Costume Quest made me want to be a Robot for Halloween

Halloween is a great theme for storytelling.  Of all the holidays, it's the most mystical, mysterious, and dangerous while remaining accessible to children.  Costume Quest uses the Halloween themes to its advantage and crafts a delightful story of a child searching for his or her lost sibling.  Helped by a lot of  fantastic writing, CQ ends up as an entry-level RPG that I think just about anybody could enjoy.

Costume Quest's biggest draw is not necessarily the story, but rather the writing and dialog between characters.  Double Fine is well known for making humorous titles and CQ delivers just that.  It's typically believed that humor in games is very difficult to pull off, but CQ pulls it off while making it seem effortless.  Unfortunately, the game contains no voice acting.  The writing can easily carry the story on its own, but without any real voice behind the characters, moments of the game can feel a little empty.  That said, the wit and humor in Costume Quest's dialog give the game a lot of life and lightheartedness that helps the title stand out. 

Because the dialog is so strong, it becomes the biggest motivator for continuing through the game.  In this sense, CQ has moments that make it feel like an adventure game.  The game plays best when encountering a new character, exploring a new venue, or tasking the player with a quest such as finding a fellow trick-or-treator a trading card.  The best parts of Costume Quest are likely all the moments outside of battle.

Unfortunately, there is a lot of battling in Costume Quest and it tends to slow down the flow of the game.  In each zone you arrive at, you'll need to trick-or-treat at every doorstep in town before advancing.  Sometimes they'll have humans who will give you candy, and other times it'll be a monster bent on stealing your candy.  This forces the player into a lot of battle scenarios that are sometimes unwelcome.  

The battle mechanics are sound, but ultimately unexciting.  After a while, the fighting starts to feel very stale and more like a chore than an enjoyable addition to the game.  The battles make use of timed button presses and active participation in the turn based combat much like the Mario RPG titles.  Near the end of the game, however, I was just wishing I could choose my attacks and watch them go.  The participation in the battle beyond the selection phase doesn't ultimately help make it more enjoyable.  The battles are mediocre at best, but they tend to feel more bothersome since the rest of the game and its adventure elements are so much more enjoyable.

Costume Quest is a great game, well worth the experience even though it contains some flaws.  The comedy is clever, and sure to leave a smile on your face as you continue on your quest.  The battling can be a little tedious at times, but I think this is an easy game to put down for a while and come back to after you're ready for some more fighting.  A lot of people may feel the game is too short, but I enjoyed my journey enough that it didn't really bother me.  Costume Quest is a relatively short, fun adventure that has a lot of charm, wit, and appeal to any generation.