The Xbox One Game That Will Make It Feel Like You're Touching Your TV

[Ironman273]

The Xbox One Game That Will Make It Feel Like You're Touching Your TV


 
This week, I played a game that felt like the lovechild of an SNES platformer and a touchscreen puzzle-solving title. Where's this cute and wonky hybrid showing up? Why, the Xbox One, of course.

At first blush, you'll think you know exactly what you're getting in Max: The Curse of Brotherhood. It's a shiny-cute adventure where lead character Max has to rescue his little brother Felix after accidentally banishing him to the alternate dimension of Anotherland. (He was being very annoying.) Max follows him there and has to jump, climb and puzzle-solve his way to saving Felix.
 
When I saw the game on Tuesday, Mikkel Pedersen and Mikkel Thorsted said that they're trying to evolve traditional 2D platforming by challenging certain conventions of platformer design. So, you won't see any floating platforms in The Curse of Brotherhood.
 

 
What you will see is a set of mechanics that let you get from the left side of the screen to the right side by scrawling elemental structures across the world controlled by evil sorcerer Mustachio. As the game goes on, Max gains the abilities to draw stone pillars, water spouts, jungle vines and aiming arcs for fireballs, all thanks to his magic marker. Players will use the analog stick to draw the lines to make the magic powers activate.
 
When I played MtCoB this week, I really enjoyed how little handle-holding there was to be found in the levels I sampled. No giant arrows or text hints, only the occasional dialogue nudge when you're first using a new power for the first time. I've found that silence is always golden in these kinds of physics-based puzzle platformers and am glad that the Press Play folks think so, too.
 
Curse of Brotherhood feels like a game that's attempting to recreate the tactile interface of a touchscreen gaming idea into a console game. (It's a spiritual sequel to Max and the Magic Marker, which landed on Wii, DS, iOS devices and PS3.) You could draw things in that game but here, you'll be able to draw a branch and cut it off wherever you slice it and then use it to a raft. Players will also be able to combine powers so it'll be possible to infuse a branch with fire powers and use it to ward off enemies.
 

 
Each camera movement in the game was placed by hand, which shows off the lushly imagined world and makes it feel intimate and cinematic, like a Dreamworks CGI feature film that you can bounce along through.
 
Press Play told me that MtCoB will be available for the Xbox 360 as well. The plan is to down-port the Xbox One version to the Xbox 360. 360 players won't be getting a full HD experience, though, and that iteration of Max: The Curse of Brotherhood running at 30 FPS, instead of the 60 FPS of the Xbox One version.
 
Max: The Curse of Brotherhood comes across like the kind of game that's all but disappeared from console line-ups in the last decade. It's a kid-friendly game filled with nostalgia for games gone by, but one that tries to feel of-the-moment. Players will get their chance to take Max on his grand adventure next year.
 
Source: Kotaku

[FiB3R]

I thought this would have been a Kinect game, but it doesn't say so in the article, and a couple of people in the comments say that it isn't.

[HawkMan]

The article specifically state you use the left thumb stick to draw. Personally I think this is a mistake and they should have used kinect, this would have been perfect for kinect2

[Hum]

That sounds indecent.

[FiB3R]

Only in your filthy mind, Hum.  :laugh:

[trooper11]

So has anyone picked up this game yet? I'd love to hear some impressions.

It looks nice a very visually appealing 2D platformer, but I'm hoping the gameplay holds up.

[123456789A]

Might get this after I'm done with Peggle.

[trooper11]

My wife has been tearing through Peggle :laugh:

I am not as addicted to that game, but I can understand how easy it is to sink hours into it over the course of week of just jumping into games.

I'm still hammering away at KI training at the moment :laugh:

[Torolol]

  On 15/12/2013 at 18:52, HawkMan said:

The article specifically state you use the left thumb stick to draw. Personally I think this is a mistake and they should have used kinect, this would have been perfect for kinect2

or use tabletized controller like Wii U ... :whistle:

[trooper11]

  On 23/12/2013 at 03:24, Torolol said:

or use tabletized controller like Wii U ... :whistle:

or use smartglass to allow ANY touchscreen device to act as the controller :woot:

[Osiris]

Thanks for posting OP but incredibly disappointed that this isn't a Kinect2 game...in fact, I don't believe in nothing no more, I'm going to law school

[The Teej]

I don't usually say this, but no Kinect kind of makes this a "wait until it's cheaper" category. Perfect gameplay for Kinect, and no Kinect support. The complete polar opposite of Kinect Shoehorning, what gives?

[GotBored]

The Xbox One Game That Will Make It Feel Like You're playing a SNES*

 

This should have been a kinect title, maybe the kinect isn't accurate enough or maybe its a fast paced game and the latency isn't quick enough. Either way I think they should have worked around the kinect and made some sort of compromises to make it such. 

[watkinsx2]

Picked this up over the weekend. These sorts of games aren't usually my thing but I really like this! Got stuck on a level - ended up playing till 4am Sunday trying to beat it.

[JonnyLH]

Got to say, I impulse bought this after demolishing Walking Dead in 2 weeks and it's awesome. No control problems, really nice concept.

[FiB3R]

Hovering over the buy button :unsure:

[JonnyLH]

  On 23/12/2013 at 12:33, D. FiB3R said:

Hovering over the buy button :unsure:

Do it, you won't regret it. I can't wait to finish work to play this thing.

[Niekess]

Sad it's not for Kinect. They should have let you pick up a pen and use that for drawing..

[watkinsx2]

Having played the game I think kinect integration would be more frustrating than anything else.

[trooper11]

  On 23/12/2013 at 08:28, GotBored said:

The Xbox One Game That Will Make It Feel Like You're playing a SNES*

 

This should have been a kinect title, maybe the kinect isn't accurate enough or maybe its a fast paced game and the latency isn't quick enough. Either way I think they should have worked around the kinect and made some sort of compromises to make it such. 

 

 

Wow, harsh much?

 

Why in the world would your first assumption be that Kinect must be terrible that's why they didn't use it?

 

From my hands on experience with Kinect, it could certainly pull off the drawing moves with accuracy.

 

My bet is that the developer team simply didn't have the time or resources to rebuild their game to use it.  Remember, this is based on a smartphone game that was ported to Windows and now to the X1.  They already had a lot of work to do in revamping the controls for a controller and the other additional content they created just for the X1.  This is not a brand new game made just for the X1.