Marlow Briggs and the Mask of Death

Story:

Imagine a classic, cheesy 80s action movie. Got it? Great, because that's exactly what Marlow Briggs is. You play as Marlow, a smokejumper (that's a firefighter who parachutes into wildfires) who visits his archaeologist girlfriend at a dig site in Central America. Almost immediately, he gets killed by the evil corporate CEO running the place, an old guy named Heng Long, and his girlfriend Eva is taken away.

But that’s not the end for our protagonist: the giant scythe that killed him has a talking Mayan mask attached to it, and the spirit inside (a dead king named Tep) brings Marlow back to life. So, together, they set off to rescue the girlfriend, stop the villain's crazy plan to become a god, and basically wreck everything in sight. The story is pure, self-aware "B-movie" sort. It knows it's ridiculous - Marlow cracks one-liners, and the mask constantly mocks either Marlow or the player. Don't expect a deep, award-winning story. Expect a hilarious, over-the-top excuse to go on a rampage.

With all that in mind, I didn’t like Marlow as the protagonist at all. It’s important to have an interesting hero, even in a B-grade game. I mean, look at Travis Touchdown from No More Heroes. Marlow is so generic, it hurts. As stereotypical as a stereotypical buff African American man can be. He never learns anything, never becomes anything more than he already is. Kratos at least changed a little by little along the way. Even if this particular story never takes itself seriously, I would’ve honestly preferred to see a protagonist of a mescoamerican descent who, I dunno, would get in touch with his ancestry and history through Tep. But that’s just me. Main villain Heng Long shows up a few times through the game, and he’s not really memorable, but at least his female underling is.

 Gameplay:

There’s no two ways about it: Marlow Briggs is a God of War clone through and through. You've got your light and heavy attack buttons, combos, and a grab move (and you even get your own version of Icarus Wings). It's a classic, satisfying hack-and-slash formula. You start with a cool double-ended scythe and unlock three more weapons, plus magic spells based on the four classical elements (fire, ice, etc.). The core combat is fun, and pulling off big combos feels great 90% of the time. The other 10% is you getting stunlocked by 4 enemies, unable to do a thing. But unlike God of War, your grab move can turn some enemies into allies, so you’re able to get some breathing room.

All four weapons have their own quirks.

1. The whip is the weakest of the four but gives you a bigger attack range (on top of being used in platforming).
2. The twin daggers have decent damage and have very fast combos.
3. The giant scythe is VERY slow but does massive amounts of damage.
4. As for the original double-ended scythe, it’s a good all-rounder.

Throughout the game, I found myself mostly sticking to either a whip or a heavy scythe. Combos are easy to pull off either way, and it’s not like there are enemy types that require a specific weapon to kill them. Which is weird, because there’s no shortage of enemy types. You’ll fight regular goons (Long’s mercs) carrying different weapons, all kinds of oversized jungle insects, ancient princesses (who have no concept of underwear, so uuuuh, mind that), undead Mayan priests, and even Gods. While you kill them in the same way anyway, it’s always nice to see some variety.

But fighting is not the only thing you’ll be doing, and the game mixes things up a lot to keep you from getting bored. One minute you're chopping up enemies in a junkyard, the next you're manning a stationary gun to shoot down helicopters, and the next you're in a top-down shooter segment. It’s a wild ride for sure.

Now, it's not perfect. Platforming is sometimes clunky. Especially when you need to use your whip for swinging on glowing points. The game is VERY particular about when the button prompt appears, and even then, it’s a dice roll on whether Marlow grabs it or simply falls to his death.

The fixed camera can be annoying, sometimes blocking your view during fights or platforming. Some enemies feel repetitive and take too long to kill, which can drag down the pace. But overall, the sheer variety and the game's breakneck speed mean you're always moving on to something new and ridiculous. It’s 5 hours long at best; there’s no way you’ll get bored.

Graphics:

As a budget title from 2013, “Marlow Briggs and the Mask of Death” looks...pretty decent, actually. 

Environments are probably the best looking thing in the game. If I had to describe it all with a single sentence, it would be “over the top”. It all looks grandiose. The jungles, ancient ruins, and the massive industrial mining complex you tear through have a lot of detail and can look genuinely impressive when the camera pulls back for a wide angle. I was super surprised by the sheer size of the backdrops and took many screenshots.

Some textures are lowres, especially the ones that can be seen on stones and ruins. Combat animations are decent and violent. The character models, especially the main characters, are serviceable but nothing special. Where the game gets clever is with its cutscenes. Probably to save on animation costs, it does that weird thing where many of the story moments are told through "bullet time" dioramas-the action freezes, and the camera flies around the scene with effects and 3D models. While the action is static, camera often flies through something, obscuring the view for a second to “move” the action forward. It's a stylish and surprisingly effective trick for a game with a smaller budget.

Audio:

The audio is where a lot of the game's charm comes from. The voice acting is a nice, with everyone fully committing to the ridiculous script. Steve Blum steals the show as Tep, the mask, who acts as a hilarious combat commentator and constantly breaks the fourth wall. Arif S. Kinchen and James Long (who you might remember from voicing Uncle Po in Sleeping Dogs and Mr. Ping - Panda Po’s dad in Kung Fu Panda) do the fine job as Marlow and Heng Long respectively. The music does its thing, pumping you up for fights and setting the mood for exploration. The sound effects: clanging swords, explosions, enemy cries, are all solid and add to the chaotic fun. It's a package that perfectly matches the game's over-the-top tone.

Conclusion:

Look, Marlow Briggs and the Mask of Death is not trying to win Game of the Year. It's a short (Steam says it took me 5.8 hours for one playthrough on normal), unapologetic, and super fun B-game. It borrows heavily from other action games, has some rough edges, and its plot is gloriously stupid. It was made by Slovenian developer on a budget of $5 million and managed to gross $45 million worldwide, how’s that for success?

And you know what? It has soul and a fantastic sense of humor about itself. If you're in the mood for a weekend of mindless, laugh-out-loud action that doesn't take itself seriously for a second, this is a hidden gem. It's the perfect palette cleanser between bigger, more serious games.