One of the worries you sometimes have with film tie-ins is the story of the game. If you haven't seen the film, but have bought yourself the game, you worry that either you won't understand what the game's on about, or it'll just end up spoiling the plot of the film. Luckily, there's no risk of the latter happening here - as what plot there is in the game is completely and utterly barmy.
Here's what we learn from the game's first few cutscenes. Merida, our heroine, isn't happy. Fed up of royal life, and with a typical teenage relationship with her mother, she yearns for a more adventurous life. But one day, Merida makes a mistake, and feeds her mother a jammy dodger, which somehow turns her into a bear, and her cousins into a bear. We've lost count of the number of times that's happened to us. There's something about an evil curse that's been unleashed, and an angry bear by the name of Mor'du who's going around possessing stones in a forest, but it's all a bit confusing to say the least. Luckily, none of it really matters, as there's not all that much of a focus on the story at all - and with the brief opening cutscene out the way, the game begins.
Wolves, stone giants, and strange exploding scuttling beetles are amongst your foes...
Not too dissimilar to the LEGO games, Brave is a platform game in which you'll spend as much time beating up enemies as you will leaping from platform to platform around the lonely Scottish highlands. Not that you're entirely alone, mind you, as the game has support for two player co-op, where the lovely Merida gets joined in her quest by what appears to be the ghost of a haggis. You know, the wild animal that lives only in Scotland that forms an essential part of the scot diet. Translucent blue, with a blobby body, and some waggly tentacles, that's the best we can come up with anyway (yes, we know it's meant to be a will 'o wisp. Don't spoil our fun).
Anyway. Much like the film portrays Merida as every bit the fighting heroine, and a world away from past Disney princesses (bar Mulan, of course), the combat makes up a large part of the game, with the evil Mor'du causing various forest beasties to do their best to bring your quest to an untimely end. Luckily for you, you're well equipped to take them down, with both a sword, which can be used by hammering X, and a bow and arrow, which can be fired by pushing in a certain direction on the right analogue stick. Letting you either pick off enemies from a distance (there's a fair amount of auto aim, so you don't need to worry about being precise with your right analogue stick aiming), or get up close and personal with a sword, it works best if you vary your attacks, as different enemies sometimes require slightly different approaches - although that's not to say you can't complete the game fairly easily by just shooting your bow.
Every enemy you come across in the game has its own elemental type, as, luckily, do your weapons. Able to switch between different elements at any time, you can infuse your blade or bow with an elemental power to give yourself an advantage against your enemy, with fire beating ice, wind beating rock, and so on. Unfortunately for them, each enemy also tells you exactly what element they're weak against by way of a friendly icon displayed just above their health bar, so there's never any confusion.
Fire away! (Ohhhh ho ho ho!)
But it's not only for beating up enemies that your weapons come in useful. Each of the levels is filled with items, and areas you can interact with, including items that can only be activated by attacking them with a particular elemental weapon. Whether it's freezing ice blocks to let you cross a raging river, or shooting a tree with the grass element equipped, to make it form a platform, these are often essential to your progression - but can also be used to hide collectables.
Along with the hundreds of gold coins that burst out of each chest, barrel, and even plant, each level has several hidden objects waiting to be hunted down. From new dresses (odd, for a tomboy princess), to pieces of a patchwork, and new swords and bows (as Merida never fails to say, "THIS IS THE BOW I'VE ALWAYS DREAMED OF HAVING!"), there's plenty of reason to explore off the beaten track - and a handy list before you start each level of what's yet to be found.
As you may imagine for a game aimed at kids, Brave is a game that's pretty easy to play. The enemies never pose too much of a threat, dying doesn't tend to set you back all that much, and if you come across a particularly tricky area, you can always adjust the difficulty mid level. However, the one area where Brave's really lacking is in the co-op. While games like this are always appealing to families and children alike, and as such, tend to include a co-op mode as a matter of course, the way it's been handled here causes more problems than it solves. With the second player's haggis spirit being transparent blue, and there being a fair amount of white ice, and grey stone, it can be incredibly tricky to keep track of where they actually are. While it may be less of a problem if the co-op player's a parent playing along with a kid, if it's two children on their own, the ghost haggis player's going to find themselves getting rather frustrated. Adding to the disappointment is that the co-op player doesn't really seem to serve any function - bar smacking things around a bit. They can fire projectiles, like Merida, and can hit things with their haggis tentacles, but when it comes to opening treasure chests, sailing down zip wires, or generally doing much else of importance in the levels, the co-op player finds their abilities sadly lacking.
All of which is something of a disappointment. While Brave's fine as a single player adventure, games like this always tend to work best with a second player involved. As a family film tie-in, and therefore a game that's likely to be in demand by everyone in the household, you'd have expected a co-op mode that worked at least a bit better than the one we've ended up with, which instead sees the second player relegated to the roll of a hapless, haggisy assistant. If you enjoyed the film, and are desperate for more, with its budget price, Brave will last you a good few hours as a single player adventure - it's a fair amount of fun, and has plenty of collectables to give you reason to come back to the levels and explore. But if you're buying it in the hope of hours of co-op bliss, you'd be better off looking elsewhere.
Format Reviewed: Xbox 360
