Brave: A Warrior's Tale

Whether you live to jump or not, if you can stifle your inner graphics goblin long enough to get a sense of what Brave has to offer, you might be surprised at just how engaging a well-polished PS2 port can be on 360. If only there could have been a 360 or PS3 version, Brave might have soared considerably higher.

A simple title meant for kids unfamiliar with the gaming world. As an introductory product -- an ultra light action-adventure -- Brave has far too many rotten bits and oddities to recommend.

Brave is basically a PS2 game with the ability to play on a 360 with no effort to upgrade or enhance the experience to even to average standards.

A cruelly hijacked story makes this otherwise serviceable game a pale shadow of adventures past.

Brave: A Warrior's Tale has done the almost impossible: surpassed Superman 64 for one of the worst games of all time.

It's a shame that this title is recommended for children who are just picking up gaming, because the frustrations involved will most likely turn them off.

It looks like a last-gen Disney reject, but Brave does a great job of showing children the basics of different genres. [Oct 2009, p.74]

Our disgust was solidified near the end of the six-hour campaign, as the PS2 version's final boss fight is astonishingly cut short to insert an hour-plus of new fetch quests. We understand padding the game a bit, but lazily dumping these bland challenges within seconds of what should have been the conclusion shows a total disregard for the players who slogged through hours of sloppy programming to get to that point. And if the developer doesn't care, neither should we.

Brave: A Warrior's Tale for the Xbox 360 is a game which will hardly please even your most casual gamer.

Brave is obviously designed with children new to gaming in mind, but even they shouldn’t tolerate this glitchy mess. There’s a pretty good game here, hiding amongst the bugs, graphical issues, and poorly designed platforming sequences. It’s called Brave: Search for Spirit Dancer, and you can find it for a very reasonable price for the PS2.

From the glitchy programming, the poor graphical quality, a camera that never listens to the player, and horrific level design, Brave: A Warrior’s Tale is an incomplete product.

I love the concepts, story, and gameplay ideas behind Brave but they just aren’t executed in a fashion that is remotely playable or enjoyable, especially if you have played anything better.

Brave: A Warrior's Tale for the Xbox 360 is a game only recommended for children who are just picking up gaming.

It might be interesting at a low price for low expectations, but experienced players should stay two meters from it.

You will be disappointed in the first and last moments of the game – and in between.