Brothers A Tale Of Two Sons 2 Player Ps4
Gladys Anick
Characters that originally had the soft friendliness of stuffed dolls now have an off-puttingly plasticky shine. Pastoral scenes that glowed with welcoming orange light are now dark and muddy with smeared details. The once deliberately simple cutscenes have been entirely recut to be moodier and more dramatic, a choice that not only clashes with the fairytale feel of the story, but in many cases totally changes the meaning of important moments.
In the early scene where the brothers learn about their father's illness, for example, the doctor who originally felt gentle and sympathetic now seems oddly dismissive, and the little brother has become fearful instead of bold. In a story with no dialogue, every movement and facial expression is important to conveying what's happening. I don't think it's holding the original unnecessarily sacred to say that changing them willy-nilly is a misstep that does real damage to the intended narrative.
Few games out there manage to conjure up the same sense of freedom and awe that Brothers does. You are part of a world in which trolls are not only alive, but are central to your quest in saving your father. One of the most memorable moments involving the troll people was being transported down a waterfall through an underground cave, as if the two brothers were merely paperweights.
The first troll you meet acts as a guide that assists gameplay, allowing you to traverse otherwise unmanageable gaps and jumps. By the time you reach the caves, you can see trolls working far down below you like the dwarves in Snow White, or the characters you might find within a theme park ride, and all of this provides a beautiful backdrop to the ingenious puzzles you encounter on your travels:
The power of books lies in their ability to tell a story just through words, without relying on any visual aids. Films and digital games are the opposite in the sense that they tell us stories through moving images and sounds, and text is often backgrounded. Both have unique strengths and weaknesses, and co-exist in harmony, until someone takes the risk of transforming a book into a film and vice versa. As a digital game Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons definitely capitalises on the perks of its format, and even blends into the film category. Although a controller is recommended for the game, I found it to be no less enjoyable using a keyboard. There is something special about being able to control the story progression through physical input on the keyboard, and seeing those effects played out on the screen before you-something which is missing in film, and something which is left to your imagination when reading a book (the fusion of books and games, such as the gamebook, is also an interesting direction for the future of storytelling). In terms of music, the game soundtrack has a melancholy that is almost tear inducing, and can only be described as heavenly. I take my hat off to composer Gustaf Grefberg.
In fact, it is most often the strong audio-visual combination in Brothers that contributes to its magical atmosphere-one cannot function without the other, not unlike the way in which the brothers must constantly work together in order to succeed.
Many games out there might be successful because they have highly enjoyable gameplay, original design and/or are part of an already established series, but those facts alone are not enough to guarantee that an emotional connection will be made with the player. I feel that it is rare for games to truly move people, not just because they are a form of digital media like films and animations are, but because they have the added expectation of being able to seamlessly integrate player interactivity with a story or a game mechanic. Doing that well is hard. But Brothers succeeds because it breaks expectations and gives you time to grow up right along with the protagonists. There is no timer ticking away in the background, no intrusion of technology to distract from the journey, and no way to move on unless you take a risk. That sounds a lot like real life. When the brothers experience loss, it also becomes your loss. When they free a trapped owl creature (described my many as an owl griffin) from a cage, that sense of compassion and love also becomes yours.
4. It never ceases to amaze you. This game has unrivalled skills in surprising you, firstly because of its avoidance of clichs, and secondly because the plot never feels old. Playing through each section is like experiencing a new fairytale that has not yet been written. Sometimes the tales are about strange blood-obsessed tribes, sometimes they are about appearances being deceiving, and sometimes, you forget that you are part of the game, which is just like one big giant fairytale in itself. The fresh, innovative approach used in Brothers sets a new benchmark in story driven adventure games.
Final summation: It might seem like a stretch, but for me, Brothers fully deserves the title as one of the best games of all time. It is phenomenal as both a game and a movie, and I feel it will inspire countless people who play it.
Just in case you missed this game the first time around, developers Avantgarden have given the decade old Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons a loving makeover, so that you can enjoy this classic title all over again.
Throughout the adventure, the brothers will work together to overcome obstacles, climb, avoid and even help a few people along the way to make the journey and get the cure their father needs. There are giants, trolls and fearsome creatures to contend with, and like all good fairy tales, a few surprises await them.
To say any more would delve deep into spoiler territory, but suffice to say, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons Remake is still a journey worth taking, and remains a shining example of how gameplay and narrative can combine to produce something that only this medium can provide. However, fans of the original will find little new here outside of a very nice coat of fresh paint and some easy to obtain achievement points.
The basis for this analysis: This game is generally really good, and in order to identify what makes this game so good I will look at how the games graphics, narrative and music score come together in the game (under one term, its aesthetics). I will hold these elements up against evolutionary psychology in order to identify some possible explanations for why certain elements may affect the player in specific ways.
So as shows in the illustration above, we, as a player, will approach a game by first noticing its aesthetics (definition), then interact with its dynamics and lastly figure out its mechanics. This is precisely how I will approach a description of my first impression. It is also worth noting that this approach is also evident in my YouTube gameplay video, and these first impressions were given without any awareness of the MDA approach. Also I just want to mention that when talking about aesthetics in video games, it is used as a way of describing the desired emotional responses that the game can evoke.
Now following this initial response I began paying attention to the dynamics. The dynamics in this game as it turns out are quite unique. You know those challenges where you have to rub your tummy and pat your head at the same time? Well, that is basically how it is to play this game. The player has to control both brothers at the same time! This is difficult, and to be fair, I found it challenging all the way through the game. This game mechanic kept me very focussed and engaged all the way through, because as soon as there was a lapse in concentration, it would instantly be evident in my ability to control the brothers.
The mechanics of the game are simply put built up around puzzles. This is essentially a puzzle game, with a great aesthetic expression to keep us engaged. The difficulty level of the game does essentially not rise very much through progression. This is probably my one beef with this game. It never really becomes hugely challenging. If not for the strong story and aesthetical elements, this game would not have been a very good play.
The underlying story is of course the two brothers wanting to save their dad, who is lying on his deathbed. We are predisposition to take care of our family. This predisposition more than likely stems from a long evolutionary process, with the goal being to preserve the family genes for the future, and this is in very basic terms a part of why we create such emotional bonds to our family. So wanting to save a family member from dying is something most of us will be able to relate too. In addition the fact that this particular story is about two young boys makes us even more empathetic towards their cause.
As I continued my travels things turned increasingly bleak. Our brothers find themselves in the midst of a battlefield from a recently concluded fight. The twist is that the victims are all giants. So I find myself directing the two brothers through a maze of giant bodies, soaking them with blood, moving legs and chopping of arms along the way. The brothers exclaim sounds of disgust in the process, a feeling I can only agree with.
One last note on the games aesthetics. The actual elements of the game are largely built up from round shapes. People tend to find round shapes more pleasing and friendly, which means that despite the increasingly dark atmosphere of the game, I always felt fairly calm and at ease throughout the game. In general Brothers: A tale of two sons takes very good care of its players, offering a challenge where the learning curve is not too steep, and a narrative where many details as to how the player is affected are taken into account.
Brothers is a game of moments: moments of quiet beauty, moments of joyful levity, moments of cloying dread. There's one moment that stands out above all the others, though. It's one of those moments, the ones you'll remember in years to come, a moment of revelation where you suddenly see how various threads of the game have woven together. It's also a moment that's very difficult to talk about, as it comes very close to the end of Starbreeze's compact adventure, and its details are tangled in potential spoilers.
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