Developer: Double Fine Productions
Genre: Point and click adventure
Release date: 26th January 2014
Platforms: Windows, Linux, Mac, Android and iOS
ESRB: Not rated (some mild threat, no blood/gore)
The backstory behind the development of this game is far from ordinary. To begin with, 'Broken Age' is one of the most crowdfunded video game projects as it acquired a whopping $3.45 million from more than 87,000 backers. The project began in 2012 and the game marked Tim Schafer’s return to the point and click genre after his fantastic game, Grim Fandango which is being re-released for PS4 and Xbox One and which was originally released in 1998. Despite its extreme backing though it appeared that this may have actually lessened the quality of the game. The end result is, whilst visually polished, wrongly suited to the originally intentioned audience and, quite simply, an inadequate addition to Schafer’s portfolio. As a standalone indie game this would be fantastic but unfortunately it failed to live up to the hype.
Gameplay and storyline
'Broken Age' Act 1 is made up of two different stories, that of a girl named Vella and of a boy named Shay and each story has vastly different settings. Regardless of which character you start with you’ll likely find that the game comes across as very cutesy and perhaps even a little too sickly sweet but this is simply a façade. Without going too far into the storylines the characters have in common a desire to break traditions in their lives that have, up until now, gone unquestioned. The gruesome realities of what is actually occurring strips away that initial sweet demeanour and instead the cheerful nature of the characters and environments take on a whole new form, one that is much darker and much, much more unnerving.
It’s here where 'Broken Age' truly excels as the storyline is quite fascinating and will draw you in with its twisting story and cheerfully disturbing atmosphere. The ever present, in your face, indication that something is wrong but nobody else seeming to notice it is a constant source of fascination and you will desperately want to find out what’s going in in the two strange realms that you’ll inhabit. The characters too are likeable though, admittedly, quite unemotional and rather bland despite the famous voice actors. Whilst the storyline is interesting enough and with brilliant twists there are some key issues with the game that are very difficult to ignore. To begin with, it feels as though it’s being aimed at a much younger audience and not at those who would have previously enjoyed classic graphic adventures such as Grim Fandango and the Monkey Island series, both of which Tim wrote for previously. The complex puzzles, standard ‘pick up everything you can find’ mentality, vast environments and wry sense of humour that typically lift a standard point and click to a successful one have all been stripped away leaving something quite superficial in its wake.
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Overall there’s a genuine lack of content and substance as characters have very few dialogue options and the environments are very limiting so there’s simply not much to discover in what could have been sprawling worlds of characters, places and puzzles. The few characters that are present are quirky and interesting but you can never just chat to them and waste away a couple of hours getting to know their unique personalities so, in this sense, the game feels a little sparse. There’s this strange, unfinished feel about the game that’s reflected in not only the lack of character development but the small, limited environments. These rather simplistic environments quickly become a problem when you’re faced with one of the many puzzles in the game. Often, a point and click adventure game would have you picking up random bits of, seemingly pointless, tack with plenty of red herrings thrown in there just to screw you up. Large locations or, in the very least, a broad variety of areas where the solution to your puzzle may lurk is key to making a puzzle difficult as often you’ll be searching doggedly for more items, racking your brains to figure out what kind of obscure combination you need to come up with. Broken Age lacks this, entirely so. At one point I had to find a particular, very important, item that had been lost but I found it sitting out in plain sight on just the next screen. Another puzzle simply consisted of getting to end of a conversation. It’s almost as though the developers didn’t trust their players to continue playing if they found the puzzles too challenging and this lack of faith in players is evident in the huge amount of hand-holding that takes place
When important plot elements have been stripped away of challenge it’s not just frustrating, it’s disappointing. I find it hard to imagine this game ever becoming ‘one of the greats’ and instead it sits as something which is nice, different, but nothing special. The lack of puzzles and choices meant that the length of play was disastrously short and far too easy for seasoned graphic adventure gamers and, whilst some hail this as a return to the 'nostalgic' era of point and clicks, it feels painfully modern with a strong focus on visuals and not enough on actual, substantial, gameplay.
