Double Fine is one of the developers with the most innovative games that are far from what we are used to today. Maybe they are not the most critically acclaimed, but they have something that characterizes them; They are groundbreaking and if you like their style, they will leave you glued to the console for hours. Although you can’t expect less from her being the founder Tim Schafer (Designer and writer of games such as: Monkey Island, Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge, Grim Fandango, Psychonauts and Brütal Legend).
Costume Quest, therefore, could not be different. Probably, no other company could develop a game in which the protagonist is a boy (or a girl, although I will simplify by saying boy from now on) who collects candy on Halloween. And even less to target it to an adult audience, inserting biting humor into children’s sentences, but that is exactly the beginning of Costume Quest. The game is developed as an arcade for the two main new generation consoles: Xbox 360 and PS3 and went on sale on October 20 with a price of 1200 Microsoft Points and €15 respectively.
Costume Quest offers us very colorful and at the same time very childish graphics that should not put off the most adult player. Situate yourself: a Halloween day in any American neighborhood in which the street is full of children and all the doors of the houses are waiting for us to go ask for candy with the more than used phrase of Trick or Treat.
It cannot be denied that the atmosphere of the neighborhood is achieved and although the graphics are not enough, we must remember that it is an Arcade game.
The game begins when you choose your character from two brothers and you can begin your day of collecting candy, although things will soon go wrong when your sister is kidnapped (if you choose the girl, it will be the boy who is kidnapped) by some kind of monster. From that moment on your epic adventure to save her will begin. A somewhat topical story but one that greatly entertains the player.
From here we find one of the funniest elements of the game: the battles. When you enter a battle, your character becomes the character of his costume, from a giant robot to the Statue of Liberty, as you can see in the images. Battles take place with button-press QTE (Quick Time Event) events.
To get these costumes you will have to find patterns and material to build them. In addition, some costumes offer us a “superpower” outside of battles, such as, for example, the possibility of running in the case of the robot costume, the possibility of giving light in the superhero costume, or the possibility of covering ourselves from damage with the knight costume. In total there are 10 different costumes.
The only complaints I can have are the ease and repetitiveness. The game is extremely simple, it is impossible to die, since every battle you lose you come back out just before it and you can repeat it, without losing experience points or anything. And the fights, although fun, become repetitive at times since the introduction video of the fight is always the same for each costume, and cannot be skipped.
Even so, it has been one of the arcade games that has had the most fun for me, it has managed to make me laugh a lot with its adult and irreverent humor that is clearly Double Fine’s signature. The playability is very good without any problems worth mentioning and the graphics meet their simplicity. At least I don’t need anything else for a game to have fun.
Also as an extra for Christmas, Double Fine is going to release downloadable content for the game based on Christmas, adding a few hours of extra gameplay which is appreciated given that the game is not very long.
Note
- Presentation: Its setting, and the different personality of each of the children make the presentation one of the strong points of the game. 8
- Graphics: The graphics are simple, very colorful and perhaps a little stiff, although in this game concept graphics like this are not a problem at all. 7.5
- Duration and Engagement: The story mode lasts about 5 hours, for a price of 15 euros, not bad at all. Additionally, collecting all the stamps and letters and completing all the secondary missions will take us an extra hour or two. 8
- Final Note: In my opinion, a great example by Double Fine of how an arcade game manages to bring a smile to every player who tries it. Even with the score somewhat diminished by the ease and repetitiveness, it is one of the best games in this year’s arcade catalog so you should not miss it. 7.5