Geek Syndicate Issue 9 March 2014 | Page 66

Geek Syndicate VIDEO GAME REVIEW max - the curse of brotherhood Brotherhood is a sequel / remake of sorts to the 2009 game Max: The Magic Marker which was released on systems with touch screen interfaces or gesture driven control systems. Both games feature the eponymous child as their protagonist and feature the “Magic Marker” gimmick. The idea is that Max uses the marker to create objects in the world that will help him progress. In the case of Brotherhood, the marker has the ability to grow platforms out of the ground, branches, vines to swing on, water spouts to speed through and fireballs to … well, ignite things. Publisher: Press Play Platform: Xbox One, Xbox 360 Available: Available in the XBOX Game Store for either platform When Max wishes for his annoying little brother, Felix, to be whisked away by unknown evil forces, he gets more than he bargained for. Armed only with a marker and a hope of undoing what he has just done, he sets out on a perilous journey across deserts, eerie lantern-lit bogs, ancient temples and lush green forests to get his younger sibling back. Along the way Max gains the powers to manipulate his environment and overcome seemingly impossible obstacles. It’s been a long time since I’ve really got my teeth stuck into a platform game. It’s been even longer since I’ve played a side-scrolling platform game. I thought my days of running, leaping, swinging my way from left to right along a level were well behind me. If Max: The Curse of Brotherhood by Danish developers Press Play is indicative of the genre, then I think I’ll be dipping into them more often. 66 The marker can also be used to combine these objects. Vines can connect to pillars or branches in order to create rope bridges or longer swings. Fireballs can ignite branches, which can then be used to create more fireballs and so on. As Max learns each new technique with the marker, these combinations and the various ways in which the drawn items can be used are explained. As long as you don’t forget the previous lessons, you’ll get through the game. I can see how this gimmick would work perfectly on a touch screen, or even with a wiimote and frankly, I thought the xbox controller would prove detrimental to the idea. Fortunately, this is not the case and in most cases, there’s plenty of time to activate the marker and draw what you need. Occasionally it will take a few goes if you’re being rushed by charging enemies but I didn’t find any real issue here. The rest of the controls work equally as well if not better. As with the platformers of old, there are few buttons needed. In Brotherhood, you need only movement, a jump button, a button for interacting… and the button to activate the marker system. It may seem an odd thing to say, but these controls are nicely responsive. During my play through, I could never once blame the controls for my dying – it was always down to me being an idiot. Running and jumping at the same time in games can sometimes be an issue but that’s not the case here. The game is beautiful on the XBOX ONE. When I first fired it up, I had to quickly browse the internet as I thought it must be based on a Dreamworks movie given the quality of the character models and the animation. It isn’t by the way. This level of detail and high standard remains constant throughout. The models used in the cut-scenes are exactly the same as those in game. It’s a small thing, but I do sometimes find the difference in quality between cut-scenes and