You wake up in the woods, alone! You don’t remember how you got there, or what happened. You’re separated from your family. Facing a forest filled with traps you must make your way back home. Also, you’re a pig. This is Mr. Bree+, an adventure platformer from Brazilian developer TawStudios. The game has received some very positive attention at different stages in its development, including some pretty big awards from in Brazilian gaming journalism and just recently the game got Greenlit. The game puts in control of the titular Mr. Bree as he makes his way home to his piggy family, dodging deadly traps and making odd little observations and witticisms to himself. It’s a bit of a mixed bag, but if you can forgive its minor faults you’ll be in for a good ride.
The platformer action is pretty solid. Each level challenges you to reach a puzzle piece item to proceed, putting obstacles like pits, spikes, buzz saws, locked doors or falling boulders in your path. Mr. Bree starts out the game without any abilities, not even jumping or ducking, but learns these skills as the game progresses, slowly making you more capable as you proceed. Much of the game’s challenges come in the form of platform jumping while simultaneously avoiding projectiles and other impediments. The jumping mechanics aren’t quite as precise as they should be for the kind of challenges you’ll come up against and there are a few parts where you’ll die numerous times trying to get everything to line up right in what feels more like a test of luck than skill. While these parts are frustrating, the game is pretty generous with the checkpoints, especially right before difficult sections, so you won’t find yourself replaying large tracts of a level to try again. While not every level is genius there are some sections that are quite inspired, including some sections using falling rocks as stepping stones that feel just about perfect in terms of being both fun and difficult.
The world doesn’t quite look like a Saturday morning cartoon but it has a pleasant, cheerful quality about it that’s nice to look at. Many of the graphics appear to be hand drawn and some of them have a particularly rough, sketchy quality that might not be equally charming to everyone, but overall the game has a nice, vibrant look with settings full of detail and animation. The only issue is that it doesn’t change things up very much; each level looks great individually, but the backdrop and color pallets only get switched a few times. After a while levels start to look very similar which feels like a wasted opportunity for a game with such a good visual appeal. One small grievance I had comes when you die and the time of day changes in-between lives, going from broad daylight to dusk to night. Visually this is a great effect, but it becomes a lot harder to see and play the game in the later hours, so much so that for certain difficult levels I would just kill myself a few more times to proceed to daylight rather than progress.
The game has a fantastic soundtrack that almost doesn’t fit the game. The first levels start out with a dark, somber piano tune that feels very ominous although maybe a little out of synch with the colorful forest background. Later levels pick up the lonely wail of an electric guitar in a piece that would feel at home on a metal band’s instrumental track. Personally I though these choices were great, and I really liked some of the later discordant guitar tracks, but personal biases aside I think they may not sit quite as well with every player. It’s good music, but depending on your tastes you might find it doesn’t match the rest of the game.
The game also places a second, red puzzle piece in each level. Collecting theses pieces unlocks slaughterhouse levels; challenging extra levels with a markedly darker tone. The red puzzle pieces are usually placed behind some particularly difficult obstacles, some requiring you go back and play earlier levels once you’ve unlocked new abilities. As far as collectibles go they’re challenging to get to without being intolerably difficult, and as they open up more parts of the game there’s a tangible incentive to track them down. The slaughterhouse levels they unlock are probably the best in the game, with a lot more visual variety and some of the more satisfying challenges and are well worth the effort to collect.
This is where it really gets good
At $9.99 Mr. Bree+ is a little steep for an indie platformer title, but it does bring a good chunk of game to the table with sixty levels and lots of production value. It’s fun and charming with it’s slightly off English translation, colorful scenery and shredding soundtrack, and I think that platformer fans and occasional players will find something to like about this title, though depending on your personal tastes your mileage may vary. Pick it up if you love double jumps and spikes and ham, they’re all there for you.
Mr. Bree+ can be purchased here at the TawStudio site.
This game was reviewed using retail code provided to us by the publisher.
