i-Rix Review: Costume Quest (and the spirit of Halloween)

What happened to Halloween? As a child, it was always one of my top holidays to look forward to, but at a certain age, there just isn't much to do with All Hallow's Eve anymore, that is at least nothing that really has to do with the spirit of it. You can certainly dress up and go to a party or go to one of those theme parks where people pay twice as much for a ticket in order to walk around for several hours and be startled repeatedly, but that's not what it was all about. No, Halloween used to be about BECOMING someone, about letting your imagination run free and living in someone else's shoes for one night.

More than that, you had a mission; GET CANDY. So think about this. You dress up for one night and inhabit an entirely different persona with all that persona's motivations and mannerisms PLUS having the overwhelming need to go to the houses of complete strangers and ask for candy. Putting it this way truly points out why it is that this is a holiday that can only be properly celebrated by children.

Then there's Costume Quest, a game which cleverly allows you to completely side-step this notion and again experience what it was like to be a kid on that night of nights. Through clever writing, simple gameplay, and the most awesome of premises, Costume Quest is a game that captures the fun and whimsy of the lost holiday.

Costume Quest is the story of brother and sister twins Reynold and Wren. They've just moved to a new town and, barring some apprehension about being in an unfamiliar neighborhood, they're ready for their favorite holiday, Halloween. It's at this point that the player assumes control of one of the siblings, with the other sibling dressing as a giant piece of candy corn. This is important because shortly after embarking on their night's journey, the candy corn-ed sibling is abducted by one of many monsters who have invaded the town in an attempt to steal its candy. Luckily, Halloween is our hero's "thing" (and yes, that's all the explanation you get as to how their awesome powers work), and he/she is able to use one of a myriad of costumes to combat the invading menace. Joined by a noble trick-or-treater, Everett, and later a brainy wunderkind, Lucy, our hero must brave the town's landmarks, defeat monsters, and collect candy all in the name of saving their sibling.

What really sells everything in Costume Quest is its writing and presentation. Double Fine (the game's developers) have built a career on making funny and insanely clever games, and this is no exception. From the reverence and nostalgia-inducing charm they place into our little trick-or-treaters, to the hilarious puns and references thrown in, I was smiling the entire time I was playing this game. It doesn't hurt that the art style is thoroughly adorable, and though it might not be the sharpest looking game, the visuals never detract from the experience. Top that off with a soundtrack of Halloween-inspired tunes, and the candy coating of Costume Quest is thoroughly delicious.

That presentation spills over into gameplay as when our little tykes engage their monstrous foes, they transform into what one can only assume is the true visage of what they think they look like in their respective costumes. Costume Quest is a turn-based RPG with a bit of the Mario and Luigi RPG games thrown in as well. Each character can wear any of the games brace of costumes and, combined with a number of stat-boosting "battle stamps", can take on specific roles in battle. For example, the Knight costume with a health-boosting battle stat becomes the team's immovable tank while giving the Statue of Liberty costume a stamp that induces poison turns that character into a major support player with healing and de-buffing power.

You'll use these mechanics as you traverse three distinct areas in the town. This usually involves trick-or-treating or item collecting to oust monsters out of their hide-y holes in order to progress to the next part of the game. It becomes formulaic after a while and although some adventuring elements are present and a few side-activities, it's probably a good thing the game only lasts for about 6-8 hours.

And that would be my one complaint with the game, that their just isn't enough. The variety of costumes keep the game fresh throughout, but adding an extra wrinkle to combat could have gone a long way to making battles feel less formulaic over the game's campaign. Similarly, another side-activity or two could have made each town feel unique, but sadly you'll be doing the same thing three times and then the game ends. Luckily, all this is a moot point because of the game's heart, charm, and presentation, but one can't help but think that there could be more game here.

Regardless, Costume Quest is a game that reminds you why Halloween was great, and for a sentimental old softy like me, that's really all it had to be. Beyond that, it's a smartly written and funny game that isn't hard to get into and play, even if that fact becomes a bit of a hindrance towards the game's end. More than that, though, it's a game that anyone of any age could easily play year after year on Halloween and have just as good a time with it. That alone makes Costume Quest the sweetest thing I've played in months.

Costume Quest gets 4 pumpkins out of 5.

YOU wa SHOCK: Thoughts on the Fist of the North Star Demo

DISCLAIMER: This is actually a re-posting of a blog that I already wrote on my Giantbomb.com account. You can see that HERE, but I really just did this because I felt like I was severely neglecting this blog... that is all.

The demo for the new Tecmo/Koei game "Fist of the North Star: Ken's Rage" is out right now (for XBLA anyway), and I assume if you're a fan of the manga and/or anime series at all you've probably already DL'd the demo yourself. I did so last night and actually played through each stage a couple of times and have come to a relatively brief conclusion. I like this. Yeah, it's Dynasty Warriors, a game series that I've flayed a few times in the past. However, I don't dislike Dynasty Warriors because I don't think it's fun to play. Dynasty Warriors has some great and well executed concepts that, when played with in moderation, are fun as all heck. The problem is that these base ideas haven't been fleshed out or improved upon despite a new version of the game coming out every year. So to be clear, I'll play and enjoy Dynasty Warriors, but I won't support the series year after year if they don't significantly improve on anything.

You won't see this in the demo...

But now this is becoming about Dynasty Warriors, and I wanna talk about the demo. In it is included two levels of gameplay from the game's story-mode (called Legend Mode here) with two characters to try out. Naturally there's Kenshiro, who you'd assume would be the guy they want you to try out first, right? I mean he's even first on the select screen, but selecting him will drop you straight into a boss fight against Kenshiro's bastard brother Jagi with no explanation of the controls. Granted, the game's control scheme isn't too tough to figure out, but I would have appreciated not having to get my ass handed to me to finally figure out all the ins and outs. If you're smart, you'll instead choose Rei (the angst-y mullet-ed one) and you'll get a tutorial alongside a level where you'll actually fight off waves of enemies and fight a boss as well. It's actually an overall funner level than Ken's, but one the demo doesn't make obvious should be played first.

Speaking of playing, the game plays pretty much how you might expect. You can string together light and strong attacks to build up your spirit meter which can then be used to unleash a special move (which will come complete with awesome freeze framed titles much like in the anime). You can also enter a trance state which doubles your attack power and modifies your special moves at the cost of draining your entire spirit meter. There are other intricacies like defending and other small little gameplay caveats, but the main idea is you punch guys in the face and they fall down, occasionally blocking and occasionally pulling out a special move to lay some smack down.

Both these dudes are playable.

This game, as stated above however, is still Dynasty Warriors. Although some things like making moves feel impactful, varied special maneuvers, and general feel of ebb and flow are greatly improved in this game. However, a lot of times you'll still feel like you're just button-mashing or flailing at falling enemies or crippled by an unresponsive camera. They're things that are easier to forgive given the game's reverence for the source material, but they don't make them any less inconvenient in this game as they were in Dynasty Warriors.

To wrap this thing up in a big paper bag, the demo is fun. Will the game be earth-shattering or change your feelings on Koei's never-ending "hit thousands of dudes" formula? Probably not. Still, if you're a fan of Hokuto no Ken or Dynasty Warriors (or both) it's sure to be a good time. For everyone else, the mechanics in here are different enough you may find yourself really liking the game. The only other thing for certain I can say is if you have any doubt about anything GO GET THE DEMO RIGHT NOW!