Recent reviews by jrx

Run along and die by the sword of your friend!

Momo and Isadora
Two priestesses on a quest
To fight evil monsters
You must do your best!

Explore all the stages
and find the secrets at hand
Progress by beating the bosses
And go to another land!

The music is lovely
The atmosphere is sweet
This is a game
you definitely want to beat!

If you read all of this silly poem
Then you already know
You must get Momodora III
And then on a great adventure you will go!

Broken Age is an adventure game by Double Fine that was initially funded via Kickstarter in 2012. Now in 2015, the game is finally fully released! But the question is: does it deliver?

The story describes the coming of age of a boy (Shay) and girl (Vella). You get to play with both characters by alternating their storylines, which are interwoven in a clever way. After a certain point, alternating between characters becomes essential for progressing in the game. I found the story compelling and it motivated me to keep playing the game.

The puzzles in the game use the classic object manipulation and character interaction staples from the adventure game genre, which are executed in a appropriate and traditional way. Unfortunately, some puzzles do suffer from being too easy or having an unclear context. A bit more polish here and there would have definitely made all puzzles great. Overall, I enjoyed solving the puzzles.

From a visual perspective, Broken age has a unique and nice art style, which is definitely a selling point. Animations are crisp and the world feels very much alive thanks to a quirky cast of characters with great voice actors. The ambience the game breathes is great and it is an enjoyable environment to walk around in.

The soundtrack is also very enjoyable and it always suited the mood for the story.

In conclusion, from the perspective of an adventure game player, Broken Age might feel underwhelming, since it never tries to go beyond the classic adventure game mold. What remains is a charming game that any gamer with an open mind can appreciate, given its sense of adventure and positive spirit.

Fun game, but after playing the first Portal, the sequel felt underwhelming. Nevertheless worth playing if you like the first one!