Double Fine Productions (makers of Br ütal Legend, and Psychonauts) have created another masterpiece in their latest game, Costume Quest.
Costume Quest is a deceptively simple game where you play Reynold, an eight year old boy who’s been tasked with keeping his younger sister, Wren, safe on Halloween in the new city they move into. Things, however, go awry very quickly when monsters invade the town, and start stealing all the candy. The monster’s aren’t too bright as they mistake Wren’s lemon-drop costume to be a giant candy and kidnap her, and it’s up to Reynold and two new-found friends, Everett and Lucy to rescue her. Don’t let the simple premise fool you however, as this is definitely an children’s game for adults.
One presumes, based on the title,
that costumes factor heavily into this turn-based RPG, and one would be very
much so correct. The costumes you equip (some examples include a robot, a
knight, a unicorn) determine the class that each of the three players is, and their
associated powers both in and out of combat. However, unlike other costume
based games of late, this one doesn’t make you want to smash your head in with
your controller every time a character opens their mouths. Side quests, such as trick-or-treating houses
, collecting different types of candy, Battle Stamps (upgrades), and bobbing
for apples add a nice refreshing side to
both the story and gameplay.
The first thing you’re going to notice about Costume Quest is the art style; it has a very animated look to it, something that we’re seeing more of these days following Borderlands. However, something about this look makes seem like the art developers for the game were watching South Park while taking massive hits on acid. Everything in the game has an almost surreal look to it. In the world maps characters have massive heads with tiny bodies, and there’s something very creepy looking about the adults in the game, but it’s difficult to put a finger on just what it is. On the flip side, in combat the characters are very crisp, and realistic looking, and along with fantastic sound, it makes the battles really pop, and come alive.
The world is divided up into three chapters, the first in the friendly suburb of Auburn Pines, then moving to the Auburn Heights Mall, and finally a distant suburb of Fall Valley. Navigating the world is pretty simple, and there’s plenty to do. Lots of houses to trick-or-treat at (which eithers rewards you with candy, or punishes you with a monster battle), a large number of NPCs to interact from and get quests, and lots of hidden secrets and parts to costumes. Each chapter is fairly large, but well laid out so you won’t get lost, but you’ll still be left wondering how to get to that blocked off treasure chest for more candy.
Combat is fairly standard turn based affair, but in homage to Super Mario RPG it’s also chock full of quick time events to do critical hits and defend against damage. This is both a blessing and a curse. The biggest flaw in Costume Quest is that combat gets very boring and very repetitive quickly, but you’re forced to pay attention to the fights for the quick time events. One thing about Costume Quest is that it is a very dialectic game. If you don’t catch the quick-time events it goes from being very, very easy to very, very hard very, very quickly. If you’re not watching the defense quick time events, the enemies will deal far more damage than you can recover, and if you’re missing the attack quick time events, you won’t deal enough damage to get through the battle. The game offers you a wide variety of different types of combat options – more damage, status effects, healing, etc – but I found its easiest just to pound the enemy into pulp and not worry about poison, or stun, or any of that.
The other big issue with Costume Quest is it suffers from what I call “Fallout 3 syndrome”, which is where if you take the time to do the side quests and explore the world you’ll soon find that you’ve gotten the best equipment (costumes and stamps), have reached the max level (10), and have more cash than you’ll ever need to buy everything in the game. After this point, the last third of the game really feels like a grind. This leaves you with the dilemma: do I do the full game and grind out the last bit in a rush to get it over with? Or do I just rush the main quest and leave all the interesting stuff behind? It’s often questions like those that always come to my mind when I’m looking at my game library wondering what to play, and make me put the game back on the shelf in favour of something else, like Fallout 2. Ahem.
Overall, I’d recommend this game to everyone who’s mature enough to look at it for the first five minutes and dismiss it as a children’s game. The game does offer a multiplayer function, but it’s not too fulfilling: one player controls the characters in the world map, and player two picks up to control one of the characters in combat. The story, while well written is fairly predictable, and the grinding towards the end really detracts from the experience. For its price point ($14.99 on the PSN) it falls pretty squarely amongst other games of its type (one-trick ponies like Clash of Heroes, Puzzle Quest), but the art style and refreshing uniqueness help it stand about the other contenders for your $15.
Once you’ve beaten back Dorsilla the Witch and saved Wren, there is DLC available to take your quest further, travelling into Repugnia (the monsters home land), but I can’t imagine it being much different from the core game-play you’re already getting. So if it’s a continuation of the story you’re looking for, sure. If you’re just looking for more trick-or-treat action, just replay the game with a friend.
-Story: 3/5 – fairly basic, guy saves girl
-Setting 5/5 – very unique and original
-Gameplay 4/5 – While few new concepts, they actually get costume based combat
to work without the grimacing and gnashing of teeth FFX-2 subjected us to.
-Art 5/5 – Game looks good, if a bit
trippy sometimes. Very Nightmare Before
Christmas-esque
-Sound: 4/5 –Sounds great, but a bit annoying here and there
Overall score: 4/5 delicious, delicious pieces of candy.