Max and the Curse of Brotherhood

 

Max and the Curse of Brotherhood

Type	Puzzle-platformer
Single or multiplayer	Singleplayer
Developer	Press Play
Publisher	Microsoft Studios
Fun	4/5
Difficulty	4/5

Anyone who has ever had a brother, like I, knows that sometimes they can be a pain in the neck, especially the younger ones. Or so I’ve heard; in my case, I was the younger one. But what do you say when you get your younger brother into so much trouble that you have to go get him back from another dimension? 

On the outside, Max and the Curse of Brotherhood is a puzzle platformer set in a beautiful surrounding in what is called a 2.5D perspective. It would be easy to dismiss it as a cartoony game for young players. However, underneath the surface, there is a platformer worth your time.

 

As I said, the game looks gorgeous. You will pass through 20 levels full of color, from the rocky desert at the beginning to lush jungles and underground caves. The graphics are not demanding enough to tax your machine, but are enough to load fast and give you a pleasant atmosphere during gameplay. Another thing that I love in games such as these is the dynamic background. It is never a still image, but rather ably animated, and sometimes even affects your actions.

The gameplay is exactly what you would expect from a puzzle platformer with a slight cherry on top. You control Max, a surprisingly agile young boy, as he jumps, crouches and runs around the obstacles in his way. The controls are responsive and intuitive. By the end, it can get challenging as well, so expect to repeat certain instances a few times, as an element of feeble frustration might rear its head – never because of the controls, though, but because of your reflexes. Or it could be just me, and my general decrease of response time that comes with age.

The cherry on top that was mentioned is the magic marker that Max carries, and this feature works really well for the most part. Namely, this is a sequel to the game Max and the Magic Marker, which I haven’t played, truth be told, where the marker makes its first appearance. This marker is truly magical, as it allows Max to interact with the world around him by changing the area and creating new shapes and platforms. Cannot climb over the rock sticking out from the ground? Use the marker to make it smaller. Cannot reach the ledge? Stand on the rock and use the marker to make it grow.

The marker can also be upgraded later in the game with various powers, so that you can use it to draw objects into existence, create vines to jump to and hang from or connect them to the ground, expand tree branches and so on. Physics also play an important part in the puzzle solving, and even though the solution to a certain puzzle may not always be easy to find, it is always logical.

 

Along the way, Max will run into villains. To defeat them, his magical tool also comes into play. There is no attack in this game; you need to be clever and use the marker to either trap the bad guys, land them in an accident, or have them shoot each other.

As far as the story is concerned, it plays second fiddle to the platforming action. Max’s younger brother was annoying, so Max sent him to a different dimension by accident, where he was trapped by an evil entity, and Max needs to save him. This serves only as background motivation, and hardly ever comes into play as an important factor, at least in the first levels.

 

All in all, this is a very fun, at times demanding game, that is sure to entertain the youngest and test the more experienced players. If you are looking for a new and fresh platformer, give Max and the Curse of Brotherhood a try and save your younger brother from the evil clutches of a villain from a different dimension.