First Glance:
An RPG type game based on the humor of the infamous Penny Arcade strip. Sounds
line fun!
The Short Story:
The humor and dialogue is exactly what you’ve come to expect from Penny Arcade
and that’s a good thing. The graphics also do a good job of capturing the art style of
the strip, another good thing. Aside from the narrator, there’s very little voice acting to
be had here but all in all, it’s a solid game.
The Score:
Weighing in at a lean 5-8 total hours of play time for a single run through, one would
think there’s not a lot of meat to be had here. To a degree, it’s true. Replay value is a
bit on the low side since you’re limited to three characters in your party and four
areas throughout the game. But throw in the humor and artwork of one of the most
popular comics on the web, a solid storyline, and an overall well programmed game
and you have the makings of a Busy Gamer 5.
Body of review:
I’ll be the first to admit that I’m a diehard Penny Arcade fan. I haven’t been around
since the strip began but from the first day I stumbled into the insanity of the strip, I’ve
been a fan. I read the strip (mostly faithfully) three times a week. This does not make
me a raving “fanboi”,however.
In fact, I was hesitant to download this offering from the twisted minds of Jerry
"Tycho" Holkins and Mike "Gabe" Krahulik, the creators of the Penny Arcade strip,
from the X-Box Live Marketplace to my 360. The first prohibitive hurdle was the
price… It hit the streets with a twenty dollar price tag. The next objection I had was
that it was on X-Box Live Marketplace, where one must purchase points in odd
increments to purchase goods that leave one with odd amounts of points useless
for anything else but to collect dust. But that’s a topic for another article unto itself.
But the previews I had seen looked good and the strip itself has never failed to
amuse me, so I took a chance… I’m glad I did.
While “On The Rain-Slick Precipice Of Darkness, Episode One” could technically be
classified as an RPG, there are other aspects to the game that keep it more action
oriented. You create your digital self within New Arcadia but you never manipulate
stats. Your weapon of choice is a rake (yes, you read that right, a rake) which you are
allowed to upgrade a grand total of three times, one of those times being necessary
to beat the game. 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
An RPG type game based on the humor of the infamous Penny Arcade strip. Sounds
line fun!
The Short Story:
The humor and dialogue is exactly what you’ve come to expect from Penny Arcade
and that’s a good thing. The graphics also do a good job of capturing the art style of
the strip, another good thing. Aside from the narrator, there’s very little voice acting to
be had here but all in all, it’s a solid game.
The Score:
Weighing in at a lean 5-8 total hours of play time for a single run through, one would
think there’s not a lot of meat to be had here. To a degree, it’s true. Replay value is a
bit on the low side since you’re limited to three characters in your party and four
areas throughout the game. But throw in the humor and artwork of one of the most
popular comics on the web, a solid storyline, and an overall well programmed game
and you have the makings of a Busy Gamer 5.
Body of review:
I’ll be the first to admit that I’m a diehard Penny Arcade fan. I haven’t been around
since the strip began but from the first day I stumbled into the insanity of the strip, I’ve
been a fan. I read the strip (mostly faithfully) three times a week. This does not make
me a raving “fanboi”,however.
In fact, I was hesitant to download this offering from the twisted minds of Jerry
"Tycho" Holkins and Mike "Gabe" Krahulik, the creators of the Penny Arcade strip,
from the X-Box Live Marketplace to my 360. The first prohibitive hurdle was the
price… It hit the streets with a twenty dollar price tag. The next objection I had was
that it was on X-Box Live Marketplace, where one must purchase points in odd
increments to purchase goods that leave one with odd amounts of points useless
for anything else but to collect dust. But that’s a topic for another article unto itself.
But the previews I had seen looked good and the strip itself has never failed to
amuse me, so I took a chance… I’m glad I did.
While “On The Rain-Slick Precipice Of Darkness, Episode One” could technically be
classified as an RPG, there are other aspects to the game that keep it more action
oriented. You create your digital self within New Arcadia but you never manipulate
stats. Your weapon of choice is a rake (yes, you read that right, a rake) which you are
allowed to upgrade a grand total of three times, one of those times being necessary
to beat the game. 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
BusyGamer Rating
ON THE RAIN-SLICK PRECIPICE OF DARKNESS, EPISODE ONE
PLATFORM : Xbox 360, PC
COMPANY:
REVIEWER: Grits Review Main
