Brand

I've honestly had a hard time with thinking of how to tackle this game.

Honestly I want to like this game but it has a few niggling issues that detract from the overall quality.
I could view it as really good "indie" game or if it was on the arcade service would it be a really below average arcade game.

Ultimately it shouldn't matter where a games promoted, or how much the developers are limited by the games still able to compete with any other game out there. At least it should be able. After all Mario 3 was much smaller then brand in terms of memory used.

I should come out in the open and say really Brand is a bloody lovely looking game. Well some of it is. In the main action-platforming sections of the game the visual quality and art style is very strong. Some of the best yet seen on the indie service. The art style is very reminiscent of ps1 classic vagrant story.

The lead character in particular is very nicely designed. The art quality slowly cascades down monsters in the game world being crisp and well designed, if not quite as well designed as the lead and smaller monsters being both ugly in design and design quality. this suits them though so doesn't matter too much.

Outside of the game proper though things slowly start to come apart at the seams a little.
The visual style of the hub is a good but simplistic. and a little at odds with the main levels. You spend this time selecting one of 3 play levels or one of 3 mission giving characters. the Smith, the Chemist and the Mage. The quests you take on for them in the adventure stages allow you to progress with upgrading different aspects of your character, or more directly the weapon he is charged with improving.

The game really just uses its simple narrative premise to give you a reason to go through the main stages.

Each of these main stages are built a lot like a castlevainia world map. Vast good looking locations that provide you with opportunity to explore. The deeper you go into the worlds the harder monsters get.

The thing is Brand doesn't do its adventure stages well. Everything looks good and for the most part the game sounds quite nice. Yet it seems that all the efforts in the world have gone on this aspect of the game. In turn the actual game play suffers.

Even once you start improving your weapon and ability you will often find the game a trial to progress through. It's combat is basic and clunky having next to now grace or finesse. Movement and combat in the air is perpendicularly bad. This shouldnt have been a problem but many of the monsters you encounter block your path on platforms only just big enough to hold them. jumping to attack them only to find they have hit you more then once in the air as you did.
Your character being committed to some animations and movements and being left wide open to attack.

On top of this you have a blocking ability the is next to useless. Should you become surrounded by more then 2 monsters, which you will find happens a lot, you find your health depleted swiftly. if you wish to attack those behind you its a case of turning, hitting waiting for the attack animation to end, turning again. Turning around isn't fast so you never have a good reaction time for defense.

On top of this the difficulty curve is excessive. Some missions you can attempt early on involve you taking on beasts 3 times your size and at the lowest levels of you stages your in. Ranked much higher then yourself to boot.

The soundtrack here is a nice added distraction, well produces and nice to the ear. The problem is some occasions it doesn't feel like the right soundtrack.
One stage specifically has music that seems to have come from a 90s polatformer. A strange and inappropriate dance track playing throughout. Had this been set in a sci-fi world then that would be perfectly fine but something about it here just doesn't mesh.

The across the board the soundtrack just doesn't work. Sometimes its odd where its being used. Other times its just so drastically different from the other tracks featured it doesn't work with the rest of the soundtrack.

There are a couple of exceptions where music is perfect for whats happening but only just.

It's not that Brand is badly put together, it's a good quality and nice to both look at and play. It's just its design features some issues that make it uncomfortable to play with and just not as much fun.