Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons Review

Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons is the first game in the Summer of Arcade 2013 XBLA festival, and as you can probably guess, it’s pretty damn good. Video games have always been compared to art, yet very few have been able to make convincing arguments in favour of games, however, they don’t need to because games like this showcases what our medium is capable of.

As the name suggests, the game is about teamwork and maneuvering two brothers to bypass obstacles and puzzles to achieve a single goal–help their sick father. It’s really done in an innovative way but when you first start playing the game the controls will really stand in your way of enjoying the game.

You need to tune your brain to perfectly control the two brothers using the analogue sticks, and once you get the hang of that is when you can really have some fun. The game starts off in a depressing tone where the younger brother watches his mother drown and his father becomes sick. Such a thing will take a toll on anyone’s mental health but the support of the older brother would have no doubt helped.

The main objective as explained above is to help the ailing father and the brothers will go on a journey through the village and other locations to do that. Teamwork will be vital. Both of them have their advantages. The younger brother has a small constitution so he can be used to propel up a ledge, while the older brother can use his strength to accomplish objectives.

The attention to detail here is really good since you will be travelling through a peaceful village, gawking at the gorgeous scenery of waterfall, fields and more. At one point you will meet a troll who helps you climb ledges or reach difficult places. It’s a bit confusing early on since you find him crying in a corner for some reason. However, if you were like me the instinct of protecting the younger brother was high.

The game is mostly about the journey, and while it’s not that lengthy, it’s a good experience. It’s not easy to get into Summer of Arcade line-up and the very reason this game made it shows the amount of innovation present here to impress people. The puzzles aren’t that hard and you can solve them really fast as they are pretty straightforward.

In a way, it could have been better. I would have liked the puzzles to be more challenging as it could have really made the game more enjoyable since controlling two people using a single controller hasn’t been done in many games before. While the utilization is limited, it’s one of the things that adds charm to the game.

It’s a fantastic game which is well worth the money. However, the lack of content and less challenging puzzles can be termed as a negative. However, considering the innovation here, a game like this should be supported as it can really make your weekend fun.