[Review] – Costume Quest

Developed By:  Double Fine

Published By: THQ

Platforms:  XBLA, PSN

Players:  Single

Release Date:  October 19, 2010 and October 20, 2010

Price:  $15.00 on PSN and 1200 MS Points

Version Reviewed:  XBLA

It’s every candly loving fiend’s favorite undead holiday, Halloween.  As two siblings argue over who is going to lead their night of Trick or Treating, they have no clue what is in store for them, but the monsters that have taken over their once quiet neighborhood are determined to make sure that they find out.

Double Fine and THQ take a stab at adventure/role playing with their latest arcade friendly title, Costume Quest.

In Costume Quest you will find yourself in the middle of a classic sibling rivalry.  It is up to you whether sister Wren or her brother Reynold will take the lead for the night’s festivities of Trick or Treating.  After deciding between the fighting siblings, the kids put their respective costumes on with you being a blue robot that can eventually skate with later upgrades and your sibling A.I. dresses up as a giant piece of a Halloween candy staple, candy corn.

Wren and Reynold both learn that something more sinister is at work in their neighborhood after stopping at a seemingly quiet jack-o-latern decorated house.  Unfortunately for your brother or sister, depending on your choice you made at the beginning of the game, this house is anything but quiet.  Mistaken for a giant piece of candy corn, the monsters that have invaded your neighborhood kidnap your sibling and it is up to you to get him or her back and stop the monsters from taking over your neighborhood as they search for candy.

Reynold or Wren start off in Costume Quest as a robot.  When a battle is triggered after running into a monster, your character is transformed into a real version of their costume that has it’s own special attack, along with standard attacks.

The battles are turn based like many RPG’s.  This allows you enough time to choose what action you wantyour character to do.  After choosing an action, you are faced with a quick time event where you have to tap the right button at the right time in order to block or deliver more damage to your enemy.  During battles, you can control up to four characters that each have their own special attacks depending on their costume.  After the battles you are given XP and candy for your trick or treat bag.

Throughout the beginning of Costume Quest, you will find yourself walking around town finding quests, candy, and costume materials that allow you to upgrade your costume.  You gain quests by interacting with the other kids and sometimes bullies in your neighborhood.  You can view not only your quests, but your candy, costume patterns, battle stamps, and character’s status by accessing your journal that can easily be found by tapping the Y button.  As you advance in Costume Quest other areas are unlocked as your search for your kidnapped sibling and of course candy.

Overall, Costume Quest is a delightful blend of light hearted and sarcastic humor and unique features such as comic bubbles instead of talking that make this ghoulish entry from Double Fine and THQ a rare treat in the the growing number of lacking and sometimes overpriced Xbox Live Arcade titles.

Siren Says:  “Costume Quest is a joy to play.  I had no problems navigating throughout the game and the menu interface is so easy to use that my four year old could navigate through it.  At times I found myself laughing at some of the remarks made by the characters.  I throughly enjoyed Costume Quest and I believe that if you like turn based RPG’s, Halloween, and can appreciate all types of humor, then this might be the arcade game for you.”

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