Tiger Sheep

There’s really nothing negative about a good old point-and-click adventure game. The fulfilling brain-feeling I get when I solve a puzzle without using a walkthrough is incomparable and honestly gives me more of an endorphin rush than completing a really great Mass Effect mission (blasphemy, I know). In the last year, I’ve been catching up on both older and newer adventure games I’ve missed and I’ve compiled a mini-review list of my favorites. This is part two of my super-awesome list!
 
4. To the Moon
While To the Moon suffers from a few boring, surprisingly childish puzzles, these thankfully take up a minor amount of the game, and the outstanding story makes up for them. Set in a universe where dying people have the technology to relive a whole other life in their heads, your goal is to go back in time in an old man’s life, gradually revealing why his life is the way it is. The game does not have a lot of gameplay mechanics, and honestly I felt that it could have done away with them altogether, resulting in a pure interactive novel. That is how powerful and heart-wrenching the narrative is. I also highly suggest playing this with the sound on, as the originally composed music is several steps above the average indie game music.
 
3. The Cat Lady
Ahhh, horror adventure games. There are so many of them and so few are any good. The Cat Lady was a surprising exception, having genuinely frightening moments and interesting dialogue. My only gripe was that at times, there was too much story filler where there could have been point-and-click mechanics, but I was rarely bored, even after eight hours (an impressive amount of gameplay time). The Cat Lady features a woman who commits suicide but isn’t allowed to die until she completes an important, but gory mission. So few games feature a middle-aged female protagonist, and although it’s at the expense of a stereotype, it’s played off rather well. I’d love to see more games like this in general.
 
2. Papo and Yo
This game is magical. It follows the story of a boy and a monster who navigate a Brazilian slum—one of the most captivating settings I’ve seen in a game recently—and their relationship, which turns out to a metaphor for something a lot scarier. This is less of a point-and-click game and more of a puzzle game. The puzzles are not repetitive or boring, and neither are they too obscure for the average person, which is a common failing with adventure games. This is a must-play, especially if you like ruining your keyboard with tears and emotions.
 
1. Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons
Another crying-all-over-myself kind of a game. This is my favorite adventure game of the year, and I’m not alone. Its unique use of one-player co-op (you control both characters at the same time) is absolutely fascinating. It had the potential to become gimmicky and annoying, but ended up being a masterpiece, in both its gameplay and story aspects. However, this game needs to be played with a controller (and a box of tissues for your increasingly wet eyeballs but I digress). I honestly don’t know how it would work with a keyboard, as you use one thumbstick for each brother, and the movement is surprisingly intuitive. This is one game where your range of motion is actually better with a controller instead of a keyboard (and I never say that!).
 
So what do you think? Are my tastes okay? Do you think adventure games are awesome too? You'd better after this two-part feature. See you next week!