Boys to Men

Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons

Starbreeze Studios

PS3 (2013)
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Starbreeze Studios teamed up with Swedish film director Josef Fares to make Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons. The marriage of game and film produced a non-stop cinematic experience in which no time is spent fumbling through menus, button schematics, or overly challenging puzzles. It's a thrilling three hours for the price of a movie ticket.

Brothers offers many breathtaking views of the landscape.

The game's bubbly character models and tidbits of humor make it appear less exotic than somber influences like Ico, Shadow of the Colossus, and Journey, but the solemn story is riddled with suffering and delivered in a fictional language that masks any disastrous voice acting. With its maturity in question, the last thing this game needed was a Jake Lloyd sound-alike.

Hang gliding through the valley is all about positioning.

Although Brothers is an amalgam of gameplay focused on simultaneous activity of two protagonists, the linear action never feels forced. All dual activities melt perfectly into plot events instead of feeling like a loosely connected series of mini-games. The slick environments also suppress the gimmick, even though there are moments when the acrobatic boys can't overcome grossly insignificant roadblocks without first solving puzzles.

The troll guides the boys through otherwise unmanageable terrain.

Basic movement is similar to Ico but there are no customary jump or attack buttons, only one button per brother that interacts with triggerable objects or people. The brothers meet many troubled characters along the way and help them through their hardships. Some of them will assist in return, like the troll in the first chapter who can throw the boys across big gaps and position himself to be walked or climbed across.

Unfortunately, bland character design may alienate the sophisticated indie game audience.

Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons is an instant PSN classic that successfully combines interactivity and cinema. Those concerned about the short length should know it's absolutely worth a second play at minimum. I would personally pay the retailed fifteen dollars to play it just once, which makes me wonder about the future of downloadable games.

Telling the Same Tales

Poker Night at the Inventory 2

Telltale Games

PS3 (2013)
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Poker Night at the Inventory 2 recently popped up alongside Hotline Miami as a free offer for Playstation Plus subscribers. Now, people who were unwilling to shell out ten bucks for a simple poker game can experience this fun little romp. But when it's literally all said and done, they'll pat themselves on the back for not making the purchase.

Poker Night 2 is certainly more appealing than the average poker game because of the dialogue between the lovable characters which is a pleasure albeit too repetitive. You'll hear the same discussions by your second game, which has long been a concern of simplistic games like those based on television game shows. However, the developers of games like Family Feud and Buzz! have addressed this issue in recent years. Why can't a powerhouse like Telltale? You'd figure a game based around loose conversation would have enough of it to last a few rounds.

As is unfortunately commonplace in the digital market these days, Poker Night 2 was released with its fair share of bugs. Stuttering and freezing frequently occur around the auto-save function, but they are not game-breaking glitches, just another burden when you can't catch a break at the table.

All issues aside, Poker Night at the Inventory 2 is sure to please while the bits last, especially if you like the featured characters or just want to see some cards flop. There's also excellent stuff to unlock besides trophies, like character crossover wallpapers for your XMB menu. If you can get Poker Night 2 for free, enjoy it while you can, which is most likely but a few rounds.

Murdertown, USA

Hotline Miami

Dennaton Games

PS3 (2013)
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I saw a few screenshots of Hotline Miami and expected a quirky Grand Theft Auto clone like the charming Retro City Rampage. What I got was the most violently psychotic experience I've had the pleasure of playing in a while.

The dismantled story was difficult to deconstruct. I was too caught up in kill, kill, kill. I'll do my best to summarize: Countless thugs await around corners for you to mangle in any way you see fit. Who are you? Some dude in a varsity jacket that wears animal masks and takes big-time hit jobs.

Hotline is absolutely filthy from the blood, drugs, and language to the dirty little beats that get your blood pumping and coming back for more, even after having to retry every five seconds. You can only take one blow like your enemies, but quick restarts should encourage the player to mindlessly brawl into rooms with guns blazing at least a few times before having to take a slower, more stealthy approach if need be.

I had some trouble with the targeting system on occasion, but otherwise the control is spot-on and can be explained within seconds, reminiscent of the retro games that share its look and sound.

If I had to say it was like anything else, games like Loaded and Project Overkill for the original Playstation come to mind. But in those games, dying was a major setback and the levels were longer and not nearly as detailed... or fun.

