It's been a few months now since Broken Age Chapter 2 was released. Does it hold up to chapter 1, or is this a chapter better left unread?
GT:
We've honored many winners, but before we wrap up, we take a moment to recognize this year's casualties as well.
Stephanie Burdo with TheKoalition.com writes:
"Rarely are games released that are accessible, enjoyable, visually pristine and truly one of a kind. Broken Age is all of those things. Considering the small buzz surrounding its release, it’s clear that this title is hardly on anyone’s mind, although it should be. We currently exist in an era filled with remakes, remasters and reboots; but when will we see true innovation? When will someone create a game that is so wonderful, that it will be remade in 15 years? Broken Age is that game, and here are five reasons why it is both underrated and undeniably amazing."
Its a very interesting game. I spent a lot of time with it when writing the guide, I just think many people don click with it as much because of this style of game. Definitely underrated.
I tried the spoon on literally EVERYTHING just to hear the dialogue :) In fact I used everything on EVERYTHING just to see what would be said or happen, even if I knew damn well it wouldn't work.
That's one of my favourite things about P&CAdvGames, those little throw away lines of dialogue that build lore or add immersion or just make you outright laugh your ass off :)
#4 (art style) and #5 (dialogue) I agree with. #3 (amazing story) I could not disagree more with. There's more plot holes in this game than The Dark Knight Rises. The second half, too, kind of throws away all the great themes that had real potential in the first half, and the ending felt rushed and awkward.
I don't think it's a bad game, but I think it's a prime example of bad crowd-funding management. And crowd-funding has only gotten worse since, to be honest.
I'd purchased act 1 and finished it on PC quite some time ago, could just about run it on my dated POS.
When I heard it was coming to PS4 I was over the moon, I couldn't wait to play Act II! I love all Tim Schafer Adventure Games (Full Throttle etc was my childhood!).
While I'll admit ACT II lacked a lot of the charm of ACT I and the latter part of the story wasn't as intriguing, the puzzles definitely got a lot better and felt more like ones from a 90's adventure game.
It does seem like they were running way over their development time and had to axe a lot of areas and ideas, and the second act suffered for it. However overall I still think it was a good and enjoyable game with a memorable aesthetic, great characters and fantastic voice acting. I platinumed it (nearly went mad trying to finish it in under an hour, soooo many retries!!)
It's a shame we don't see games like this anymore, and it's a shame to hear Tim Schafer lament how many times he was laughed out of a meeting with investors over the last 2 decades while trying to pitch a point and click.
I envy anyone who got to enjoy it for free with PS plus, but I was happy to spend the money rather than wait on a whim of it being a free game.
The plot holes are the only thing I can really "prove" as truth or not, and even then they might bother me more than other people.
The rest was just my opinion, though I think quite a few people share it. I'll try to keep it spoiler free here, because I can't tell if you've already played it or not.
For one, the second half transformed Vella from what I saw as a rebellious teen into a bit of a psychopath. She does some insanely destructive things that really defy any sense of reason.
Then the whole deal with the identity of Shay's parents really disappointed me. In the second half they just kind of...reveal it all of a sudden, and it makes very little sense next to the events of the first game.
Plus the backtracking makes me wonder why it took an extra year to finish the second half.
...I don't know. I really can't describe this stuff without giving away some of the plot, but there's a TON of this kind of dumb logic running all through the game. Not the funny, whimsical, classic point and click adventure game kind of logic. I mean just really stupid writing kind of logic.
Listing the developer isn't an argument that it's amazing. Neither is showing a famous actor's face.
RPGFan:
Broken Age's long journey to completion has been divisive for some fans— understandably so, considering how long ago Act I was released and various development bumps in the road. It has been so long, in fact, that the developers actually suggest replaying Act I in order to recap before diving right into Act II.
Well that's a shame, scratch that one off my list