Gamer

Costume Quest

Status: Completed Costume Quest’s main game
Achievements: 15 of 20
Gamerscore: 200/250
DLC Purchased: None

If you are looking for an adventure game that holds it’s own at any time of the year, look no further than Costume Quest. Filled with sugary treats, villainous monsters and great humour, Costume Quest takes you on a journey with Wren and Reynold, twins who definitely don’t always get along, as they venture out for their first Halloween in a new town. When your twin is kidnapped by an ugly Grubbin named Gus who mistakes them for a giant piece of talking candy corn, it is up to you to save the night and get your sibling home safely. Wren and Reynold have just moved to Auburn Pines when Costume Quest begins. They haven’t really made friends in school yet and they seem to fight constantly. When their parents send them off Trick or Treating, it doesn’t take long for things to go south. Whichever twin use decide to play as will dress up in a pretty nifty robot outfit, and your opposite will don the perilous candy corn costume. After knocking on a couple of doors, you will be greeted by Gus the Grubbin, an ugly troll like monster under orders to obtain all available candy from the neighbourhood. Like most monsters, Gus isn’t the sharpest tool in the shed and thinks your twin is a giant piece of candy. Gus grabs them and hurries toward a suspicious gate, tossing your twin beyond your reach.

Right away you need to find your way past a roadblock and this is when your questing begins. Costume Quest has all sorts of games and tasks to help you level your character and increase your candy tally. You can bob for apples in the park, attend a party of patriotic proportions, play Hide and Seek with the neighbourhood kids and make new friends. And most importantly, you can beat up those awful Grubbins and chase them out of town before they steal all the candy.

Replensh your team’s health with Lady Liberty’s Anthem ability

The bulk of your experience points are going to come from taking on the Grubbins and other evil monsters working to ruin your Halloween. As you go door to door in search of candy, some of these well-lit homes will be infested with ugly, smelly monsters just itching to steal your candy and costumes. It is during these moments that your costumes become super powerful, transforming you into masters of battle. Each costume has a basic attack and a special attack move that charges up while you are in battle. After two rounds, you can unleash your special attack which ranges from a devastating missile launch to healing abilities. Victory gives you XP, candy and can also score you collectible cards and stamps to collect in your Journal.

Battle Stamps are a must-use item, especially once you leave the block and head off toward other areas. Sadie the entrepreneur has a nice little shop stand you can find in each area and sells these special stamps in exchange for candy. Each team member can equip one stamp at a time, offering health replenishment, better dodging and other handy battle perks. The stamps can be swapped without losing them which is great. Checking back with Sadie on a regular basis will give you access to different stamps to fill your page with.

It’s also important that you discover as all of the costume patterns and find the materials to construct them. Each costume has it’s special battle ability, but some also have bonuses to help you through each area of the map. Your standard robot outfit comes with snazzy roller shoes to help you zip around, jumping fences and outrunning monsters. Not to mention there are achievements and trophies tied to locating certain costumes or using all abilities in battle. Plus, it’s just fun to dress up for Halloween.

Malls are supposed to be a safe Halloween alternative for kids…

There are three areas in Costume Quest for you to discover, and a forth if you purchase the Grubbins on Ice DLC (which I have not done as of yet). It also appears that in the main game your characters will max out at level 10, which was fairly easy to accomplish. The game takes about six hours or so to complete and has two avatar awards (I played the Xbox 360 version).

Overall Opinion

I just love when video games can evoke memories of my youth and make me feel like a kid again. Costume Quest scores big points for making me fondly recall those cold Canadian winters trudging through snow and slush in my TMNT Michelangelo or Optimus Prime outfits in search of candy and other treats. This is definitely one of those games that will get you in the Halloween spirit and should be in your library so you can pass it along to future generations. Double Fine did a great job with this vibrant and engaging adventure for all ages.

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