The creators claim to have been inspired by the film Drive, but I was getting more of a schizophrenic serial killer vibe the likes of Killer7 by Suda51. Hotline actually has the 1-up on Killer7 in terms of playability and pace.

The Police Headquarters stage- not so easy as a rush-job.

The story is perhaps best left unexamined and ambiguous. The undeniable draw to the characters may actually be within the costumes and art style. You really can't beat a good costume.

Foremost, Hotline Miami is a twisted thrill-ride of murder, death, kill. Plain and simple. Grab a weapon and get wet.

A Wolf In Peeps' Clothing

The Wolf Among Us Episode 1

Telltale Games

PS3 (2013)

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Telltale Games has made a name for themselves by releasing episodic "choose your own" adventure games sprinkled with quick time events. From Back to the Future to The Walking Dead to The Wolf Among Us, the engine has remained the same, but the art style and writing has improved tremendously.

The Wolf Among Us is near perfection of this template. I jumped in wanting to give it a quick look, but found I couldn't pull myself away, not for a second. I felt this way about the previous Telltale series, too, but they really hit the nail on the head when it comes to the pacing of plot and action sequences in Wolf.



Telltale has a great record when selecting source material, and this time is no different. I'm a comic book guy who mostly sticks with Marvel Superheroes and Osamu Tezuka books. I've browsed through the Fables books that Wolf is based on only to put them down after discovering they weren't as purely fantastical as the title and sometimes deceptive covers would suggest. If I wanted grit, I would read Daredevil. After playing the first episode of Wolf, my folly in not acknowledging the brilliance of the Fables world was evident.

There is an excellent cast of heavily flawed characters that make this supernatural South Bronx community come alive. The protagonist, Bigby Wolf (Big B Wolf, get it?), is put through the wringer in this episode, and you can swing him into whichever direction you wish. Some of these malicious characters deserve a beating, and you play just the right guy to give it to them. A lot of gut decisions are made under short deadlines, but sometimes your gut is outrageous and you can only see clearly after committing to horrendous actions.

If you've never played an episode of a Telltale adventure game, you owe it to yourself to give this cinematic interactivity a try. At the least, it's the future of adventure games, and it may even be the future of television and comics.

Unfinished Business

Proteus

Ed Key & David Kanaga

PS3 (2013)
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SPOILERS AHEAD. Not that there's any semblance of plot, but if you wish to keep your expectations in the dark.

I knew nothing about Proteus going in and intentionally stayed away from any explanation of its purpose. I was intrigued by the game's Myst-like non-direction, and wanted to figure out what I could on my own.

For a while, I wandered about this crudely pixelated and randomized island at a sluggish pace. I could sit, walk, take screenshots, and close my eyes slowly which I quickly learned was the way to quit.

I walked and walked, but didn't find much. I found what seemed like frogs that sprang musical notes with each hop. More animals that would do the same. I found one house with no entrance. That's about it.

The musical score of washy tones is decent, but I wasn't blown away by the animals trotting along with the music; we've seen music accompany actions in games like Rez and The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker. The bright and simplistic art direction wasn't that impressive, either. While I strolled around this tiny island, I wondered if the music and graphics would gradually improve if I hit the right triggers... Maybe that was the objective. As it were, it felt like a terribly unfinished version of Skyrim.

I walked around the same dull, but admittedly tranquil island. I saw some sweeping mist and fixed myself into its pull, and raced along with it for a few seconds until it formed a swirling ring. I sat inside of it like in Journey, which I think was unnecessary. The season changed. I had another long look around and found nothing new except the seasonal aesthetic. I repeated the mist routine once more and changed the season again. And again.

And then, for some reason I was doing something I would define as hardly flying, and then the game ended as a trophy popped along with the credits.

Afterwards, I checked the trophy list and the internet to see if there was anything deeper. The trophy list seemed to make me think there was, while all online explanations of the game remarked on its interactive simplicity and pure exploratory nature- another "soothing" experience. On the game's Wikipedia page, one of the creators admitted that he was attempting to make an Elder Scrolls type game but grew discouraged and gave up. I guess I wasn't too far off.

Should Proteus be regarded as an artsy release that challenges the classifications of a video game, or should it be considered unfinished and unworthy of the fifteen dollar price tag? I feel a bit ripped off. Let's leave daring questions like, "what is a video game?" to thatgamecompany. The hoopla around Proteus should beg a different question: can the implementation of trophies turn a hardly interactive game of nothing into an exploration game with objectives?