Max: The Curse of Brotherhood Reviews

If not from personal experience, we all know someone who has that bratty, annoying, younger sibling who just can’t stop being a pest. As kids with big imaginations, we thought of all manner of cruel and creative ways to be rid of them: devoured by monsters, exploded into the sun, you name it. Now consider if one of these childhood plots came true and was told in a devilishly enjoyable Pixar film and you have the gist of Max: The Curse of Brotherhood. While the game has been out for some time now, it’s finally made its debut on the Nintendo Switch, so how does it hold up after four years?

In the end, Max: The Curse of Brotherhood is a fun romp through an otherworldly adventure, but one that feels a little unfinished or unrefined. Still, if you’ve not yet played it on any previous platforms, the Switch version is the best of them all thanks to the touch controls. Clocking in around 10 hours, with a lot of life squeezed from the magic marker mechanic, Max’s hunt to save his brother is an adventure worth taking. Just don’t put it ahead of other platforming adventures like S...

While Max: The Curse Of Brotherhood does have a good story, it has too many downfalls to forgive. The platforming just isn't up to par, and the checkpoints will have you throwing your controller at a wall in no time.

Max and his magical marker have made an overdue yet unexpected appearance on PlayStation 4.

Max is just a normal older brother, who gets annoyed with his younger siblings. When his younger brother Felix is taken away by a monster from another dimension, Max takes matters into his own hands and begins his rescue. A light hearted and fun side scrolling platform game with cutscenes and a magic marker, Max: The Curse of Brotherhood offers players several hours of really well crafted adventuring.

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Marker pens, however old you are, always seem to be the unsung heroes of life: in school, we used them to write the latest playground swear on mucky whiteboards; in college, we used them to cover every inch of our textbooks so we looked like we were learning something; and in adult life we use them whenever the trusty Biro runs out. Yet they’re never quite as useful in real life as they are in Max: The Curse of Brotherhood, in which the titular character uses a magic marker – well, an “infused with the spirit of an old woman” marker – to travel through an unknown world and save his brother Felix.

Max: The Curse of Brotherhood, while looking like a kids game, is anything but. The cartoon graphics may be enticing enough for kids to try, but the steep difficulty curve may be too much for them. However, underneath the cutesy disguise is a clever and surprisingly entertaining little game. Curse of Brotherhood leaves you to your devices with nary a hint to help you through its puzzles (which is a good thing), but it's frustrating and unintuitive controls often get in the way of making it something truly special.

Max: Curse of the Brotherhood is a decent platformer with fun gameplay and a variety of puzzles for you to solve. It's just a shame that the rest of the game couldn't have been as good. It's not a bad game at all – in fact, I had a lot of fun playing it. The problem is that outside the gameplay, everything about it is forgettable. This is both a good and bad thing. Thankfully the game provides fun platforming with clever puzzles for you to solve, but there is a good chance you won't care about anything else. It's like going to a steak house where the steak itself is delicious but the sauce and all of the sides that came with it tarnish the meal, making it bland and forgettable.

There is, however, occasional frustration derived from Max's mildly imprecise controls. He floats through the air in lazy, Sackboy arcs, and struggles to hoist himself up some of the more convoluted branch shapes that you scrawl with your pen. Sometimes you'll be forced to throw Max to his death in order to restart a puzzle. 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.

Simply put, Max is a fantastic indie game and a far better purchase than many of the others currently available for download. In Curse of Brotherhood, Xbox One has a fun, good-looking platformer at a budget price. Highly recommended.

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.

When Microsoft purchased Danish developer Press Play back in 2012, there was always the question, “why?” With very few franchises under their belt or much triple-A experience, it was a questionable choice. Now we know why. To create a successor to their original hit, Max & the Magic Marker. Interesting. Of course, the studio also has an unannounced title under wraps at the studio but for now, Xbox One owners, craving some more next-gen action, will have to make do with Max: The Curse of B...

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A bright platformer is just what we needed on Xbox One and Max: The Curse of Brotherhood’s vibrant setting and terrain-altering puzzles deliver. But the adventure doesn’t quite feel next-gen. With unintuitive controls, puzzle mechanics that’ve been done better elsewhere, and a story with the depth of a coloring book, it’s hard to stay invested in this short adventure.