Game Info
GAME NAME: Broken Age
DEVELOPER(S): Double Fine Productions
PUBLISHER(S): Double Fine Productions
PLATFORM(S): PlayStation 4
GENRE(S): Point and Click Adventure
RELEASE DATE(S): April 28th, 2015
Broken Age is one of those titles that stand out for many reasons. First off, in an age of 3D games and first person shooters, a point and click style adventure game is something you definitely don’t see quite as often these days, especially on a home console such as the PlayStation 4. Being written and directed by Tim Schafer, there is a certain humor to the game even despite some of the heavy themes in this extremely interesting story. Believe me, I found myself laughing quite often! Not to mention this is Schafer’s first venture into the genre since the highly acclaimed Grim Fandango in 1998.
The story in Broken Age is very well written with many plot twists that kept me yearning for more and anticipating (sometimes VERY wrongly, I might add!) what was going to happen next, but that isn’t a problem as it was genuinely enjoyable. The stunning hand drawn artwork by Lee Petty and Nathan Stapley, which coupled with such an amazing, captivating story is almost like a graphic story book come to life right before your eyes.
With top notch voice acting I found myself asking, “Where do I know that voice from?” quite frequently. And come to find out some of the voice actors include the likes of Elijah Wood, Jack Black and even Wil Wheaton. One of my favourite things about Broken Age is the truly phenomenal original orchestral score composed by Peter McConnell, who also composed music for Double Fine in the past on titles such as Psychonauts and Grim Fandango and does an excellent job of setting the mood throughout the entire game.
As I mentioned before, it is a point and click adventure game so the controls are rather simple. You just click your cursor on top of where you want to go. The only thing with this type of control scheme is that it is definitely better suited for a mouse as opposed to a console’s controller that has analog sticks. But, overall that’s not really a huge issue as even taking that into consideration the game is very smooth to control. The only gripe I really have, and I don’t think I’d even call it a control issue, is that sometimes trying to switch certain items in your inventory seems a bit touchy in the sense that it may take a few tries to actually do it. Not too terribly bad, but a slight nuisance at times when you want or need to switch items from your possession to your inventory and vice versa.
With very intuitive puzzles, Broken Age is sure to keep you thinking although some of the later ones do get quite frustrating. It almost seemed as though the first half of the game was just a prelude that primed you up for what in my opinion were much, much more difficult puzzles later on, some of which you will need to switch back and forth between the two story arcs to complete.
The Recommendation
Even if you aren’t a big fan of point and click style games, I definitely urge you to give Broken Age a try. With absolutely stunning hand drawn graphics and a very intriguing and well written story and musical score, the entire game is beautifully designed and is sure to be a delight.
