Well, I've been delaying writing this one up, mostly because I’ve been wrapped up
trying to actually finish GTA IV (man that’s a long game). On the other hand Penny Arcade: Episode One – On the Rain Slicked Precipice of Darkness is rather short, except for the title, and can probably be finished completely in one sitting; assuming you're not on a coffee binge. It is based off an original story by our two favorite video game slackers… no, not that two, the other two. No, not them either; it’s Gabe and Tycho from Penny Arcade, sheesh. Since it’s been a while since I reviewed an RPG, lets get to the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.
SYNOPSIS
The year is 1920-something. You are, well, yourself living in a quaint 1920’s suburban neighborhood raking up your leaves. When out of nowhere, a giant robot shaped like an orange juicer tramples your house and wrecks the neighborhood as it goes along its merry way. Not willing to let such destruction (not to mention the lack of housing) to go unpunished, you start on a quest to bring the metal monster down with your trusty rake, and the assistance of the Startling Developments Detective Agency, i.e. Gabe and Tycho.
THE GOOD
Considering that this is an Xbox live Arcade title, it looks pretty good with rendered backgrounds and capturing the unique style of the Penny Arcade Series. Character and level designs are just slightly over the top, as par for the course with Penny Arcade, and each captures a unique theme relating to the story. Added to this are the sometimes ridiculous enemies you battle, which range from hobo’s, mimes, Barbershop quartets, clowns, and Fruit… er… hmmmm… can’t say that word… Well, I’ll leave it as mini versions of that giant robot thing. Enemies are seen on screen so there is none of the “Random” battle stuff found in early Squaresoft titles. :::eyes Final Fantasy 1-10::: Though there are a limited number of enemies that can be fought, which shortens the length of game play.
Combat consists of the classic ‘line up and swap pummels’ style found in many RPG’s, though with a new twist added in. When enemies attack you can press the right trigger to block, and depending on your timing it could fail, partially block, succeed, or block and counter attack. The attack system consists of three clock-like timers that represent items, attacks, special attacks in that order. After one fills, the following one will begin to fill, and so on until you can use your special attack option for that character. You can also summon support characters that can range from the completely useless, to the very helpful. The special attacks bring up a character unique mini-game that determines the power of the attack, as well as the effectiveness of it.
Your rake, Gabe’s Tommy gun, and Tycho’s brass knuckles can be upgraded with scrap metal collected from various sources in game, including, but not limited to the Fruit robots that are hidden around the levels. Along with this comes upgrades received by doing random fetched quests for random weirdo characters that usually involve random red herring items that you’ll never need again once you’re done with them. Sadly though, with all the work, you’re limited to level 15. Items that can be used range from the classic health boosts, armor boosts and sapping items but also have oddball things like an Invisible box to trap enemies mimes, and oranges to… well, distract the fruit robots. Of course, my particular favorite is the stick of dynamite. I mean really, it’s a stick of dynamite, in most games those things are a bundle of fun waiting to happen.
As mentioned before, enemies vary between the slightly disturbing to the outlandishly wacky, however they don’t hold a candle to the final boss. He (I’m assuming it’s a he) is a 100 foot tall Cthulhu dressed like a mime.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cthulhu Yes, that Cthulhu. Yes, he’s dress as a mime. No, I’m not kidding.
THE BAD
Like many RPG games it comes down to line up, beat random red-shirt ugly until they gasp their last, lather, rinse and repeat. In all honestly, even Squaresoft, the guys that made this style popular, have moved away from this concept in their last 5 games. It is also painfully short, and I’m hoping that they have episode 2 out in the next month or two to justify this, and pray that they don’t do like the Half-life episodic series and release them whenever they feel like it.
Voice acting it also nearly non-existent in game. For the most part it’s limited to the narrator, who you don't hear from again after the tutorial level, and everything else is in static text boxes. Well, except the barbershop quartet, but I won’t go there.
THE UGLY
Language mostly. Being Penny Arcade, they like to drop 4 letter words here and there, not to mention the before mentioned Fruit ‘robots’ and what they do to the oranges you drop. The humor is a delicate balance between crude and clever but is by no means meant for daytime television.
CONCLUSION
Good game, a little short, but good. It’s gotten me curious about a possible sequel and started me reading Penny Arcade again. Considering the low price and the easy download off Live or onto your PC. I’d say that if you are a fan of the series, or of madcap oddball humor to give it a chance. Just remember to lock up all fresh produce before hand, less those little fruit robots get them.
