So, the Month of Horrors continues tonight. Like my last review, this game may not exactly constitute 'horror.' In fact, given its origins and content, it's fairly clearly comedy. However, given the dealings with Old Ones present in this series, I do feel comfortable talking about this game in this month. Also, there are mimes. Mimes are scary, right?
So, odds are, if you're reading this, you've both been to the internet and enjoy games. If this is true, then you have likely seen Penny Arcade at some point in your life. But, if by some anti-miracle you haven't yet, allow me to explain. Penny Arcade is a ridiculously successful webcomic. It was started in 1998, and its creators, Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik, have made roughly fifteen quintillion dollars from it. It has spawned two conventions, a charity, an upcoming film based off of a one-shot comic, and three games, the first two of which I will be talking about today.
Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness: Episode 1 and Episode 2*, were created by Hothead Games in 2008. Rather than taking place in the comic's universe, the game takes the characters from the comics, and places them in an original universe. You play as a character which you create. One day, while minding your own business**... your house is destroyed by a giant robot. Really an establishing moment for the game. Anyway, your character chases after two people that are chasing after the robot, and finds them to be detectives named Gabe and Tycho, who are investigating the robot. You decide to go with them in order to get revenge on the monstrosity, and so begins your adventures. However this goes far beyond what you expect. Dark silent forces are working in the shadows, attempting to summon their great Gods...
Gameplay wise, these games are... kind of reminiscent of Final Fantasy. Every battle begins with a roll for initiative. Whoever rolls the best will go first. As you wait for each of your characters' turns, they have three separate bars that fill up, each one starting after the last is full. The first to fill is items, which range from healing, changing stats, or damaging opponents. The next is your normal attack, which doesn't need any explanation. Finally, your special attack becomes charged. This is an attack that requires you to enter a particular button combination in order to deal massive damage to an opponent. If you do full damage and kill an enemy with it, you will gain an Overkill point. After collecting enough Overkill points, you gain a new special attack, which will do more damage, but requires a more difficult button combination. You also get up to 3 summons, which charge much more slowly, but also do a lot of damage. Overall, these games are not particularly hard to play, and are fairly enjoyable.
Graphically, this game is alright, nothing special, but not bad. Musically... I honestly don't remember the music. However, that's not what I want to talk about. I'd much rather talk about the writing.
This game was very obviously written by the lovely gentlemen responsible for Penny Arcade. The humor is very similar to the comic, for better or for worse. And yet... this game doesn't quite have the feel of Penny Arcade. The humorous parts are there, yes, but there's also a much darker setting here than in the comics. You are put into this world where Great Old Ones are being summoned, and it's up to you to stop them. Without spoiling much, both of these episodes conclude with a boss fight against an Elder God, and it's fairly fun to fight.
So, what do I think of these games, all in all? Well, as a fan of Penny Arcade, I feel that these are great games. There are some elements in episode two that were obviously supposed to be set-ups for episode three, as there were similar things in episode one that gave you rewards when the story was continued in episode two, but sadly, Hothead Games did not develop episode three, which only came out this summer, and so these elements were left unused. However, these two games are both fun, and would recommend them, especially if you enjoy the comic. Both are available on Steam, XBLA, and PSN.
So, now that I've finally gotten the Day of Three Reviews*** finished, be sure to come back next Sunday for my next review.
*Wow, that's a long title
**Why does nothing good come after that phrase anyway?
***Shut up.
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