Game Review: Broken Age (Xbox One)

Broken Age is a point & click adventure game developed and published by Double Fine. Initially split into two acts with the first coming out in January 2014 and the second in April 2015, it was shortly followed by the full game being released for all major systems.

A throwback to the point & click games of old, Broken Age is a smart, fun and funny game that will delight as many as it will infuriate. Infuriate as it has the kind of puzzles that often seem so random but that feeling when you solve a particularly tricky one is so gratifying.

The story is split into two parts. One that surrounds two very different teenagers living two very different lives. We have Vella (voiced by Masasa Moyo) who lives in a small village called Sugar Bunting in a place called ‘the Badlands’. Every 14 years her village and the surrounding villages are visited by giant creatures known as Mogs. To appease these creatures and ensure they don’t destroy the villages, several teenage girls are offered up as sacrifices to the Mogs.

This all takes place at an event called the ‘Maiden Feast’ and sees the girls vie to be taken by the Mog. It is an honour so it seems, although Vella doesn’t quite see it that way.

She is one of the chosen girls for her village to be offered up as sacrifice and the cavalier way this horrific event is carried out isn’t sitting well. She doesn’t agree with it and figures if she can kill the Mog, she can stop the Maiden’s Feast once and for all.

The other part of the story is based around Shay (voiced by Elijah Wood), the only seemingly living passenger of the spaceship Bossa Nostra.

His mundane life is controlled by two AIs, one more dominant then the other. The dominant one is named MOM and treats Shay like her son…her infant son. She suffocates Shay, constantly checking up on him and making him take part in childish ‘missions’.

Both MOM and the other AI, DAD constantly remind Shay that she is so over-protective because he is the last of his race after his planet, Loruna was destroyed. The ship he is in is trying to find a new home for him. All of this is called into question though when Shay meets a wolf named Marek in the bowels of the ship.

The two characters seem completely unconnected at first but as the story plays out, their lives are more intertwined then anyone could have realised.

What a wonderful game Broken Age is, especially if you grew up on a diet of Monkey Island, Grim Fandango, Broken Sword and point and click games in general. Gameplay is as traditional as you can get. Move a cursor around the screen to direct the character to move, interact with objects, pick up items and talk to other characters.

Where it breaks tradition is the ability to switch between characters, Vella and Shay at any time. Unconnected at first, later in Act 2 switching between them is necessary to complete some tough puzzles. It’s a clever mechanic, seamlessly done and the separate stories means when their paths do eventually cross, it feels way more important.

Of course getting to that point will require effort. A lot of effort as Broken Age has a wide variety of puzzles to tax your brain. Some simple, some devious as hell, Broken Age is not an easy game. In fact, parts of Act 2 are difficult to the point of annoyance.

It’s Act 2 that probably deserves the most criticism too. Whereas Act 1 is a wild ride of wonderful locations imagined in the games gorgeous art style with a fast moving story, Act 2 is slower. Not only that but it repeats a lot of the same locations, doesn’t have the same sense of wonder and has a disappointing resolution.

It pains me to say that as I really love this game and point and click games in general. It really is a wonderful experience and takes classic gameplay and gives it an updated feel. The story is excellent, it’s often funny but also has a deep and serious side that makes for a compelling play. It just seems to lose it’s way in the final quarter rushing towards an end that doesn’t feel earned.

A shame but still a recommended play.