Played Lately: Costume Quest

• Playing The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned was a great fit for Halloween. But if you wanted the real deal, Double Fine Productions' Costume Quest was the game to play. The premise of the game is simple. You play as the brother or sister in a pair of siblings on Halloween. When the two of you go trick-or-treating, monsters kidnap your sibling and you and your companions have to rescue them.


• The art style and the writing are absolutely endearing. I immediately felt nostalgic for a youth that I never actually lived. Double Fine really dug out the fun of being a kid and exloring a world that is a lot more magical than we see as adults.


• While the game does that in many subtle ways, the RPG system goes for the obvious. Each battle, with the giant robots, knights, unicorns, and assorted baddies, is portrayed how a child would imagine it. The fights are not too taxing, though I did lose a few due to inattention. The choices are simple and very straightforward. You are pretty much going to be making basic attacks until the meter fills and you can use your ultimate ability. But you have to take advantage of the active portions of the combat or you will not succeed. Not that losing a fight is all that bad. You can just try again right about the loss screen fades.


• There is a lot to collect. You'll be hunting for candy, searching for costume pieces, winning Creepy Candy trading cards, and buying up battle stamps to augment your fighting abilities. And let's not forget the quests. This is an RPG after all so there will be quests. (All of the sudden, I want to make an RPG called "There Will Be Quests.") I did have to hit an FAQ to figure out a couple things, it was only because the completionist in my wanted to see everything this game had. If you are not so afflicted, you should have no trouble finding your way though the game.


• As an Xbox Live Arcade title, Costume Quest is not an overly long game and the price accurately reflects that. I split it up over three days, one for each act, so that I wouldn't rush through it. But I can highly recommend that anyone try it out. It was a lot of fun and made me smile more than once. I can't wait to see what else Double Fine is brewing in their cauldron.

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© 2010 Marty Runyon. All rights reserved.