Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons

[ratsoalbion]

Starbreeze's latest, and a complete departure for them, came out on XBLA today with PS3 and PC versions to follow in "late summer".

I've just completed the game and I don't want to spoil it for anyone, but suffice to say I will be giving the game a fairly glowing review.
Not that hasn't had a few already: http://www.metacritic.com/game/xbox-360 ... f-two-sons

It's a beautiful and emotional adventure that revolves around some clever (but seldom very taxing) puzzles based on the concept that you are controlling two characters simultaneously (big brother is left analogue/left trigger, little brother is right analogue/right trigger).

The game evoked Papo & Yo, Ico, Limbo and even Fable in terms of tone, looks, atmosphere and ideas, but with the two character twist redolent of the friendship trials in Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch and slightly obscure XBLA game Schizoid.

Though not especially long, it's a fine experience and well worth the £10 entry fee in my opinion.

[dezm0nd]

Definitely sold but I think I'll wait for it to hit Steam. Is this the start of the worlds quietest fanfare, Summer of Arcade, then?

[ratsoalbion]

Apparently it is the first game in SOA 2013, not that you'd know it (or that it's in any way relevant to the game(s) featured)!

Literally downloading Flashback (game three in SOA 2013) right now.
Awaiting codes for Charlie Murder and Turtles.

[dezm0nd]

It doesn't affect the games quality in any way shape or form but i'd imagine the sales figures are less because of any real PR for Summer of Arcade!

A solid year but nothing spectacular pops out, to me at least.

[Benjo321]

I've heard a lot of good praise for this, really look forward to trying it out when it eventually comes to PSN

[NokkonWud]

Been looking forward to this for months now and was originally a little dismayed that it was delayed to be put into a rather weak looking SoA (compared to previous years), but it's here now and I'm looking forward to playing it. The concept of basing a game around a very specific set of control pad controls is very interesting.

[Scrustle]

I was looking forward to this for a while, and I played some of it today. I think I'm about 1/3 to halfway through. I just did the hang-gliding section. Really enjoying it so far. Loving the mood of it, and the "one player co-op" thing is pretty interesting. Makes you think differently about puzzles, as well simply how you control your characters. It feels kind of odd controlling two characters at once independently from each other. I heard that the story gets pretty dark, but I was still pretty taken aback by how dark it suddenly went at one section.

[ratsoalbion]

The hangliding is more like 3/4 of the way through, maybe slightly more.

[Kajigh]

I'm going to wait on all the SOA games to be released before I get any of them. I have enough points for one of the four games, and I don't want to get this then find out that I've missed out on something even better, but for now, it has definitely caught my attention.

[Scrustle]

So I finished off the game a few days ago and my impressions of it are still pretty much the same. It's great. Gorgeous looking game with a really strong tone to it. It's both kind if magical and whimsical, but also melancholic and foreboding sometimes. Interesting mechanic for solving puzzles that they use in a lot of different ways, so they used it well. The ending was brilliant too. Really bittersweet, and there's a section of it where they make you do something that's pretty damn heavy, not even just for a game. I think you could compare a lot of aspects about the game to the work of Team Ico. If you like their work, you'll appreciate this too.

[ratsoalbion]

I agree with everything Scrustle says here, for the record.

[Sean]

I'll have to download this demo. The art style doesn't appeal to me, but, everything people are saying about this game is right up my alley.

[dezm0nd]

I too have finished Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons. I didn't love it, nor did it do anything poorly, it just failed to reach the dizzy heights of Journey for me (I was expecting a fairly similar experience)

Such are the problems with direct comparisons I suppose. It's a very different animal to Journey, and I myself wouldn't like to measure one up against the other.

Yeah, I hear ya but I couldn't help but compare it to other game which have a familar feeling to them. I did like it but it never went above and beyond for me. The PC version is prone to a heap of bugs which pulled me out of the experience somewhat which led to some restarts to poor checkpoints, often.

It looks fantastic but I found that it would've looked even better if one of the brothers wasn't constantly running into a wall

[ratsoalbion]

The PC version is prone to a heap of bugs which pulled me out of the experience somewhat which led to some restarts to poor checkpoints, often.

