Max: The Curse of Brotherhood
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Max: The Curse of Brotherhood Media
Critic Reviews for Max: The Curse of Brotherhood
Max: The Curse of Brotherhood is a beautiful platformer, but its lush graphics only mask the frustrating controls.
But there is no denying the sense of accomplishment when you solve a puzzle, arranging the branches, vines and spouts of water in the correct way and then successfully manoeuvring Max across them and safely into the next screen. It's a game that makes you feel smart and, unlike Limbo, never surprises you with unforeseeable traps: there is always an opportunity to stand back, assess and, finally, execute. It's a somewhat short, enjoyable and inoffensive game that delivers on the potential of its mechanical promise, if not its narrative premise.
With gorgeous visuals, inventive puzzles, and a fresh creative take on the platformer genre, Max: The Curse of Brotherhood is a welcome addition to the Xbox arsenal.
A solid idea but the implementation, especially on a standard controller, doesn't really work – leaving with you increasingly little incentive to save Max or his brother.
Puzzles require a level of precision that the controls and physics just aren't up to. An inspired last act is buried in a frustrating slog of a game
Max: The Curse of Brotherhood has good elements but inconsistent quality
In the end I couldn't have been more pleasantly surprised with Max: The Curse of Brotherhood. It's a game full of wonder and magical moments, that while light on actual narrative, still delivers a world that is hard to forget. The visuals are Pixar-esque charming and the combination of cerebral puzzles with thrilling action offers up a bite-sized experience that is a welcome addition to the Xbox One's library. If you're looking for a change a pace, I couldn't think of a more fitting way to finish off this gaming year.
