Broken Age

1. Banjoconker

   Apr 29, 2015

   10

   Double Fine get me into the trip from 80's when atmosphere and gameplay were the most important. So nostalgic mode in progress. But guess whatDouble Fine get me into the trip from 80's when atmosphere and gameplay were the most important. So nostalgic mode in progress. But guess what graphics and sound are from 2015 :)… Expand

   • 4 of 10 users found this helpful
2. BeardeDestroyer

   Oct 29, 2015

   9

   This is my first dip into Double Fine Productions and what a gem Broken Age is. Knowing nothing about it I downloaded it purely on the basisThis is my first dip into Double Fine Productions and what a gem Broken Age is. Knowing nothing about it I downloaded it purely on the basis that it was a free monthly PSN game, but having seen it through to its conclusion I would gladly have paid $40 or whatever the RRP usually is.
   
   Aside from the generous price tag I was drawn by the stunning graphics and the promise of humour. With character performances from Elijah Wood and Jack Black amongst others I was not disappointed. However, I had the most fun with the Dialog Tree performed by Jamieson Price; often I found myself laughing out loud to my interactions with this NPC.
   
   The concept of playing two separate storylines simultaneously and the ability to switch between the two whenever you get stuck is an excellent feature. The puzzles throughout are very well designed and always satisfying to complete; at no point do they seem far fetched or illogical. The storyline is utterly charming and kept me engrossed throughout - very early on do you realise that the plot is somewhat sinister and not the fluffy story that the initial narrative suggests.
   
   My only gripe would be that I felt like I finished the game too soon, yet this is testament to the beautiful, engaging world that Double Fine have created. I cannot recommend Broken Age highly enough to anyone that enjoys a good head scratching and I sincerely look forward to the devs next offering.… Expand

   • 1 of 3 users found this helpful
4. felasi

   Nov 9, 2015

   8

   The world designs are beautiful looking and overall it was rewarding to solve the puzzles in this game and get through it. Some say theThe world designs are beautiful looking and overall it was rewarding to solve the puzzles in this game and get through it. Some say the puzzles were east, but I am not a point and click expert, so i found then challenging enough.
   
   Act 1 was done well enough and had a decent enough story and it kept me asking questions like any good story went. The end to act 1 was a good shocker.
   
   Act 2 of the game is where I had issues. In act 2 you revist the same locations, which all basically have the same characters. It just became a little bit tedious. They could have done so much better. I understand in the 80s they would re-use scenes to save on time and budget but in this day and age it should be feasible. Also, in act 2 its the first time where to solve puzzles you have to jump between characters for some clues. It never indicates that you should do this, nor was it part of the game in act 1. This lead to extended time of bashing my head against a controller until i though to check. Very frustrating. The ending was somewhat underwhelming.
   
   Verdict: Its an OK enough game to play, but you wont miss anything new or interesting if you decide to pass.… Expand

   • 1 of 3 users found this helpful
5. memus

   Apr 3, 2020

   7

   Double Fine being Double Fine. Beautiful art direction, good humor and pure creativity mixed with poor technical implementation, raw ideas andDouble Fine being Double Fine. Beautiful art direction, good humor and pure creativity mixed with poor technical implementation, raw ideas and outdated gameplay.
   
   Pros:
   + Oh my, this watercolor art is mesmerizing. I don’t know how they made it, but it doesn’t feel digital.
   + I enjoy Tim Schafer’s sense of humor. It’s dark and kind and topical at the same time. He overuses wordplays (but I do the same). So tonally it’s perfect.
   + Voice acting is good in general. But Elija Wood is perfect as Shay. And Jack Black is welcome too, though he’s toned down here to fit into overall mellowness of the game (I want more of his eccentricity!). + If we started to talk about Jack Black, the subplot about the Cult of Lightness is the best part of the game. It’s funny. It’s smart. It’s very meta.
   + Solving some of the puzzles in Act 2 made me feel smart. Which was a feeling long forgotten in modern games which are very direct in their approach.
   
