- Note: Brothers A Tale of Two Sons is back with the same adventure, but on our new gen consoles.
I previously reviewed the original release of Brothers on the Xbox 360 and had a fantastic emotional time with the title. It offered an interesting gameplay mechanic too, which was the dual-control system in place to control both of the brothers. Admittedly a hard to grasp concept at first, but after the first hour you shouldn’t really have an issue.
Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons offers the exact same experience that I encountered back on the Xbox 360, but this time around the enhanced audio and graphics help justify the beautiful game even further. There aren’t many games that offer such an emotional story with little words, putting this game easily up there with the likes of Journey and Limbo.
Brothers as you can already tell by the title, concentrates on two siblings who find themselves in frequent dangerous situations as you travel over cliffs, manoeuvre a massive gear aiming to find the Tree of Life, in the hopes of saving their dying farther. The brothers have had a lot to deal with already with their mother drowning which opens up the game with a traumatic cutscene where the younger brother undoubtedly blames himself for her death.
There is a lot of twist and turns along the way and all round offers a compelling story about two brothers who want nothing more than to save their farther. The platforming elements are quite challenging at first due to having to control both brothers with the dual-control, but it’s nothing no one can overcome. The dual-control system is an interesting concept, but I would still prefer the option of having a second player to participate in the experience because it would be interesting to share with an another friend.
My personal preferences aside, Brothers does what it’s meant to do, offer a compelling story. The gameplay is as good as its predecessor, just with enhanced graphics. The story/game is short and roughly will last 3-4 hours depending if you go hunting for achievements/trophies, as there are no exact story achievements, just achievements for doing various things, such as carrying a sheep and dropping them in soot.
Even though short, Brothers is certainly a platformer worth picking up and playing through for the first time or for the second, as long as you are prepared to go through an emotional story and breath taking platforming moments that will bring you even closer to the brothers. There are many moments where you complete a puzzle or pull a lever that feels so satisfying as you are having to work with both of the characters simultaneously. Whether you’re a newcomer to the game or coming back for more, this is a tale deserved to be told once more.