Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons (X360) - Review

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Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons is a game of artistic and commercial pedigree. Chosen to launch this year's Xbox Live Summer of Arcade, it was developed in conjunction with award-winning Swedish art-house director Josef Fares. In reality, this translates to a stunning modern fairy-tale of sweet ambitions, joy, cruelty and downright unfairness that even Grimm would consider harsh.

Like the aforementioned Grimm, the beauty of Brothers lies in its under-stated, simple but accessible story. After losing their mother in a tragic accident out at sea, two boys rush their ill father to a doctor, who reveals the only way he can be saved is if they can bring back some 'water of life' from a tree spring far away. The two set out, younger and older, to face the world and save their father. Within this world they meet a variety of creatures, friend and foe, who help to create the mesmeric atmosphere that prevails throughout Brothers. Without speech or subtitles, the narrative is presented in the form of effective mimes; instead of hindering the story, it is aided by the expressiveness of the characters. A simple shake of the head can reveal all that needs to be said.

Themes of simplicity and immediacy run into the gameplay of Brothers, itself wonderfully accessible. On the Xbox controller, the left stick and left bumper control the older brother, the right stick and right bumper control the younger. At first, it takes a little while to get used to; you naturally concentrate on the left stick, meaning the younger sibling goes careering off into the distance. Quickly the brothers become synchronous, hurtling through challenges and puzzles, leaping gaps and fleeing invisible ice-trolls with the minimum of fuss.

The genius of the control system is that, by having just one button for each action but requiring the player to concentrate on two avatars, the game feels both simple and connected at the same time. It likewise brings the brothers together, physically emphasizing in the player that they are a team who require each other to progress. If Brothers had been two-player, or Xbox Live multiplayer, this immediate connection would be lost; by controlling both at the same time, you care that bit more for them on your own terms rather than anybody else's. 

In this respect, there is more than a little bit of Ico in style, feel and design. Brothers is likewise intensely lonely; it very much feels like a world much bigger than they are. It is a credit to the developers that they have managed to create this sense of grandeur within what is an extremely linear game. The world created is stunning and beautiful; the boys scramble across water-falls, slide through mines and pick across a battlefield littered with the bodies of fallen giants.

All isn't, however, always quite so rosy. Gameplay, despite the dual controls, is still relatively straightforward; choose an appropriate direction and walk towards it until you come across an easily solvable/climbable/moveable challenge, react as appropriate and repeat. Although some of the boys' traversal is inventive (a particular highlight includes one boy dangling from a tree held by the other to get around a cliff), much of it becomes very obvious very quickly, to the point it begins to saturate. Although Brothers at no point becomes close to un-enjoyable, a little bit more variety would have gone far. Brothers last for about six hours, but this length feels about right: anything longer would have stretched the narrative and gameplay beyond breaking point, anything shorter and the player would be left wanting more.

True to its artistic roots, Brothers is a mesmerizing game to behold. Similar in style to Ico and Journey, it mixes the correct amount of impressive technical detail and graphical naivety to create a world convincing from the perspective of the brothers. Draw distances are excellent, but the features close by give the game life; animals stir and limbs are hacked (from giants) in the medieval fantasy landscape. It just looks wonderful. Aided by a stirring score, Brothers is dangerous and beautiful.

It is a shame, and a damnation to many videogame developers, that when talking about artistic games one only has a tired list from which to make comparison. Brothers joins this roster with the minimum of fuss. Although the gameplay could have been better, and it could have been artistically braver, at no point does either feel like a half-way house. Both aspects compliment the other. The key to Brothers is its under-stated immediacy and familiarity. A fairy-tale that deals with human fears, worry, loneliness and despair effectively, the simplicity of the control scheme brings the player in, while the duality cements your relationship with the brothers. The brothers, in their turn, become one of gaming's most identifiable heroes; they are everyone and no-one, nameless boys just trying to help a loved one. Gameplay is such that almost anyone can play it and such all inclusiveness should be applauded. It's so close to being a classic, but it just lacks in too many areas for it to challenge as one of the year's best games. Most praise it does get, however, is fully deserved.

This review is based on a digital copy of Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons for Xbox 360, provided by the publisher.

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