Playerz Room: Max:The curse of the Botherhood

Title: Max:Curse of the Brotherhood

What system did I play it on? Nintendo Switch

Type of game: Platformer/adventure/puzzle

Game Rating: E10+

By: StageClearStudios

My total hours of play: "10 hours or more"

What is it about?

A young boy named Max comes home one day to find his younger brother, Felix, playing in his room. Angry, he goes to his computer and searches an incantation to banish his brother. Surprisingly, it works instantly, whisking Felix away to the unknown, leaving Max to follow in an attempt to save his brother! This is the beginning of a journey through a mystical land filled with magic, a giant monster and evil lurking around every corner; a land full of challenges to keep Max from saving his brother from the evil Mr. Mastachio with a magic marker as his only weapon! 

What did I think?

This colorful re-imagining of The Labyrinth minus the, David Bowe songs, is peppered with almost as many things I didn't like about the game as things I really liked about the game. As I sit down and try to organize my thoughts, I find that this game is oddly balanced, combating a weakness with a strength or filler to counter act the negative effects. While players won't find the monsters particularly difficult to defeat, the challenge comes from the endless number of puzzles found throughout the entirely of the game, often time further enhanced by the monsters rather then the monsters being the focus of the challenges. While I enjoyed this different style, I found that some of the puzzles required abilities or tricks that I didn't know were possible until I happened to find them by accident while trying to solve the latest puzzle. of course, this may or may not have something to do with the habit I had of over thinking puzzles, realizing only after ten minutes of attempting some complex solution that, had they worked, would have earned me the title of genus (at least in my mind), that what I was completing about five too many steps and far less parts to make it happen.

While I loved the whole idea that Max's biggest, and possibly only ally along his adventure to save his brother was a magic marker infused with the spirit of an elderly lady who, while she didn't share much, I'm sure had an incredible back story, I found the mechanic someone troublesome at times. It was oddly satisfying to summon the marker to manipulate the environment just right to work for my needs, but the marker wasn't always easy to draw with, sometimes causing me to try a hand full of times until I could conjure up just the right shape or length that I needed to succeed, which could be irritating. How ever the addition of new powers granted periodically through the adventure and the endless possibilities I saw for my trusty marker kept me playing even when I was tempted to call it quites! 

I also found myself disappointed that I didn't have more freedom with the marker. To me, the marker symbolized a freedom of creativity, but Max is limited to using the marker only at designated spots and with a rationed about of ink for each item it magically created. I found myself wanting to draw more freely or erasing items more freely. 

As you make your way through the enchanted land that, come to think of it, has no name (as far as I could tell) you are encouraged to kill the eyes of Mr. Mustachio and find puzzle pieces. At the beginning of the adventure, I fully intended to get them all, but was somewhat annoyed when I found, on more then one occasion, that while I was trying to make my way to the item in question, I did so unsuccessfully and found myself past where I wanted to be but unable to get back to try again. I was further annoyed there there seemed to be no real disadvantage to not collecting all of the items, leaving me to wonder...what would happen if i had collected all of them? While it does spark some interest in me and creates for some re-playability, I'm disappointed in the lack of effect it had in this play through and I wish they would have done more with that line of game play.

What stuck out most to me, though, was the visual aesthetic of the game. I found it impossible to ignore the beauty of the game as a whole, proving to me that the visual look and feel of a game can do wonders; talking the game as a whole to entirely new levels! This was the other aspect of the game that pulled me in and refused to loosen it's grip, leaving me unable to follow through with my threats to walk away after particularity annoying puzzle which I had, of course, over thunk, yet again. 

Over all, I enjoyed my play through and will most likely go back to it again to attempt to collect all of the collectibles, but my favorite character and part were pretty close to the beginning. Max, though the main character, kind of lacked in the personality department, but the women who infuses her soul with Max's marker stole my heart. She was quirky (which I am drawn to) if not slightly crazy and I just found her to be fun. That may have been amplified by the fact that my favorite part of the game was when Max finds her tree and is lead to the top by mystical forces he does not yet understand in a breathtaking way to find this old lady there to great him. This part was in he demo and was the point in the demo that I knew I had to get the whole game! 

I also really appreciated that that game felt like a journey. I felt like I was traveling a distance, over and under a number of terrains with their own sets of hurdles to overcome

making each of the 7 chapters feel like a separate piece yet part of the whole, so by the time you are reunited with your brother, you feel like you've earned it, which is not case in some games. 

I also liked the progression of the difficulty as well as skills. Each time a new skill was obtained, there was a learning period, gradually ramping up in complexity until using a combination of the powers bestowed upon the marker together in order to survive, defeat the bad guys and save your brother, further complicating the puzzles themselves and feeding into the entire journey experience. 

What do I rate this?

I would rate this game a.....

3 out of 5 markers

While this game will not be going down as one of my favorites and there were quite a few things I didn't love about this game, I really enjoyed it, sometimes for reasons I can't explain, and I do plan to replay it. Because I look forward to saving Felix again another day, I felt like it deserved to be rated a little bit better then a run of the mill, right down the middle game. 

Now that you've heard what I thought about this game, tell me what your thoughts were! Did you love max? What was your favorite part? What didn't you like so much? Let us know in the comments!