Xbox 360

Marlow Briggs and the Mask of Death

PuzzleHack and slash/Beat 'em upAdventure

Time to beat: about 14 hours
Plays offline: Yes

Overview

Marlow Briggs and the Mask of Death is a 2013 action-adventure game developed by ZootFly and Microsoft Studios for the Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows. It was released worldwide on 20 September 2013.

Marlow Briggs and the Mask of Death uses a real-time control scheme typical of other similar games, such as the God of War and Devil May Cry franchises. Players may attack with their weapon, grapple with and throw enemies, and use magical attacks. Weapons and spells can be upgraded using experience points. The player may launch a swift attack using one button and a slow, strong attack with another; combinations of the two attacks lead to combos. The player's current number of uninterrupted hits is kept counted on-screen, with greater rewards resulting from a higher count.

Marlow Briggs, a smokejumper, is vacationing at a Mayan archaeological dig operated by Heng Long. Briggs' girlfriend, Eva Torres, is employed deciphering various Mayan codices. Eva has begun to find the work unsavory, and attempts to resign; Long, however, still requires her services. To enforce Eva's compliance, Long has his lieutenant, Kim Carreras, kill Briggs with Kukulkan's Fangs. Unknown to all, the scythe is ornamented with the Mask of Death, which houses the spirit of a long-dead Mayan monarch, King Tepechalic Ix (also known as "Tep").

The game received "mixed or average reviews" on both platforms as reported by the review aggregation website Metacritic.