   Cons:
   - It’s a point-n-click adventure. And this genre died for a reason. This game has all genre problems: pixel hunting for missed objects, illogical puzzles and bad puzzle design in general (you will understand what I mean when you reach the knot one), monotonous backtracking through locations. Broken Age doesn’t propose any new gameplay mechanics and isn’t tested enough to avoid the old ones.
   - This genre is about puzzles. And puzzles are not great here. Act 1 is not a challenge whatsoever. But not in a feel-good ‘I’m making progress’ way, and more in a “there is no logic to what I’m doing, but let’s click here and see what happens”. Act 2 has more gameplay inside. But it’s very uneven. Some puzzles are nice. But others are undercooked (again, the knot one) or unnecessary convoluted. In the end, I referred to youtube 3 times to move forward, and each time it was not a disappointed “oh, why didn’t I think about that?“, but an angry “it’s just mean”.
   - Also, the studio made a questionable choice to make two puzzles the way that you’re need a peace of paper to solve them. At first, I felt annoyed and angry with. Cause it’s an outdated game design (especially after the shallow first act). In the end I appreciated it in the one puzzle (it’s more a nostalgia hit than good game design, but what works — works). But in the second puzzle I hated it. Because it wasn’t thinking in that case, just monotonous noting. And this old school puzzle design doesn’t fit the game world themes anyway. Common, it’s 2020 (ok 2015 at the original release). Be congruent, Tim!
   - As with any DB game this one is full of great ideas either executed poorly or dropped midway. Both story-wise, world-wise and gameplay-wise. The ”two worlds” mechanic is implemented poorly and un-evenly. The different towns feel like a pastiche not like a unified world. This technique worked in Psychonauts, because each level was in a new mind, but here there is no good reason for this. But it hurt the story the most. It tries to be very meta. But with no good internal storyline to support this. This game doesn’t have a hidden meaning or something. But it always nods that it does. And it gets old really fast and devalues all the stakes in the story.
   - And finally PS4 version is plagued by bugs. With some of them being unforgivable. Like not being able to see some of the items in your inventory because of the glitches above them or some lines of dialogue being muted. It feels like DF doesn’t care about its gamers at all. 5 years after release in such a small game some critical bugs are still not fixed. #facepalm… Expand

   • 0 of 0 users found this helpful
6. painava

   Mar 21, 2020

   6

   Broken Age is a pretty good point-and-click game however many of the puzzles are very frustrating and the game barely offers any hints atBroken Age is a pretty good point-and-click game however many of the puzzles are very frustrating and the game barely offers any hints at times. Going back and forth without any fast-travel is also tedious and gets boring fast. Good voice-actors and interesting story.… Expand

   • 0 of 0 users found this helpful
7. wesker2012

   May 15, 2015

   5

   Broken Age starts off promising with gorgeous visuals and solid voice acting. The wildly imaginative areas introduced in the first act areBroken Age starts off promising with gorgeous visuals and solid voice acting. The wildly imaginative areas introduced in the first act are beautifully creative. The characters you meet are quirky and mysterious. The gameplay starts pretty simple and typical of old school point and click games. The second act however is a total bore with hardly any new settings and characters. It also turns the original characters and areas into frustrating interactions. This is amplified tremendously with the ridiculous amount of backtracking required in the second act. After going back and forth between puzzles, there becomes little desire to even care about the overall goal or characters anymore. Also many of the puzzles in act 2 didn't make much sense and were a total clickfest. Its a real shame, because the creative artwork is gorgeous and the original concept seemed to have so much promise in the first act. It was especially refreshing to have such a cute and colorful world to interact with in contrast to all the mature and violent game worlds nowadays. The ending also was very abrupt and unsatisfying. Overall, the two parts felt very disjointed and the main plot/story suffered a lot in the end.… Expand

   • 4 of 4 users found this helpful
8. Johnleabo

   Jul 10, 2016

   3

   Broken Age is a wonderfully crafted and creative point and click graphic novel coupled with superb voice acting, however, that is all it is.Broken Age is a wonderfully crafted and creative point and click graphic novel coupled with superb voice acting, however, that is all it is. While the first act of the game is fairly immersive, employing a variety of different riddles and problems for the player to solve whilst discovering an amusing world, the second act is much more disjointed and fails to deliver in both gameplay and storyline. The gameplay increasingly becomes more and more monotonous, having the player backtrack to and from the same areas again and again and again, on a goose chase to either click on something that the player was given almost no direction whatsoever to click on. Honestly, though it was a point and click adventure, I feel like it still could have delivered given the quality of the characters and environment. The direction of the storyline and gameplay is what fails to deliver.… Expand

   • 0 of 0 users found this helpful

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