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| JUNE 27, 2008 |
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You can also choose what to say to the people you meet along the way which may affect what
is said back to you but doesn’t affect the overall outcome of the conversations. For the most
part, that’swhere the RPG aspects end. You don’t manipulate your stats or change your
equipment, just converse, swat things with your rake, and laugh as thestory unfolds.
The party you eventually find yourself in consists of yourself, Gabe, and Tycho. There’s an
“initiative roll” at the beginning of each combat between the members of your party and your
enemies. The highest roll gets to attack first while a natural 20 also grants a bonus to that
combatant.
Combat is handled essentially on three tiers of attack types; skipping one tier allows the
timer for the next tier to continue building up. The first, and fastest, is items. These “attacks”
include bandaging yourself or a party member, special distraction items, buff and debuff
items, or even bombs. The second is your standard attack. It doesn’t do much damage most
of the time but when you’re facing off against weak enemies, it’s usually the best way to go.
The third tier is the special attack. This is the most devastating, and most involved, of the
three tiers.
Unleashing the special attacks of your party members involves, depending on which
character it is, mashing one button repeatedly to build up attack strength, repeating a “Simon
Says” pattern, or timing a button push to coincide with markers. There’s also a team up
option which allows all characters who have the Special Attack timer filled to team up for an
attack. These party attacks aren’t just devastating, they’re humorous as well.
Along with the illustrious gruesome twosome of Penny Arcade, you will also pick up three
“special friends” who can only be called to attack every so often but who can quickly change
the course of a battle. The three friends cannot be attacked or damaged at any time so in this
respect, they’re more like special attacks than anything else. Once their timer fills, they’re
ready to go.
The storyline is classic Penny Arcade humor and will have your party facing off against killer
mimes, angry animated trash cans, and violent hobos. There’s also the Fruit… ahem,
Fornicators… tiny robots with a fruit fetish who do very naughty things to very defenseless
fruit. As I said, classic Penny Arcade humor. Fans of the strip will be delighted to see that the
wordplay present between Gabe and Tycho has translated seamlessly to their digital
counterparts. Of course, being able to add my two cents to the fray, scripted or no, was also
very enjoyable.
Replay value may be a bit low for some who merely want to play the story through once and
then wait for the next episode. Personally, there are some achievements I haven’t unlocked
yet and I enjoyed it enough that I will be playing through a second time. All in all, this is a solid
offering from the gentle folk of Penny Arcade and I look forward to seeing what the next
episodes bring forth from the hellish depths of their creative minds.
-Gritskrieg End of Line
is said back to you but doesn’t affect the overall outcome of the conversations. For the most
part, that’swhere the RPG aspects end. You don’t manipulate your stats or change your
equipment, just converse, swat things with your rake, and laugh as thestory unfolds.
The party you eventually find yourself in consists of yourself, Gabe, and Tycho. There’s an
“initiative roll” at the beginning of each combat between the members of your party and your
enemies. The highest roll gets to attack first while a natural 20 also grants a bonus to that
combatant.
Combat is handled essentially on three tiers of attack types; skipping one tier allows the
timer for the next tier to continue building up. The first, and fastest, is items. These “attacks”
include bandaging yourself or a party member, special distraction items, buff and debuff
items, or even bombs. The second is your standard attack. It doesn’t do much damage most
of the time but when you’re facing off against weak enemies, it’s usually the best way to go.
The third tier is the special attack. This is the most devastating, and most involved, of the
three tiers.
Unleashing the special attacks of your party members involves, depending on which
character it is, mashing one button repeatedly to build up attack strength, repeating a “Simon
Says” pattern, or timing a button push to coincide with markers. There’s also a team up
option which allows all characters who have the Special Attack timer filled to team up for an
attack. These party attacks aren’t just devastating, they’re humorous as well.
Along with the illustrious gruesome twosome of Penny Arcade, you will also pick up three
“special friends” who can only be called to attack every so often but who can quickly change
the course of a battle. The three friends cannot be attacked or damaged at any time so in this
respect, they’re more like special attacks than anything else. Once their timer fills, they’re
ready to go.
The storyline is classic Penny Arcade humor and will have your party facing off against killer
mimes, angry animated trash cans, and violent hobos. There’s also the Fruit… ahem,
Fornicators… tiny robots with a fruit fetish who do very naughty things to very defenseless
fruit. As I said, classic Penny Arcade humor. Fans of the strip will be delighted to see that the
wordplay present between Gabe and Tycho has translated seamlessly to their digital
counterparts. Of course, being able to add my two cents to the fray, scripted or no, was also
very enjoyable.
Replay value may be a bit low for some who merely want to play the story through once and
then wait for the next episode. Personally, there are some achievements I haven’t unlocked
yet and I enjoyed it enough that I will be playing through a second time. All in all, this is a solid
offering from the gentle folk of Penny Arcade and I look forward to seeing what the next
episodes bring forth from the hellish depths of their creative minds.
-Gritskrieg End of Line