Review of Costume Quest 2
So I recently came across Costume Quest 2 as a result of Xbox Live Games with Gold (Free for Gold Members May 16 of 2016)
It’s an RPG based on saving Halloween from a dentist. A bit of a cliche theme, but it adds a few elements that change it up a bit to make for a decent overall game.
It’s a fairly short game. I managed to complete most of it within 5 hours, and that was with taking the time to complete a number of the side quests. I probably could have gotten all of them completed with another solid hour of play time.
Graphically, it’s not something an Xbox 360 could not handle. Worst case, there would be slightly reduced quality.
The story isn’t bad. It’s fairly simple, and definitely geared towards a younger crowd due to being based on Halloween.
The gameplay is simple in its turn-based combat and doesn’t show any mechanics that the Xbox 360 could not handle (having played FF13, Lightning Returns, I know it could handle timing button presses for extra damage or defense). Each costume changes how your character fights. Each of them also have a special ability that either heals your team or damages the enemies. Some of the costumes have extra effects on their normal attacks, but fights usually boil down to whether or not you can beat down the enemy team first. Even though there’s a rock paper scissors system, it feels mostly wasted since it only adds/subtracts 20% (give or take) damage. There’s also a limited number of fights. While the bosses within the game are fairly easy, the lack of potential progress on generic enemies doesn’t help.
The rest of it is simply exploring the world, solving relatively simple puzzles to complete the quests. However, it’s important to note that being a game based on Halloween, the currency within the game is candy. You also use the special abilities from your costumes to progress through the world. However, you must have the costume equipped to your lead character in order to use it, which seems a bit of a waste as well. The costume switching is done completely independently of the menu, which further makes it seem like a waste of potential flexibility.
The only other equipment is a set of cards anyone on your team can use, but also costs them their action for the round. All of them are acquired throughout the story via side quests and shopping with a guy named Shady. The most powerful ones are restricted to the end game. However, there is also no New Game + option, which would make the game a bit more appealing as well.
The whole game feels like it would easily pass as a decent game on 360, but also feels like a waste of XB1 processing power/capability. It feels lackluster for the Xbox One system.
As an XB1 game, it’s not something that’s worth buying above $10 price. If it was for Xbox 360, I’d price it at $20 tops for what it is. It’s otherwise a decent time killer if you end up getting it. There’s enough side quests to add at least an hour of content to help you get candy and Experience.