Halloween - an occasion that American's seem to go ga ga over, while across the pond we're left wondering what the whole obsession is. So along came the Halloween-themed Xbox Live Acrade game Costume Quest, which is said to let you 'rediscover Halloween' - I don't know about you, but I still haven't managed to 'discover' what's so special about Halloween, let alone rediscover. I have rediscovered my hatred for Americans calling sweets candy though.
After an initial argument over which of the two twins is older, Costume Quest has you playing as the 'older' sibling (either boy or girl), who needs to look after the younger one when you go out trick or treating. It starts off all well and good, with a bit of bickering thrown in - until you reach the first house. This is when you find out the neighbourhood has been taken over by a hoard of evil Grubbins - creatures that look a bit like toads in dressing gowns and wigs - who are trying to steal all the sweets to take to some evil witch. But then they decide to steal your brother (or sister) too, so you have to spend the rest of the night trying to save him. Being the older sibling sucks.
The intricacies of 'candy pail' holding explained.
One of the most important parts of Halloween are the costumes - and Costume Quest has a total of 11 of them. You'll need to try to track down the various parts for each costume, which are scattered around the place - and once completed, each costume has unique abilities. From the Robot's roller skates that let you move faster and scale ramps, to the Knight's shield which acts as protection from falling water and acorns, new costumes will let you get to previously inaccessible areas, as well as offering you special abilities in battles.
To progress through the game you simply need to rid all the houses in the area of 'candy', by knocking on each of the house doors - but when the door opens you never know if it's going to be a person or one of those dastardly Grubbins. If it turns out to be a Grubbin, a battle will begin. Battles are where the costumes really come into their own, transforming into mega stylised versions of the ones your character is wearing, each with their own special powers. Every costume has three attacks - a basic attack on the X button, a special attack on Y that takes a few turns to charge, and the B button has another ability, such as healing or upping your defence. Battles are 'turn-based' - meaning each character has a turn in which to attack, and play cycles round until the end of the battle - and once you've decided what move you want to make, you're presented with a bar with a small green section in, and you'll need to press the indicated button when the meter reaches that point to execute the attack. Even if you mess it up, as I frequently do, you still get to do the attack - it's just not as powerful as it would have been, if you had have had quicker reactions. Successful battles reward you with experience (XP), candy (which acts as in-game currency), and sometimes collectable items. And if you suck at battles, your health resets before each new battle, so you don't need to worry about being nearly dead before the next.
Ever wondered what attacks the Statue of Liberty would have? Now you can find out!
There's other stuff to do besides trick or treating though - talking to the other children round the place has them asking you to get stuff for them, trade 'Creepy Treat' cards with them, or you could try your mouth at the apple-bobbing mini-game. There are two types of collectable in the game - Creepy Treat cards and Battle Stamps. Creepy Treat cards are the sort of cards you used to find in boxes of those white candy sticks when you were a child - in game form, and each of the 50+ cards have the picture and name of each of the creepy treats (such appetising names as 'Swedish Noses', 'Edible Hat' and 'Sour Feet'). Besides collecting and trading, these Creepy Treat cards aren't all that useful - Battle Stamps, however, do turn out to be quite useful. There's 20 or so stamps you can find, and each of them can be equipped to your character (but only one at a time), and give you special powers, upgrades and abilities. For example, the 'Black Cat' gives you an added chance of dodging enemy attacks, and 'Egg' grants you the 'Egg On Your Face' ability, which lets you damage and stun an enemy for a turn.
There's even a special place in your notebook to keep all your Creepy Treat cards together.
All in all, Costume Quest is a fun little arcade role-playing game, with a cute, cartoon-y style, and writing that often makes you smile. But for 1200 Microsoft Points (about £
10.20
), and being a bit on the shorter side (apparently the game can be completed in about 5 hours), it does seem a bit extortionate. Still, there are probably worse things to blow 1200 Microsoft Points on (*cough* Limbo *cough*).
Format Reviewed: Xbox 360
