So I just finished Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons..
Once again, this is an indie game with the "story over gameplay" thing going for it, which is good, because if it was pushing gameplay as a selling point then it would do about as well as the QB of the Packers did against the Lions on Thanksgiving. The game REQUIRES a dual analog gamepad like the Xbox 360 controller as you have to control both brothers separately. If you can get your brain to adjust to this without any significant problems then you deserve a medal. The controls are not a deal-breaker, but they do lead to quite a bit of frustration. Many games I've played use the right analog stick to move and the left one to look, so oftentimes out of habit I'd move the right stick to try and move the "left" character. Most of my deaths in the game resulted simply from some sort of control mishap or mistake. I understand what the developers were going for trying to deliver a single player co-op experience, but frankly this game would probably have been better executed with a keyboard and mouse control scheme. However, this likely did not happen because this was also released for consoles. I guess they wanted a consistent experience among all the platforms, regardless of how frustrating it was.
Well I suppose I should go into what this game is actually about since it's so story driven. Basically you play as two brothers who go on a semi-epic journey to find water from the tree of life to save their dying dad. Why are the kids going instead of the mom? Because the mom is dead, and it's basically the younger brother's fault she's dead. No, that is not a big spoiler because they reveal this literally right after you push the "start" button. She drowns and as a result the younger one is afraid of water and swimming and needs the older brother to help him get through water areas. There's no combat to speak of in this game for the most part. It's really just a series of puzzle solving sequences, but they're not on the level of traditional adventure games like Monkey Island, and instead are more like those from Uncharted and Tomb Raider, meaning they're easy as long as you're not severely mentally handicapped.
From watching the trailers of this game, you might think it's a "Neverending Story-Esque" epic adventure. The trailers hide the true nature of the tone of this game. Honestly, this is one of the darkest games I've ever played. There were a number of parts that represented a rather jarring change in tone, ranging from slightly disturbing to genuinely f-ed up. The one that sticks out to me is a section where you basically navigate through a giant graveyard. When I say "giant graveyard," I do not mean that there are many graves there, but rather there are a bunch of dead giants who apparently were on the losing side of an epic battle. Blood flows everywhere, there are numerous severed limbs, and it gets rather grotesque when you have to do things like push a dead giant's arm out of the way by pushing against a spear lodged in it until the limb moves and you can progress. There's another part right near the end where you go to very extreme and grotesque lengths to "win." All I'll say is that it's akin to ripping the legs off a spider one by one. Also, while I don't want to spoil the ending, I'll say that had I been told what the ending was before I played, I likely would not have played this game because I would have thought, "Well, I don't want to invest my time in a game that ends up with a payoff like that."
That's not to say I felt that my time was wasted playing this game. However, when answering the question of "Is this game worth my time and money," I'd have to say yes and no. The game retails for $15, which is NOT a good asking price IMO, mainly given how short this game is. Steam clocked my game time at 3 hours, and given that there's really no replay value in this game (unless you're an achievement whore) it's hard to justify $15 for this. I got it at 50% off, which is a much more reasonable price to deal with.
It just so happens that this game is on sale for 50% off on the current Steam Autumn Sale. If you're looking for an intriguing story, Brothers can deliver, but keep in mind there are many other games that deliver better at cheaper prices, such as
To The Moon, which is also on sale at an even more appealing price of $2.99. Overall, I give it a B-.
Still working through Saints Row 4. Clocked in about 30 hours so far as I've just had so much fun doing all the optional missions and I just got the Enter the Dominatrix DLC package. I'll likely keep jumping from game to game for the foreseeable future to coincide with my diagnosed ADHD.
