Mithra Shows Potential, Eats Your Money

>>Community Game Brief

From a technical standpoint, Mithra is a milestone of the Community Game library. It offers the most impressive 3D engine on the service, with lighting, detailed characters, and fully explorable, albeit small environments.

The production values are relatively top-notch, with full voice acting, cutscenes, and a few unique gameplay mechanics. It’s an adventure game with puzzles to solve, light stealth elements, and some platforming. It can be heavy on trial-and-error in spots, but regular checkpoints alleviate most of the frustration.

The protagonists, Tag and Vee, begin the game imprisoned in a mysterious lab. These two creatures are colorful and detailed, though equally at home in the margins of a high schooler’s notebook. Their voice actors aren’t the most professional sounding, but there’s an endearing honesty in their performances. Mithra’s world isn’t entirely convincing, but it’s clear there’s someone behind the scenes who cares deeply about it.

And now for the bad news: beyond this brief introduction, you don’t learn much more about Tag and Vee. Developer Afiction isn’t kidding when they call it Mithra: Episode 1, Chapter 1 – the game can be finished in about thirty minutes. It appears to have three levels, but the second and third options are merely placeholders. Suddenly, what seems like a value at 400 points suddenly feels like highway robbery.

Price: 400 points
Verdict:
TRY!
Go to Xbox Live Marketplace

Community Game Briefs are short but informative impressions on the ever-expanding Community Games catalogue on Xbox Live. These are not full reviews. The verdict comes in three flavors: AVOID, TRY, or BUY. Anything can be awarded an AVOID or TRY rating, whether I actually buy it or only sample the demo. You can be assured that any game awarded the BUY rating has been purchased and played extensively.