Broken Age: Act 2 (PC) Review

Shay and Vella were last seen swapping places at the end of Broken Age: Act 1, after it had transpired Shay had not in fact been rescuing girls and Vella was not in fact fighting against an evil beast in the sky that ate innocent victims. It brought together two separate story threads smartly, leaving the adventure at a juncture that made the mind boggle. The possibilities for expanding the tale in the concluding Act 2 were endless, and the second part of the Kickstarter-funded project from Double Fine could not come soon enough. Fast-forward a year and a bit to April 2015 and the long wait is finally over, but with it comes a massive amount of disappointment on numerous levels.

As before, there is a choice to commence adventuring as Shay or Vella, who have now switched places - Vella being trapped aboard Shay's previous spacecraft confines, and the male lead being left to wander around a small village area that is completely foreign to him since he has been raised by a computer pretending to be his parents in 'outer space' (or so he was led to believe). Neither Shay, nor Vella, seem overwhelmed by the prospect of being in completely alien surroundings, both in terms of their personal narrative and interactions with those around them. The writing throughout feels like it is merely going through the motions, never drawing those in control deeper into the pit of emotional turmoil that should be present. Trapped in a spaceship believing the mission was of the utmost importance, only to find out that terror was being caused to others, or living life in fear that a huge monster was gobbling up dear friends and family, only to realise it was all human-controlled with no explanation as to why. Surely in either circumstance some over-the-top reactions are called for? Nope, this is just like any other day.

Then there are the liberties taken with puzzle solving, relying on switching between both characters to figure out the solutions at times, making no real sense at all as it implies some mental bond between the two, with Shay suddenly realising how to crack something after switching to Vella to uncover a random drawing or piece of childhood memorabilia, and vice versa, with Vella overcoming hurdles by using intelligence that only Shay has to hand. There is not even a loose connection, say, for instance, a walkie-talkie that works long distance. It's all brushed over for the sake of just getting on with it. Overlooking that is actually somewhat acceptable since, after all, it is an extremely solid adventure with smart tasks to overcome, right? Ah, not quite…

Knowing what does and does not work in the age-old point-and-click adventure genre is imperative to any newcomers aiming to dip their toes into the much-loved style of gaming. For veterans, like those at Double Fine, however, it should be a given that timing-based solutions that require pinpoint accuracy are somewhat of a no-no due to their frustrating nature, as are lengthy sequences of events that reset after just the smallest of missteps - again, inciting rage after the umpteenth attempt. As for puzzles that are so obtuse that they result in that horrendous situation of having to work through every single permutation until reaching the desired result for the game to allow progression, these are the worst offenders and not only should they be stricken from any half-decent adventure, they certainly should not be featured several times within one game, as is the case here.

Unfortunately, Broken Age: Act 2 falls foul of many issues that plagued older examples of this genre, but issues that others have ironed out over the years following user feedback. Here, the game is rife with areas that will cause most to call it a day and not even bother suffering through to the end credits. Trekking back and forth over long distances to do menial tasks is another bugbear feature, with there being one specific point where it is obvious what to do, but the required items cannot be held in the inventory at the same time, meaning a long hike must be made to move things one at a time.

With a disjointed story that introduces elements not even hinted at in Act 1, lack of emotional attachment to either lead character, no strong emotions felt from any of the cast, puzzles that will either make no sense or become overly laborious to the point of wanting to give up, and **spoiler alert** no proper conclusion to bring all plot points together satisfactorily, nor any impressive ending sequence,**end spoiler** Broken Age: Act 2 would be one to miss if sold separately, but as it happens, turns out to merely be a highly disappointing end to something that started with such strong promise.