What I can remember though is Max: the curse of brotherhood which I picked up as it was free on games with gold (a deal on Xbox where you get free games every month (which is getting better as of late but I'm not getting in to that right now)) which I would never have played otherwise as reviews were mediocre, it looked like a kids game and the first level was pants. However, how very wrong I was.
So, the plot is you're some kid named Max (the title gives that bit away) who doesn't like his brother, so he wishes him away. The TV then steals him and you have to follow him in to rescue him (it seems to me like Max got what he wanted and I dunno what he's chasing him down for) but he is caught by the games baddy known as Lord Mustacho and so you have to rescue him from there in order to get home for tea (I made that last bit up).
So, what kind of game is it? Well, it's a 2D platformer (kind of 2.5D in fact) with the hook being that you have a marker pen that allows you to create stone plinths, vines, branches, water chutes and fireballs in certain places and leads to some great puzzle solving and timing challenges that are rarely frustrating and often challenging in an unusual way where usual videogame puzzle tropes are ignored and things are solved in a not perfect way that you may not expect to be the real solution as videogames usually have perfect solutions to them but with the 'draw your own solution' nature of the game, the shapes that you're using are never likely to be perfect.
What's wrong with the first level then? Well, you don't meet the old lady who powers up your marker until level 2, so the first level is just normal platforming, and frankly, it's a boring example. later on in the game you get parts where you're sliding down slopes, timing jumps to the millisecond, drawing vines in mid jump, grabbing on, jumping off immediately before something happens to said vine and catching yourself with a water stream just before you fall out of the level (something along those lines and that's a very simple example, there's some terrific set pieces later in the game), but in the first level it's just jump from platform to platform, crawl through a space and simple boring stuff. I know it's harsh to criticise a game based on it's first level as they're traditionally easy and used for tutorial purposes but it's not a good way to start it off, if I had anything else to play I probably wouldn't have gone back to it, and I hear Wolfenstein: The new order (which I bought yesterday) is the same (so there's something to look forward to).
I should probably mention the big monster that's constantly chasing you throughout the game as well (well, more like a quarter of the time) that sets up the faster elements of the game (as well as the cliched lava chase) where there's more thinking on your feet style puzzles where they're basically simple but it's all in the timing as opposed to many of the other puzzles that are more classic stop and think about them moments, it was a nice in game way to give the game 2 different tempos that it switched between throughout.
Sure, there are other enemies too that you tend to spend the time tricking as they're pretty stupid, like shaping branches that will deliver the bombs they've just thrown at you straight back to their feet or creating platforms for them to run on to before removing them and trapping them below. You don't get a way to fight back until right near the end though when the fire balls are introduced (each use is introduced slowly in a way that kind of reminds me of the slow introductions of the paint in Portal 2, and much like Portal 2, perhaps they could have gone further with mixing all the elements together, I can't remember a puzzle in Max where you had to use all of the elements (is that the word for them? (it is now))).
Of course, there's a final boss as you eventually face off against Mustacho when he transforms your little brother in to a giant puppet that he controls, and it's a nice combination of things you've learned across the last few levels and it's fairly challenging but without being impossible. It's not exactly metal sonic and Death Egg Jr. at the end of Sonic the hedgehog 2 (no rings!) as there are checkpoints throughout the battle. At times the game can be hard to judge on what age range it's based at because it very much looks like a kids game, but there's a few tough puzzles in there (I had to consult Google a couple of times) and there's some elements of unforgiving platforming that were much more regular in the late 80's/ early 90's and if you hadn't played through the golden era of 2D platforming then this game would probably have been very tough. But then, as I just mentioned the boss battle has checkpoints, come on...
I just want to mention that many of the other reviews I read there was much criticism over the control of the marker and that it didn't respond fast enough when you needed to use it quick, but I didn't really find this an issue, sure it would show back up where you left it last time, but it pretty much locked on to where you wanted it if you moved it in that general direction.
So, in summary, if you like puzzle platformers then this one is definitely worth your time (especially if you can get it for free like me (BTW it's £10.99 on Steam, that's crazy!)), it's a slow starter but take it from me, you'll happily look back and reflect positively after you've finished it, just like I am now, and it's a good job after the Watchdogs diary fell apart.
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