Hm. I did try to tell certain people who have access to multiple formats to play the excellent 360 version but they were like, "Ooh no I couldn't possibly when there's a PC version coming"
Bit of a shame when we try to preach format agnosticism here at C&R

[ratsoalbion]

Sorry, sounds like I'm trolling again. There is a valid point in there though.

I hope they fix up the PC version anyway. Shame to have a great experience ruined by sloppy coding.

As regards to the control mechanism, I think there is a discussion to be had (possibly on a forthcoming podcast) about whether the two character control detracts as much as it adds because of moments like the one you describe, dez.

Fortunately I went in with no preconceptions or expectations. The game did remind me of a few things though. More ICO and Limbo than Journey.

Edit: I'll move this discussion over into the Brothers thread when I get home (unless some kind soul gets there first).

[James]

There is a valid point in there though.

Absolutely there's a valid point. Not supporting timed exclusive games, for instance, or acknowledging that platform preference isn't the same as bias, and does not preclude agnosticism.

When buying Brothers, I took into account that neither of my 360s will likely be connected to my TV in a year's time, and that I don't know how long after that the XBL Marketplace servers will remain active. Both of these things place a potential limit on my ability to play Brothers in the future, something I'm keen to avoid if possible. Thankfully, in the case of Brothers, it is!

As for Brothers, I haven't fired up the Steam version yet, but hopefully the issues dez mentioned will be sorted in the next few days (before I do). For my part, I absolutely admit to picking it up before checking whether or not the PC version was up to scratch (a mistake on my part). I'm not happy supporting quick or shoddy porting of games, though the size of the team making Brothers is certainly a factor. I am, however, absolutely comfortable supporting consumer choice (for my sins).

We can all think of situations where early versions of a game have been superior, but also where later versions have been improved. I think the important thing to me is to play the best version of the game, much more than playing the earliest version of the game. I blame myself for not doing the requisite research in this case, but not for waiting.

[dezm0nd]

Picking up the PC release was three fold, for me.

1) Turning my 360 on isn't a fun experience anymore. I had to spend 15 minutes wrestling with a convoluted two-step security system which didn't want to go away, leaving my confused and frustrated.

2) I had about 7 quid in my Steam Wallet! Kaching, thank you steam trading cards!

3) Timing. I had too much on my gaming platter for the Summer of Arcade. The PC release came out the day I was finished with Rayman Legends!

[PlexShaw]

I went for the 360 version because it was actually available at the time I wanted to play it.

[ratsoalbion]

Fair enough James and dez. I think I had that conversation with Josh too.

I do understand about format preference, it's when it overtakes the emphasis on version quality that it concerns me. It's true though that this is a now rare example of a game being better, earlier and (I think) cheaper on console.

Personally speaking I don't have those negative feelings towards my 360, a machine which still provides me with as many happy gaming hours as my £1200 high spec PC - sometimes more because of the lack of PC gaming difficulties, which are much rarer than they once were but still not eradicated.

Once I was playing Brothers (admittedly I was lucky enough to get a free code on 360), I wasn't particularly cogniscant of what I was playing it on, nor did I care because I was entirely wrapped up in it.

It's a bit easy mind, and the lack of an outstanding score probably hurts it a little bit, but I found the specific moment when you work out how to progress late in the game (you know, after certain events) to be as profound and moving as anything in a number of other games which put the emphasis on emotion.

I speak as an only child, I wonder if this game resonates more for those with siblings..?

[Scrustle]

I think it's still understandable that someone would choose a version of a game on a platform that it actually runs worse on. If there are other reasons to pick that platform that outweigh any problems with the performance, then that makes sense to me. Like is you want to play it with friends or you prefer one controller over the other.

And I know that bit you're talking about later in the game. I found that to be a pretty cool moment too. I think it was so good for me because it actually took me a little while to work out exactly what I was supposed to do at that moment. I was kind of stumped, then a moment of revelation came and it all made sense. I do have a brother myself, but I don't think that really had anything to do with my enjoyment of the game. I'm not really close with him. But the way they used the mechanics to tie in to the story at that point was just brilliant. It was so simple, but it signified a lot.