Broken Age: The Complete Adventure

(This is a reprint of my original review of the game on Steam.) 'Broken Age' is a delightful, whimsical and funny adventure game from LucasArts alumnus, Tim Schafer. It features some of the most beautifully animated and visually unique graphics in adventure games I have seen to date. The puzzles are not particularly challenging, but creative enough to keep you entertained. This is particularly so for Act 1, and it's unfortunate that Act 2 fails to realize the game's full potential. The game was released in two parts, sadly almost a year apart. Act 1 features one of the more creative stories in PC adventure games. It is full of surprises and intrigue as we do not quite know how our two playable protagonists' storylines relate to each other -- if at all! The similarities and differences between the protagonists, in their upbringing and relationships with those around them, told through parallel gameplay make the introductions to these characters all the more enjoyable. Act 1 plays like a game about adolesence, rebellion, empowerment and curiosity that ends with a great cliffhanger, making you yearning for more of this "something (thematically) different". Now, in the time that it took for Double Fine Productions to churn out Act 2, one would expect them to produce something worthy to follow the (doubly?) fine first chapter. Sadly, no. Unlike Act 1, Act 2 feels like an average classic adventure game, in which you solve a long series of isolated puzzles to achieve a single objective -- and you get to do it for two characters! This may be more acceptable if it weren't for us visiting the same locations and interacting with the same characters again. Plus, the protagonists do not seem to be at a disadvantage despite being in wholly unfamiliar settings relative to their prior experience. Such wasted opportunities for adding a new layer of challenge to the gameplay! Act 2 does bring a few new twists. While these twists are interesting, they fail to enlighten or completely surprise me. In fact, these twists confuse me more, making me ask questions that I surprisingly find the characters not asking throughout Act 2. If questions are asked, they are asked by the wrong protagonist, as if the protagonists share a psychic connection through the player. The inconsistency in characterization and storytelling perspective make the gaming experience slightly jarring. Perhaps Act 2 will be more enjoyable if 'Broken Age' were not released in two parts. If so, perhaps the wonder, magic and intrigue of Act 1 would have spilled over to the second act, and I would not have felt the "been-there-done-that" effect as greatly. (Hmm, maybe that's why Tim Schafer recommended replaying Act 1 before playing Act 2?) Despite my criticism of Act 2, 'Broken Age' as a whole is a good game. It is one of the better adventure games out there; it is easy to pick up and enjoy, and I recommend this feel-good game. As long as you keep your expectations in check, you are unlikely to be disappointed by it.

not a big fun of adventure games, but kinda fell in love with this one. fun characters, fun story with interesting twists and turns. great voice-acting and animation. "gameplay"-wise reminds me of Grim Fandango (the parts that i played at least).

I see a great many negative reviews of this game and from reading them it appears people were expecting something else than what what they got and are rating the game based on what they wanted rather than what the game actually is. What it is is a great little point-and-click with witty dialogues and clever riddles. They get progressively harder and I admit, I had to google to solve a few of them. In hindsight, I could have solved some simply by thinking out of the box but there you have it. The game itself is a little on the short side and doesn't take long to complete. I would have loved for there to be more chapters but the length fits the story quite well. The characters you play are delightful and lovable and I could easily have spent a few more hours in their company. A light and sweet game that entertained and made me laugh (even out loud at times). What it isn't, though, is a challenging, old style point and click where puzzle-solving is the all-dominant aspect of the game. You can also not make unredeemable mistakes which force you to save before every decision to make sure your game isn't rendered unfinishable. You won't be able to do any USE, INSPECT, PUSH, PULL, etc commands like you could in older games. To sum up, if you are expecting Day of the Tentacle grade puzzles, you will be disappointed and this game is probably not for you.

Long story short: if you're looking for a good point and click in the style of Lucas Arts' games, buy Thimbleweed Park. Pros: great graphics, great music, great dialogues. Cons: the game is far too easy; the second half fails to expand on the first half and instead recycles screens and shifts puzzles from lucasarts-style to logic puzzles; the game abruptly ends when it feels like it should start shifting gears into a third and final act with a climax (which is explained through still drawings during the ending credits).

Ok, this game is weird. Like really. The story is weird and the game play is weird, but you know what, I still enjoyed it. I actually loved being able to jump back and forth between the main characters. When I was getting stuck and frustrated with one story line I would just switch to the other as a respite, as it were. So your two main characters are as different, as different can be. One is in space and the other on an earth like planet (to start). Their stories are utterly unique and yet perfectly entwined. The graphics are a lot of fun to look at. I would love to visit the brain of the creators cause there are some really wacky locations and characters in this. It's weird, it's wacky, it's worth it.