Max: The Curse of Brotherhood is a puzzle-platformer that is actually just over four years old now; it originally released in 2013 on other consoles as a sequel to Max & The Magic Marker (a Wiiware and Nintendo DS title). Now the game has made it onto the Switch, no doubt hoping to sit amongst the numerous success stories we’ve been seeing for indie developers on the eShop. Can it perch itself proudly amongst the stars of the show, then, or have these last few years been unkind to it? Let’s have a look.
The game opens with a beautifully animated (almost Pixar standard) cutscene where Max becomes exasperated at his younger brother, Felix. Using the search engine ‘Giggle’ for some advice, Max stumbles across a chant of sorts that he reads aloud, accidentally getting his brother stolen through a magical portal in the process. Jumping straight in to save him, Max finds himself in a strange world full of platforms, puzzles and enemies to fight his way through.
Split across several chapters, you’ll be facing all of these gameplay elements within themed worlds; the usual forest and lava-type levels are all present here, as well some occasional, less commonly used ideas that really shine when encountered. As well as the standard jumping up and over platforms, you’ll also come across a number of chase sequences throughout your adventure. The difficulty of these moments never becomes a mighty, daunting challenge, but they will definitely cause several deaths and introduce a welcome bit of intensity when they arrive.
The best part by far, however, and the mechanic that the entire game revolves around, is the way in which you must use a magic marker pen to solve puzzles. The pen will unlock various abilities as you reach new chapters, essentially allowing you to interact with scenery in a new (but similar) way each time. Starting from specific points on the screen indicated by set colours, you can use the marker to draw shapes with branches or vines for travelling, or even raise platforms and create gushes of water to propel yourself or objects around. The creativity isn’t fully free – you can’t just draw any shape anywhere – but the puzzles allow enough wiggle room for them to be a lot of fun.
Despite being limited to a just a handful of abilities, the puzzles are always a little different to before; you’ll never see the same piece of scenery or puzzle layout twice. Each one arrives at just the right time, too; just as you are in danger of getting slightly bored, a new way to solve puzzles will unlock. This welcome pacing remains throughout, and with a very generous frequency of save points the supposedly dramatic action can actually feel quite calm and relaxed. It may not have been the developer’s intention, but we actually enjoyed this gentler approach – the puzzles, and taking the time to figure them out, work much better when you know you won’t have to keep repeating things if you mess up.
Thanks to the nature of the Switch, if you choose to play the game in Handheld mode you will be able to use the touchscreen to draw with your finger. Or, if you prefer, you can use a combination of the left stick, right trigger and face buttons on any controller setup you like. Both methods work just fine, although we’d argue that playing with a controller in your hands feels slightly more precise. Dragging the marker around the screen with a control stick isn’t really any slower than using your finger and, in fact, using your finger means that your hand will sometimes be in the way of where you are drawing. We’d also recommend playing on a TV if you can as there are times when the camera pans out to particularly wide shots – it isn’t awful in Handheld mode, but this was a game designed for traditional home consoles and that becomes particular apparent in times like this.
The art of each world you visit, and especially the animation of the game’s cutscenes as we mentioned earlier, are lovely at times. The performance of the game on the whole isn’t quite as strong as it would be in an ideal world, though; you’ll notice a lot of blurry edges, blurry backgrounds, and moments where everything just needs half a second to catch up. This never impacts the playability of the puzzles or causes any level of frustration - it just prevents it from being a truly top-quality package. Essentially, the puzzles and the interaction with the scenery are the things that will win you over here; any visual resolution woes are mostly forgotten.
Conclusion
Max: Curse of the Brotherhood uses a wonderfully implemented drawing mechanic to solve puzzles that can often feel familiar, but are usually just about different enough to remain fun and fresh. The platforming, chase sequences, and even the final boss won’t put up too much of a fight against you in the seven-or-so hour campaign, but you may find yourself occasionally stumped by the odd puzzle that strays from the norm.
It isn’t quite perfect, and there are several small areas where we feel the game could be improved, but ultimately we had a great time playing through the adventure and enjoyed the core mechanic. It can’t quite compete with the true elites of its genres but it is definitely a welcome addition to the eShop - if you love the puzzle-platform genre and want to add another game to your collection, this wouldn’t be a bad place to start.
Comments 38
They should have made a bundle of the first and second game together, but hey, hope it does well
I played the Demo and it ran poorly. Not picking this up. It seems like an okay game but I will wait for Inside next year 😁
I picked up game and it fantastic especially chase scenes which i loved!
Took about 6 hours to complete. But still collectables to find and unlock so add extra few hours
I played the demo and found it uninspired and cheap. Oh and the frame rate killed me. Pass
I did not have any problems with the demo and did not really notice the frame rate. I thought this game was well made. It did have some catch-up issues but they were not major. It only made it more engrossing. This game is beautiful. I did not know there are two previous games which is a good thing. The review is spot on. It also has a level select. This game is charming and I thought this type of platform was very refreshing.
