You could do worse than spending 5 hours with these guys
Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness Episode 2 has the longest title of any game I can think of. It is the brainchild of Penny Arcade, the long running webcomic by Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik. These days there are tons of webcomics out there to provide endless humor filled (or sometimes humorless) commentary on video games, but Penny Arcade was one of the first.
The game’s biggest strength is its wacky dialogue, which makes the game feel like a 5-hour long Penny Arcade comic. The gameplay is a combination between action-adventure and RPG, with a semi-turned based combat system. Overall, Episode 2 builds on the strengths of Episode 1 and offers a solid gameplay experience. Your enjoyment will probably be directly proportional with your familiarity with and appreciation of Penny Arcade. Haters of Penny Arcade need not apply.
The Good:
- Tons of funny lines/moments resulting in an overall incredibly amusing and entertaining experience
- Action oriented battle system keeps players on their toes
- Game blends different game genres into a relatively smooth experience
The Bad:
- Lack of enemy types leads to some monotonous sections
- A lot of references to previous episode/Penny Arcade can make the story confusing and feel like a throw away
- Gameplay is beginning to feel a little stale
I. Intro
II. Storyline and Premise
III. Gameplay Mechanics
IV. Achievement System
V. Final Thoughts
Intro
By some accounts, Penny Arcade could be considered the most successful webcomic ever. They have a huge following, a successful charity called Child’s Play that just raised over 1.4 million dollars (they buy gaming equipment and other toys for pediatrics units in hospitals), and they host their own games expo called PAX (Penny Arcade Expo). After commenting on, mocking, and showing their obsession with games over the years, it was only natural that Holkins and Krahulik eventually decided to design their own game.
Episode 1, which released on May 21, 2008, had the 3rd best launch sales on Xbox Live Marketplace, despite receiving only middling reviews. Penny Arcade has a huge following, and tons of Penny Arcade fans, including me, picked up the 1st episode. Episode 2 was released 5 months later and featured a continuation of the story while making minor changes to the gameplay. On consoles, Episode 2 is only available on the Xbox 360 right now, but should be coming to the PS3 eventually. After Episode 1, some questioned whether the gameplay could be sustained over 4 episodes, and Episode 2 does not do much to alleviate these fears.
If you think this is funny, you might enjoy PAA: Episode 2
Storyline and Premise
Like Penny Arcade, the storyline for PAA: OTRSPOD has a pretty ridiculous plot. It’s so ridiculous, in fact, that I needed to go to Wikipedia to look up some of the details, even though I just finished the game a few hours ago. Basically, there are four evil gods that are doing evil things to the town of New Arcadia, and each episode deals with your character taking these gods down. Along for the ride are Gabe and Tycho, Holkins and Krahulik’s alter egos from the webcomic.
Each episode begins with your character’s house being destroyed by one thing or another, and you set out with Gabe and Tycho to a) exact revenge on anyone and anything responsible for destroying your house, b) find a new place to live, and c) save the world.
Your journey takes you to various locations in New Arcadia, populated with all sorts of weird people, the majority of which try to kill you. Episode 1 took you to “Hobo Alley” and had you killing a bunch of drunk hobos, while Episode 2 brings you to a posh apartment complex where you kill rich people. It’s all quite amusing, really. You also keep running into killer robots who like to fornicate with fruit. No, I’m not making this up, nor can I repeat their name here since this is a family site, although I’m sure you can figure it out.
As you travel between different areas of New Arcadia, you gradually uncover pieces of a pretty convoluted puzzle, meeting various doctors, geniuses, and psychos who lead you closer to finding out the truth and eventually pitting you up against the giant, fruit-loving killer robot who destroyed your house in Episode 1. To be honest, half the time I didn’t really know what was going on, I just moved from objective to objective. The story can be really confusing, but it kind of doesn’t matter because the ride is very enjoyable due to humorous interludes that are told comic book style and generally well written and hilarious dialogue.
But for those really curious, I can sum up the story in 4 words: Robots Bad Killing Good.
Gigantic Killer Robot = Must Be Killed (though this is the mini gigantic robot)
Gameplay Mechanics
When you’re not fighting, you are generally walking around just talking to people and hitting the A button every time a magnifying glass pops up to search for items and hidden items or collectibles. PAA: OTRSPOD plays a little bit like old adventure games such as Monkey Island, though most of the puzzles generally boil down to “find X item and give it to Y”. There is one interesting “puzzle” section, but it serves as more of an interlude in the middle of the game.
