Siblings - for better or worse, you're pretty much stuck with them. The arguments over Monopoly which resulted in a broken board and a chunk bitten out of Piccadilly, the tip-ex covered Geri Haliwell Barbie or the colour change PlayDoh mushed up to a rather unattractive grey, tiffs are pretty much part and parcel of the whole brother and sister thing. Sometimes, you just wish they'd disappear and leave you alone - but what if you could get your wish?
That's the plot behind the new downloadable adventure, Max: The Curse of Brotherhood, which is due for a release on the Xbox Live Arcade later this year. The story begins when young Max discovers his younger brother Felix has been smashing up his toys - and doing what any youngster of the new tech-savvy generation would do, Max heads to the internet for a solution. Happening across a somewhat suspicious website that claims to have a curse that'll rid him of his troubles, Max reads the jinx out loud, only to discover a portal opens up in the wall and snatches Felix away. Presumably scared of what his mother will say when she finds out, Max leaps in after him, and begins his journey through the monster-filled netherworld to rescue his sibling. Ah, brotherly love.
We can't really blame Max for hiding, but how that'll work on our tiny TV is anyone's guess...
Max: The Curse of Brotherhood is essentially a platformer for all intents and purposes, as the basic goal is to simply try to get from one point to another, racing creeping lava, leaping over spiked pits and figuring out puzzles as you try to rescue your brother. But along with some split-second timing and a gravity defying jump, Max has another trick up his sleeve to help him on his adventure, and one that some of you will no doubt already be familiar with - as the star of Max and the Magic Marker, which was originally released as a download on the Wii, Max can wield a giant pen and draw objects to help him conquer his surroundings. Letting you summon vines to help you swing across a gap, create a watery bridge out of water in mid-air, or raise stone platforms, things seem a little bit more fast-paced and action-y than the laid-back physics based puzzles of it's predecessor, but we're still eager to try it out for ourselves.
Max: The Curse of Brotherhood was originally planned as a Playstation title, but following Microsoft's purchase of the Danish studio, development has now shifted over to the Xbox 360 entirely - specifically for Microsoft's downloadable games store, the Xbox Live Arcade, where it'll set you back a relatively pricey 1200 Microsoft Points (about £10.20). With a release slated for spring 2013 (which has effectively been and gone), we're expecting the game to land any time around now - why not check out the doodle-tastic trailer below to get yourself in the mood:
