PixlBit

Have you ever played a game that was such a blatant clone, you literally had the urge to punch digitized ones and zeros in hopes of transforming it into something better? Have you ever felt the desire to quit   purely because you could predict what was coming? I wanted to with Marlow Briggs and the Mask of Death, which feels like it’s been done so many times before. What initially began as a promising journey through the depths of life and death, love, and betrayal fell shorter than a pass from Tim Tebow.

The game starts out with the main protagonist Marlow meeting his grisly demise and being resurrected with newfound powers meant to aid him in his quest for vengeance and saving his beloved girlfriend (been there, done that before). The story is easy to digest and never throws anything your way in which you can’t handle, which is nice since you aren’t forced into having to take in endless amounts of dialogue. The game plays like any other beat ‘em up hack and slash game in which you have two separate buttons to utilize for sequences of three combo attacks (*yawn*).

The world presented within Marlow Briggs and the Mask of Death is absolutely gorgeous though, and the puzzles within the world are well thought out and often include numerous moving pieces at times. But let it be known, that ‘at times’ is the key phrase, for most of the puzzles often include simply moving a box from Point A to Point B simply so you can jump up and grab hold onto a ledge to progress (because that has never been done before…). You can traverse diverse landscapes ranging from lush jungles to the mechanic innards of gigantic foresting rigs, you climb vines with vaguely similar animations that resemble a certain game that comes out every three years or so, and there are even events in which you slide down large descending slopes while trying to avoid obstacles, which is actually a great way to break up the monotony of combat.

As stated above, the combat is simplified into three-press combinations amongst two buttons. As you level up the four weapons you obtain throughout the story, you’ll unlock more combos to use (wow! I’ve never played a game that has done that before). You also gain access to four elemental based magic attacks (wind, fire, earth, and air) that are entirely overpowered and make crowd control a breeze. The best part of the combat though is how varied the weapons are, and how each actually feels unique in the way it handles. The scythe is well balanced in regards to its speed and power, the whip has an extremely long range and high combo-rating but it lacks severely in power, the hammer is tremendously powerful yet excruciatingly slow, and the dual swords are fast but often leave you vulnerable and exposed.

The game overall wasn’t bad per se, but my biggest complaint is that it has been done so many times before. This game was an obvious carbon copy of God of War and everything from character design to the simplest of animations just felt all too familiar. I couldn’t even climb a vine and attack without feeling like Kratos was going to viciously murder me for playing such a plagiarizing game. I got the sense the designers were afraid of trying anything new to revamp this particular genre and were left uninspired or unable to find a creative way to differentiate themselves. The game is fun though, and there is quite a few humorous sections involving Marlow speaking with his companion (no spoilers!), but that’s the only highlight worth mentioning.