice-flows and hang-gliding through a valley of serene magnificence that really makes the neck hairs tingle. Starbreeze Studios have also been ever so thoughtful by leaving a number of benches lying around for the protagonists to just sit and admire the splendid visuals for a few minutes, if they so wish.
Such naval-gazing is just that though. Brothers can be admired in many ways, but the real crux is that it suffers from the problem of providing virtually no challenge at all. Puzzles are relatively simple throughout and are also quite sporadic. The concept of the siblings having to work together to pass otherwise immovable obstacles is a noble one, but this is only fleshed out and delivered on the odd occasion. It’s not exactly The Lost Vikings. And notably some of the challenges are too straightforward for words. Hiding behind frozen, statuesque peeps to avoid an invisible beasty is just to blindingly obvious that giving yourself a pat on the back for figuring it out is a somewhat shallow and empty accolade. For the most part, the game involves the brothers running through a lot of very pretty scenery in a linear direction. It ends up kind of resembling Kevin Smith’s definition of the Lord of the Rings trilogy – albeit Brothers is only a very short walk to a f*cking mountain!
Such naval-gazing is just that though. Brothers can be admired in many ways, but the real crux is that it suffers from the problem of providing virtually no challenge at all. Puzzles are relatively simple throughout and are also quite sporadic. The concept of the siblings having to work together to pass otherwise immovable obstacles is a noble one, but this is only fleshed out and delivered on the odd occasion. It’s not exactly The Lost Vikings. And notably some of the challenges are too straightforward for words. Hiding behind frozen, statuesque peeps to avoid an invisible beasty is just to blindingly obvious that giving yourself a pat on the back for figuring it out is a somewhat shallow and empty accolade. For the most part, the game involves the brothers running through a lot of very pretty scenery in a linear direction. It ends up kind of resembling Kevin Smith’s definition of the Lord of the Rings trilogy – albeit Brothers is only a very short walk to a f*cking mountain!
It ain't all a bed of roses...
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Synchronised wheelbarrowing, an unusual sight in gaming
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Indeed the story lasts just a couple of hours, and whilst one can point and say the same of Valve’s magnificent Portal, that happened to be a few intense hours of massively challenging gameplay where the gamer felt a sense of achievement once GLADoS had been triumphed. Here that sense of achievement is lacking. Unfortunately the totality of Brothers is geared towards telling its story and getting to the end as quickly as possible, so that gamers hopefully fail to notice the absence of game. This ends with the curious and unpleasant feeling of ‘is that it’ come the tragic finale, rather than an appreciation for the skilful entwining of the story around the games central dynamics. You in fact feel a little cheated by the hollow experience.
Sure, Brothers has depth in abundance, just the wrong kind of depth for a video game. If I wanted to blub like a baby at the misery of it all I’d watch Bridge to Teribithia again. For a game, I’d prefer something much more stimulating and challenging as the central thrust of my interaction. If Brothers had that alongside its careful plotting, rather than relying on running about beautiful scenery for five minutes before being required to do anything, well, it would certainly be more inspiring. As it stands, excruciatingly simple puzzles and similar longevity to china in a Bull shop means Brothers is inexcusably short, dull and disappointing. And a right bunch of arse to boot.
Sure, Brothers has depth in abundance, just the wrong kind of depth for a video game. If I wanted to blub like a baby at the misery of it all I’d watch Bridge to Teribithia again. For a game, I’d prefer something much more stimulating and challenging as the central thrust of my interaction. If Brothers had that alongside its careful plotting, rather than relying on running about beautiful scenery for five minutes before being required to do anything, well, it would certainly be more inspiring. As it stands, excruciatingly simple puzzles and similar longevity to china in a Bull shop means Brothers is inexcusably short, dull and disappointing. And a right bunch of arse to boot.
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