Written by The Easy Mode Staff | 25 October 2010

Back again with another fine reader submitted review, reader Adam Morris has submitted, for your enjoyment, his thoughts on Double Fine's latest effort, Costume Quest. So read what Adam has to say on the game, and feel free to leave a comment. Alternatively, if you feel compelled to, you too can submit a review and we'll happily post it on the site.

Costume Quest is the kind of game that allows you to re-live your childhood, to extend your imagination past the plausible and into the playful, to remember what it was like to run around your back garden armed with nothing more than a stick, and be the defender of the universe.  With Costume Quest, Brutal Legend and Physchonauts developers Double Fine Studios have managed to blend fun and creativity in an amazing equilibrium of entertaining game play and storytelling, and though Costume Quest brings some baggage with it that was probably best left at the terminal, it's extremely hard to even notice the niggles beyond all of the charm and imagination that the game offers.

Set during Halloween night, the game gets you to choose a character from one of two siblings, Reynold and Wren, then sends you out into the neighbourhood trick or treating.  However, it's not long before your sibling gets kidnapped, and you are tasked with rescuing them before your parents find out.  During the course of the adventure you'll visit three distinct locations; a suburban neighbourhood, a shopping mall and a carnival.  Each of these locations has many things to do and collect, from indulging in a game of apple bobbing for candy prizes (the games currency), to entering costume parades to win new costume patterns.

The locations are relatively small, but there is a substantial amount of exploring and side questing that can be done in each of them, meaning you are never meandering through pointless landscapes with nothing to see or do.  Much of your time will be spent scouting for possible trick or treating locations, which can usually be done in any shop or house with a light on in the window.  Knocking on the door to one of these locations will result on one of two outcomes; revealing a wacky costumed adult who will usually have some witty comment before throwing bundles of candy your way, or another one of those pesky goblins who are mindset on stealing your snacks, which is when the game's combat system kicks in.  Let awesome costume battle commence!



The battle sequences in Costume Quest are handled with great imagination and style, with each encounter initialising with your character transforming from a small child into a towering, exaggerated and frankly awesome version of your respective costume. The battles take the form of a series of turn-based quick time events.  Each costume has two attacks, a standard attack, and a special attack that builds up during combat, and can be used to different effects depending on the costume you are wearing.  For example, the robot costume turns into a huge mechanical warrior who's special ability is a barrage of high damage seeker missiles

There are a wide variety of different costumes that can be found throughout the game, each with different visual styles and abilities which will fall into one of three categories; offensive, defensive, and support types.  This system really makes you think about the optimum class arrangement for certain battles and while combat is never especially hard, it's fun and rewarding to try out different party combinations to see how it affects the fight.

The combat itself plays out through a series of timed, QTE-style button presses, which vary from costume to costume.  The timed button presses themselves aren't vital to the success of your strikes, as your attack will succeed whether you pass or fail the “mini-game”.  Instead, successfully pulling off a timed button press will act by giving you a damage boost that, whilst not necessary initially, can become a costly error if consistently missed in later boss encounters.  The same system is also used when your character is being attacked, with the timed button press being used to increase your defense, and lower the damage enemy attacks will inflict on you.  Again this becomes important in later boss fights, but never so important that it becomes frustrating as a momentary lapse in concentration makes you take a few more hit points of damage.

Your offensive and defensive attributes can also be modified in a variety of different ways with the use of Battle Stamps.  These character buffs can be bought at various places throughout the game, using the native currency -- candy! You can apply 1 Battle Stamp to each of your characters, which grant a range of effects such as increased HP, or a new attack that can be added to your costume. As there is nothing else to buy with your accrued candy you will find yourself having more then enough to collect them all, and not only will this grant an achievement, but is also a fun and genuinely interesting way to alter your characters to your own play style.



At times though, the combat can start to become rather repetitive, and by the time you reach the end of the game, you will likely have already picked your favourite team costume load out, and used it for most of the battles.  That's not to say you won't try out a new costume when it comes your way, but I found I would weigh the benefits of a newly acquired costume over my previous favourites, and usually resort back to my favourite three.  This means that you'll become familiar with the button action required to complete the extra damage attack, and as this button press never changes style, 30 battles of activating the same three button pressing games, four times a battle can start to become a bit tiresome. However the game is so good at what it does right , such as the awesome graphical cell shading, smooth and stylish animation and truly atmospheric Halloween music, that it make it so easy to forget such a small annoyance while you revel in Costume Quest's undoubtable charm.



While the main quest isn't exactly lengthy -- clocking in at around 5 hours --  the level design, quest structure and general pacing of the game feels just right.  Levels are never too big that it feels like a chore to get around and explore, and the side quests never make you stray far from your primary goal, meaning most will be completed as you naturally explore the land; at no time does the game make any cheap attempts to lengthen the game with cheap collection or escort quests. The game flows at a brilliant pace which never leaves you with nothing to do.

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