The combat system is pretty unique so I’ll explain it a little here. I would describe it as a real-time combat system. Each character in your party has three gauges: an item gauge, an attack gauge, and a special attack gauge. They fill up one at a time in that order. Thus you can use items relatively quickly but it takes longer for your special attack gauge to be ready.
After a gauge is filled up, you hit a corresponding button to use it. A is for items, X for regular attacks, and Y for special attacks. In addition, you can block enemy attacks by pressing the right trigger at the correct time when you are being attacked. New in Episode 2 is a quick flashing of the word “block” on your enemy’s life bar to help you time your blocks more accurately.
Special attacks are probably the most fun part of the combat experience. Each character starts with one special attack and can gain two more as they level up. Executing a special attack pulls up a small mini-game, one that usually involves timing button presses correctly. The hardest attacks are actually quite challenging to pull off perfectly, which is what you need to do to inflict full damage. Your characters can also perform “team-up” attacks if two or more party members have their special attack gauge filled, but that isn’t as much fun.
In addition, you can receive combat bonuses by killing an enemy with a special attack, called an “overkill.” This leads to a bit of strategizing as you are trying to time it so that you can get an overkill with the character you want when you want it, keeping you on your toes.
The gameplay is beginning to get a bit tired, especially since the enemies aren’t as fun this time around (in Episode 1 you got to kill mimes who choked you with invisible ropes), and a lot of the fun things about combat, like the names of various attacks, are pretty tough to pick up on in the heat of battle. Keeping track of all your various gauges, the enemies, blocking, and pulling off special attacks makes battles pretty hectic, which could be overwhelming for some. You also have support characters with their own gauges who can be called in.
It’s a lot to worry about, but I do prefer it over spamming the A button to make my characters continuously attack. Luckily you can change the difficulty as well if you find it too easy or too hard. Overall, everything is a little easy due to the fact that your characters regenerate all their health after every battle. Obviously this is not a game founded in realism, killer robots not withstanding.
Special attacks cause a lot of damage, but take a long time to charge up
Achievement System
The achievements in this arcade title are pretty well balanced. About half of the achievements are story related, while a few of the achievements help you learn/remember how to play the game and explore the combat system. There are also a few completionist type achievements, although none of them involve searching for X number of collectibles so they are pretty manageable. There are also two achievements that were put in there for comedic effect only, and I have to admit they do lead to some pretty amusing dialogue.
Even if the story isn’t too captivating, there is plenty the webcomic’s humor to be found throughout the game
Final Thoughts
Overall, PAA: OTRSPOD Episode 2 is a pretty solid game. I do like how it combines gameplay elements from various genres: the battles are action oriented, the leveling system is similar to a JRPG, and there are minor adventure and puzzle elements as well. It definitely was not as fun as Episode 1, though, and I think a lot of it has to do with everything not being “new” anymore. Also, fighting wave after wave of the same enemy types started to get tedious, I wish there were more of the interesting boss fights.
The game is also hurt by its relatively mediocre story, although I was driven to complete the game just to read all the funny lines that were written in. It should be mentioned that the art is top notch. Some reviewers have said that Penny Arcade’s style hasn’t translated well into 3-D, but I think the artwork looks great and the animations in the battle screens are pretty solid as well. I especially like the comic strip “cut scenes”. There isn’t much spoken dialogue, but I didn’t expect much considering it’s a Live Arcade game, and the sound effects are used pretty well, and to comedic effect.
I give the game a B. The score is definitely higher because I really enjoy Penny Arcade’s…unique sense of humor. For fans of the webcomic, I think the game is pretty much a no-brainer at 1200 MS Points (15 dollars). Even if you haven’t played the first episode, there isn’t a huge amount of continuity that you will be missing. One or two characters return from the first episode, but I had mostly forgotten about them anyway by the time I ran into them again. The humor is the most important part of the story, and it’s funny whether you played the first or not (again, it can’t be stressed enough that you have to find Penny Arcade funny to enjoy this game).
I think other gamers can find a lot to enjoy about this game too, especially if they haven’t played Episode 1 and are looking for a semi-fresh take on traditional action adventure RPGs. An Insane mode has also been added to increase replayability. If you’ve never read Penny Arcade, I’d definitely recommend checking out some of their webcomics first before you purchase this game. If you don’t find it funny, you’d be better off spending your MS Points elsewhere.