Graphics and audio
The artwork of the game may not be to everybody’s taste but it truly is quite beautiful with a strong hand painted, fantasy appeal. The style and design of the worlds and its inhabitants does nothing for its childish feel however and overall it’s all a little bit too cute and quaint. Despite this, the worlds are gorgeous with a stunning array of colours and details that make each and every area feel bursting with life. The contrast between the two storylines is very apparent, not only in its gameplay content but in the design of the environments. The differences between the smokey oranges and dreamy pinks of Vella’s world to the moody blues and vibrant preschool colours of Shay’s world simply add layers onto the, already distinctive, atmosphere. A curious feature present within the game is its ability to be played in a ‘retro’ graphical mode which makes the game appear in an slightly pixelated, pre-renovated 'Monkey Island' 1 and 2 type design. Whilst usually I would have been extremely interested in this it’s clear that the game was not designed to be played in this format so it comes across as a very low quality conversion. If anything, it looks as though you’re just squinting at the HD version.
The audio is, overall, very good and I liked almost all of the voice acting except for several occasions where I found the protagonists to have a lack of emotion. Despite pushing the budget out and employing the talents of very talented actors including Elijah Wood as Shay I felt as though Shay’s emotion was completely out of context with what was occurring in the scene. When his dialogue was supposed to indicate frustration the voice came across as depressed, when he was supposed to be confused he sounded passive. Though this is partily intentional as Shay is fairly a depressed character this uninterested tone persists even in moments of great peril where what he is saying suggests he's feeling emotion. The voice of Vella too had some inconsistencies between script and the voice acting and overall I felt there to be a lack of emotion when faced with action packed, highly distressing scenes and this tended to ruin the scene’s atmosphere. Aside from this, the game sounded as good as it looked and there was plenty of general chit-chatter in the background and little comments from the protagonist which gave you a better insight into their character.
Overall
It would be easy to simply look at the game, its history and its origin and stamp it with the mark of ‘fantastic’, ‘ushering in a new era’ and things of the such but upon closer examination, Broken Age does none of these things. It’s boringly simplistic, painfully unemotional and with very, very little build up to anything that happens. I found the storyline enjoyable, gripping even. My attention was constantly drawn to what was going on on the screen and Shay's story in particular was a mixture of fascinating and hilarious. My desire to find out more about the strange world I’d been dropped into was what primarily kept me going however as the gameplay was rather simplistic and, generally, the more I progressed the more let down I felt.
The game had a lack of depth, a lack of real challenge and, also, a lack of something else, something I can’t put my finger on, it’s as if it very much lacked the heart, soul and dedication you’d have expected from a game with so many backers, so much time poured into it and so many people working with it. I don’t know what happened to render this game so disappointing and it’s a great shame to say that about what could have been one of the greatest modern age point and clicks. I hope wherever Tim Schafer is now that he looks on this game and thinks to himself, ‘I could have done better’ because if he doesn’t then I’m not sure what happened to his creativity in that sixteen year hiatus. Whilst my disappointment is evident I’d like to finish by saying that I will play the upcoming Act 2 to 'Broken Age' but, truly, it’s only to find out what happens in the end. I can only hope it presents something more appealing to lovers of classic point and click adventure games.
The Good:
- Different, original storyline
- Attention grabbing with its odd premise
- Beautiful, hand painted graphics
- Lovely animations
- Nice variation of environments
- Likeable, personality filled characters
- Great cliff hanger
- Far too easy, a lot of hand-holding
- Not enough puzzles
- Voice acting can be off in places
- Limited, small environments
- Not much to explore or discover
- Very little to no item combination
- Feels superficial and focused on its graphics
Final thoughts: "I'm looking forward to playing the next part of this but only because of its storyline. The game is far too easy with limited environments and, generally, it just doesn't feel like a traditional point and click."
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