When you see a game pop up in several game of the year contender lists you expect something of greatness, something of wonder, something to make remind why you love gaming in the first place whether it be a £40 AAA title or whether it be an indie game that cost you less than what you used to get for weekly pocket money. But in the case of Brothers, a downloadable title for XBLA, PSN & Steam, contender is about as far as it will ever get.
Brothers' concept is simple, you play as two brothers simultaneously using the analogue sticks on your controller. The older brother, which for the purposes of this review will be named Blue, is controlled with the left stick & left shoulder button and the younger brother, which will be named Orange, is controlled using the right stick & right shoulder button.
The game opens with Orange still mourning the loss of their mother who died from drowning previous to the events of the game, Blue gives Orange the sad news that their father is ill and will likely die soon. The two take the father to a doctor and he tells the brothers of a mystical tree, from which the sap will heal their father.
And so the duo begin a journey across a land filled with trolls, giants and killer whales to save their father.
The story is pretty much left there until the end, there is no dialogue in the game and the only characters you come into contact with simply point you on your way to the tree.
Brothers is a traditional platformer, no combat and a heavy emphasis on climbing & solving simple puzzles. Not the word simple there, Brothers never challenges you beyond making you stand back for a couple of seconds to assess the area and the best way to tackle a puzzle. The majority of them are to get Blue & Orange to a switch and activate them. A handful are a little more inventive but they are few and far between to make them overly notable.
The game also only lasts around 2 and a half hours, which for a downloadable game isn’t unforgivable but 2 and a half hours of platforming and repetitive puzzles leaves a fair amount to be desired at times even in the genres most loyal fans.
As for presentation, Brothers is something of beauty and really pushes the boat out in terms of visuals. Its simplistic cartoony approach makes it feel like you have stepped into a high budget animated movie. The art style, the lighting and the simple texture work does wonders for the game and it will definitely stand the test of time in its visual department. The same goes for the audio, with a brilliant soundtrack that accompanies the game, one that I would buy to have on my iPod.
Despite my comparisons to an animated movie, particularly the looks of something from perhaps Dreamworks; Brothers is not a family fun experience. The game quickly takes a dark and twisted turn which at first could probably pass over younger players without them initially realising the scenes of suicide & torture, but around halfway through the game you come across some pretty graphic scenes and a rather stomach turning scene involving a spider. Definitely not one for the kids.
“And they all lived happily ever after.” is what many tales much like Brothers would end like, nobody lives happily ever after at the end of this game. Not the characters and not you. Brothers is a fun but fleeting glimpse at what could have been a great puzzle platformer had it had a longer shelf life and more mechanics to it. Minimalism is very much a do or die thing, do it right and your game will be showered with praise, do it wrong though and much like the case with Brothers you end up with a game that had a lot of potential but its quite lacking in substance once you get past the surface.
Brothers is a game everybody should play, but not because it is great, not because it is terrible, but because it showcases the greatest example of a good game let down by lack of substance in recent memory.
To me it looks like Brothers will be much like the Mirrors Edge of the downloadable market. Something that will split opinion, where some will be devoted to the game and give it a cult-like following, whereas the others will simply forget it exists in a few months time.
Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons – 7/10
+Occasional Standout Moments
+Gorgeous Visuals
-Too Short
-Repetitive
-Generic Fairytale Story