I thought I'd become fairly sensitive to poor frame rates, but I played the demo and didn't really notice anything too bad. It was an alright game, but not one I'm in any rush to play.
Hmm, the curse of yet another platformer
Older brothers are a pain...
Poor little brother that taken by Aaaaaagh... Monster from another dimension !
An 8?????? This has to be one of the most drivel showelware platformers I have ever played.. Keep this poo on ios/apple.. terrible game all the way around.. press A and the timing is never fun.. the reviews here are starting to grate on me..
7.5 (PC) and 7.4 (XB1) user review scores for other versions on Metacritic, so an 8 for Switch isn't far out there. If you would rather have this on PC, it is currently $3.74 on Steam during the winter sale.
I wonder why the developers went from the brilliant freedom of the original game to this more connect-the-dots approach.
I love the original Max and the Magic Marker. But this seems to pander to a younger audience.
I don't get it, the Switch just got a good game and everyone still complain. If it's not the framerates then it's the price or the graphics. Make up your mind, it's obvious this game wasn't made with you in mind.
@Geeks4Life I played the demo and IT DID NOT run poorly. Maybe your Switch was made in China and mine in Japan or something.
@Cosats
Lol all switch units are made in china
@Smug43
I never take reviews on Nintendo life seriously or certain users opinions of games, everything seems to be a WOW factor for them if it looks shiny & new.
I come here for the BS chat and even bigger BS comments by certain ppl that have their heads firmly planted up nintendo's backside,
Yes I have a switch but it's just another piece of hardware to play games on, not a wow factor for me
@WhistleFish Hahahaha. I know. I just wanted to be more dramatic
Not a bad game by any stretch, but a "good time while playing", so that's pretty much how I view 8/10 scores.
I have this game on xbone and thought it was a pretty decent game. I’d double dip if it’s on sale for Switch
I was gonna get this but decided to go with rocket league instead. Besides it's under 4 euros on steam
My daughter and I tried out the demo last week and I was simply not impressed. Part of that may have been the fact that we loved Max and the Magic Marker, which allowed us to solve problems in unique and creative ways. I think this game is going to need a good discount before it ends up on our Switch.
I really enjoyed this game on Xbox One and was perplexed because it felt like both a Touch Screen game and a Nintendo game. This feels right
@WhistleFish Yet another platformer, yet another old indie game that has been out on every other platform for years. I got this game a long time ago on Xbox One, think it was one of the early purchases I had on the platform, and it might have been given away in one of their games for gold promotions.
Yet another game that was interesting around 2014.
@james_squared Yeah this one feels like far more of a generic indie platformer compared to the first game. I really don't see where the appeal is when it comes to these indie platforming games, I always find them pretty boring.
It´s clear that about 80% of the comments are from people that are clearly not the target of the game. Not all games are for YOU, remember that...
Looks interesting to me and the option to use the touch screen is appealing. Wonder if I should download the WiiWare game first though before Nintendo close down the Wii Shop Channel.
Got this stupidly cheap on XB1 and it's pretty good. Worth a go if you like platformers.
Indie game released previously on other systems - "Urgh why would I play this again when I already played this on my XXXX system back in 20XX"
Nintendo game re-released on latest system - "OMG, loved this game on my XXXX back in 19XX-20XX will defo double deep on this"
HUMBUG!!!
Oh wow, I had no idea that this game was even scheduled to come out of Switch.
Huge fan of the first game and the team that made both (now known as Flashbulb Games.)
I have to make sure I get around to playing this.
I have this on Xbox and it runs really well. I played the Demo on the Switch and it don't run well at all. Feels like 25 fps sometimes. I'll pass until they sort out the frame rate issues. Seems to be commonplace in alot of switch games really.
thought the demo was great. But i got xenoblade 2 for xmas now. I might pick this up in 2018 though
'almost Pixar standard'
That was hilarious.
"you’ll never see the same piece of scenery or puzzle layout twice"
Pleeeaaassse don't tell me this is rogue?!
As for the gameplay: This doesn't sound as versatile as the original, where you could draw lines everywhere to solve puzzles.
@JayJ Except this game wasn't on Nintendo in 2014. Nintendo fans haven't played it. Not everyone owns every console. If you've played it already, that's great. But no need to begrudge Nintendo fans who are experiencing it for the first time and catching up.
@retro_player_22 Fair point.
@olrodlegacy Okay well that doesn't change the fact that it's still a game that dates back to 2014. If you wanted to wait until it hit a Nintendo console that wasn't even announced at the time, good for you.
@JayJ It’s not about waiting til it hit Nintendo - it’s that, now it has emerged on Nintendo, Nintendo fans (and there’s a lot who only buy Nintendo systems) have their chance with it for the first time.
My 8yr old loves this game! he has played it 7 times on Xbox one and now insists that he wants it for his birthday on Switch as well
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