Broken Age

Information / Review English
Broken Age falls into the Adventure-Genre developed by Double Fine Productions.
Gameplay / Story
Broken Age puts the player in the shoes of two teenagers, Shay and Veloria, known as Vella. Both experience what many young people experience at their age: They feel patronized by their environment and want to finally take their lives into their own hands. Their respective living conditions could hardly be more different: After his homeworld was destroyed, Shay lives under the care of an obsessive-caring computer on board a spaceship. Day in, day out, he is fed, pampered and can experience the same, completely harmless "adventures" with his three cuddly toy friends. Instead of repeatedly spooning away ice cream avalanches and surviving cuddling attacks, he would much rather see the world and face real challenges. Vella, on the other hand, is actually in mortal danger. Her family lives in a village that is regularly haunted by a gigantic monster named Mog Chothra. In order to appease the nasty beast, the cowardly villagers have developed the tradition of the maiden's feast, in which the most beautiful girls in the village are thrown to the beast every few years - including Vella.
The player experiences both stories completely separately from each other, not even knowing whether they take place at the same time or in the same world. This also means that interactions between the two heroes are not possible. You can switch between the two heroes at any time by clicking on the respective portrait. Broken Age is a point-and-click adventure game. Figures composed of sprites act in front of hand-drawn, partially animated backdrops. The player can use the mouse to move his character through the locations and use the mouse buttons to initiate actions that allow the character to interact with his environment. You can find objects and apply them to the environment or other objects, as well as communicate with non-player characters. As the story progresses, more locations will be unlocked.
Pro
+ decent scope
+ exceptional design
+ crisp, well-designed puzzles
+ lovable characters
+ entertaining dialogues with a touch of humor
+ classic point'n'click control.
+ Achievements and Trading cards
Contra
- dreary story
- massive recycling of already known locations and characters
Conclusion
Broken Age offers you challenging puzzles and a touch of humor that rounds it off. But if you are hoping for a profound story, you will not find it here.
Information / Review Deutsch
Broken Age fällt in das Genre Abenteuer, welches von Double Fine Productions entwickelt wurde.
Gameplay / Geschichte
Broken Age versetzt den Spieler in die Haut von zwei Teenagern, Shay und Veloria, genannt Vella. Beide erleben das, was viele Jugendliche in ihrem Alter auch erleben: Sie fühlen sich von ihrer Umwelt bevormundet und wollen ihr Leben endlich selbst in die Hand nehmen. Dabei könnten ihre jeweiligen Lebensumstände kaum unterschiedlicher sein: Nachdem seine Heimatwelt zerstört wurde, lebt Shay unter der Obhut eines obsessiv-fürsorglichen Computers an Bord eines Raumschiffs. Tagein, tagaus wird er gefüttert, verwöhnt und kann mit seinen drei Kuscheltierfreunden ewig gleiche, vollkommen harmlose „Abenteuer“ erleben. Statt immer wieder Eiscreme-Lawinen wegzulöffeln und Knuddelattacken zu überstehen, würde er aber viel lieber die Welt sehen und sich echten Herausforderungen stellen. Vella schwebt hingegen tatsächlich in Lebensgefahr. Ihre Familie wohnt in einem Dorf, das regelmäßig von einem gigantischen Monster namens Mog Chothra heimgesucht wird. Um das fiese Viech zu besänftigen, haben die feigen Dorfbewohner die Tradition des Maidenmahls entwickelt, bei dem der Bestie alle paar Jahre die schönsten Mädchen des Ortes zum Fraß vorgeworfen werden – so auch Vella.
Beide Geschichten erlebt der Spieler vollkommen getrennt voneinander, weiß nicht einmal, ob sie zur selben Zeit oder in derselben Welt spielen. Das heißt auch, dass Interaktionen zwischen beiden Helden nicht möglich sind. Durch einen Klick auf das jeweilige Porträt kann man jederzeit zwischen beiden Helden wechseln. Broken Age ist ein Point-and-Click-Adventure. Aus Sprites zusammengesetzte Figuren agieren vor handgezeichneten, teilanimierten Kulissen. Mit der Maus kann der Spieler seine Spielfigur durch die Örtlichkeiten bewegen und mit den Maustasten Aktionen einleiten, die den Spielcharakter mit seiner Umwelt interagieren lassen. Man kann so Gegenstände finden und sie auf die Umgebung oder andere Gegenstände anwenden sowie mit Nicht-Spieler-Charakteren kommunizieren. Mit fortschreitendem Handlungsverlauf werden weitere Orte freigeschaltet.
Pro
+ ordentlicher Umfang
+ außergewöhnliches Design
+ knackige, gut designte Rätsel
+ liebenswerte Charaktere
+ unterhaltsame Dialoge mit einer Brise Humor
+ klassische Point'n'Click-Steuerung.
+ Errungenschaften und Sammelkarten
Kontra
- öde Geschichte
- massives Recycling bereits bekannter Schauplätze und Charaktere
Fazit
Broken Age bietet dir anspruchsvolle Rätsel und mit einer Brise Humor, welche das Ganze abrundet. Wer aber eine tiefgründige Geschichte sich erhofft, wird diese hier nicht finden.

