Reviews// Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom

The relationship between Tepeu and the Majin could have been a triumph rather than just a successful gameplay mechanic, though, if the bond felt just a little more special.

The relationship reminded me a little of that between Lennie and George in Of Mice and Men. The Majin has a childlike simplicity and needs your protection just as much as you need his. There's something adorable about his Muppet-like manner (he reminds me a bit of Ludo from Labyrinth) and it's enjoyable watching him and Tepeu do their little happy dance when they overcome certain obstacles, but the relationship just doesn't have the richness I was hoping for.

Fly Away!
Part of that probably comes from the predictability of the phrases he spurts out. After the 100th utterance of 'Fly away!' (in combat) or 'You nearly dead!' (if you're not faring too well) his vocabulary starts to get a little annoying and really throws out the sense of him being a character you can really bond with.

His eyes are also a little creepy – like two pissholes in the snow. That sounds like a minor gripe, but eyes are the window to the soul and all that and they de-humanise him. I know he's not a human, but convincing eyes could have gone a long way to making him more loveable.

That's not to say I felt no attachment to the Majin – I did find myself worrying about him and certainly wanted to jump in to boost his health when he was under serious threat – but more could have been done to strengthen the player's attachment to him.

Beyond the Majin/Tepeu relationship, MaFK will feel very familiar to fans of Zelda and its ilk. Gameplay alternates between combat, environment-based puzzling and exploration of a series of areas which, while not all strictly dungeons, certainly have the trappings and layouts you'd expect from dungeon crawlers.

On these terms, MaFK is fairly successful. The puzzles themselves are just the right side of brain-bending. Occasionally the action required is something you weren't aware the Majin was capable of which, when you click, is a bit frustrating, but on the whole their complexity is rewarding rather than anger-inducing.

Promise Keeping
The presentation could use a bit of work. Some of the cutscenes, the ones that are presented in a storybook, shadow-puppet style, have charm up to the gills. They promise something a bit magical. They promise something with the warmth of a Disney film at Disney's best.

It's unfortunate, then, that the in-game action doesn't deliver on that promise. Graphically, it all looks a bit pixellated in places (at least on the PS3) and the overall feeling is of a game from the start of this generation's life cycle. It's a bit jarring when you've come from the likes of Enslaved.

Further to that, most of the NPCs are animals. There are legitimate story-based reasons for that, but it still leaves you with the feeling you're fighting for a somewhat empty world populated solely by woodland creatures.

None of the above, however, is a deal-breaker. It could have just been a bit... more.

Conclusion Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom is solid, but stops short of being something really special. The Tepeu/Majin dynamic, while a strong gameplay mechanic, just doesn't quite deliver the emotional engagement that it could.

There's nothing wrong with MaFK, it just falls a little short of its potential. I wanted to become engrossed in the Tepeu/Majin relationship, but it just didn't happen. As things stand it's a serviceable (if slightly old-fashioned) dungeon-crawler that will certainly keep fans of the genre happy, but it's nothing spectacular.

SPOnG Score: 78%