act 1 good
act 2 bad

I played this game it made me happy it's a good game if you like being happy and stuff I don't know whatever man

Broken Age offers terrific art. Great voice acting, and pretty good puzzles. The game is broken into 2 acts. It begins with two different protagonists. That you can switch between through the game.
Which adds to the story. As well the puzzles. During the first act I found the puzzles to be very simple. And didn't have a hard time with it. But I enjoyed much of the story then.
The second act improves on the puzzles ten fold. Definitely reminding me how difficult. Adventure games can be. Story however leaves much to be desired in the second act. By the end of the game.
I can see what the story was going for. However it gets lost with it pacing very fast. And while delivering really interesting puzzles. In the second act. It forgets to tell an interesting story.
The first act was too simple. But had interesting story beats. The second act decides to go all in on the puzzles. But forgets the story. Sure there some exposition here and there.
But there isn't enough confrontation. Or any series of events that creates. Interesting scenarios, and drama. The second act feels like it's interested in closing the story. Which left little to distract you from the puzzles.
Regarding the puzzles. I read complaints that they were too obtuse. However I didn't find that to be the case. Even though I ended up looking up a guide. For two different parts of the game.
I still had the answers in my notes that I had taken down. Just didn't click them together. All you have to do is think outside the box a LITTLE bit. If I had any complaints about the later puzzles. Is that some of them are in a sequence.
And when your doing trial and error. It can really drag on. The voice acting is top notch. List of A grade actors. As for the Art itself. I think its fantastic. And really feels nostalgic/respectful towards all those older adventure games.
If your a Double Fine fan. And or is itching for a adventure game with light humor. And some interesting puzzles in the later half of the game. I would definitely recommend a purchase. The art alone, with the VO is fantastic!

Giving this a positive just because of it's artstyle, writing, voice acting and charm. Sadly the "puzzles" were hardly puzzles. For the most part they make you run around clicking everything you can until you progress to the next story cutscene.
Then you reach act two and for some reason they decided f*ck it and added 2 cryptic nonsensical puzzles without any sort of real hint, spoiler below.
Like leting the Snake squeeze Shay for about 1 minute until it falls down to the ground tired for you to pick it up, which then you put it on the village mayor and he coughts up a flute like instrument that then you give to Alex for him to play a tune you need for Vella to puncture the Nav Scarf. wut
Just wished it had better puzzles.
7/10

Broken Age was entertaining and fun to play through, but i honestly would not call it amazing. it's an above average game, in my opinion.
the two main features of this game are its puzzles and story. to begin with the puzzles (the defining aspect of this game), their initial difficulty started pretty well. sure, it was a bit easy at the start, but the gradually rising difficulty throughout act 1 absolutely made up for that. the pacing of that difficulty is very fair and is what a puzzle game should strive to be, in my opinion. on the other hand, act 2 was a mixed bag for me. some of the puzzles were super interesting to work through and got me to think creatively, more so than in act 1, while others are absolutely unintuitive and unfair; some of them really felt like they dragged on, being either unnecessarily long or having way too complex of a solution. i had to google a guide a few times to get through some of the puzzles in act 2, and while for one of them it was totally on me, the rest i would have never figured out because of how ridiculous the solution was. granted, these annoying ones are just few of many, but consider the blocked progress and frustration you have to go through solving it; i feel like this really had an effect on my overall enjoyment. despite all that though, i thought the puzzles were generally fair and fun to work through, minus a few noteworthy exceptions. the first half of the game had some really easy and mildly hard puzzles, while the second half had either fairly challenging or downright unfair ones.
moving onto the story, i actually found it incredibly interesting. the dual protagonist approach usually comes off as messy and disorganized, but this game did an outstanding job with it. act 1 did a really good job at establishing the setting and characters, and act 2 continued it pretty well for the most part. however, i must admit that the story felt rushed once i reached the climax of act 2. the story could have definitely been much stronger had it been given a third act (or if the other acts were extended in length), since i feel like everything started rushing towards the end once the climax was reached. the game built a very strong setting and incorporated super interesting themes, having immense potential to go down as a worthwhile story in its own right, but it really felt like a lot of that potential went to waste simply to conclude the game. while it's not terrible, with what it had, i thought it could have definitely been much better, easily giving it "Overwhelmingly Positive" status (or close to it).
also something worth mentioning, but the art and voice acting is amazing in this game. i feel like this is overlooked and is taken for granted in video games, but it is absolutely something worth pointing out. the art felt unique, and the voice acting really made the characters feel like people instead of one-dimensional plot devices.
and that concludes my opinion on Broken Age. it's a good game, but certainly not amazing. i (mostly) enjoyed playing it, and it was a good way to spend my time, but i honestly would not put it up there in the must-play category. if you're looking for a nice puzzle game with an interesting story (for the most part), then this is right up your alley.
7.5/10

Fantastic love letter to adventure games of old.