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Wednesday 01 Apr 2009
For the past eleven years, Penny Arcade has entertained millions of gamers with its satirical, cynical and surreal look at not just the gaming industry, but life in general. Cementing its status as gaming’s foremost and most recognisable webcomic, Penny Arcade has branched out into not just extensive merchandising, but also charitable work and even an annual gaming convention. The latest slice in the Penny Arcade pie is Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, an episodic video game series. The first two (of presumably four) episodes are available on various platforms, including the PlayStation 3, downloadable from the PlayStation Store. So, does Penny Arcade Adventures Episode One make for engaging comic relief, or do the jokes fall flat?
Penny Arcade Adventures has an interesting design approach. On the surface, it’s a role-playing game, specifically of the Japanese variety. This is evident in not only the combat system, but also in the game’s approach to character development and inventory management. But look deeper than the surface and you’ll find that Penny Arcade Adventures has the heart and soul of an old-school adventure game, and clearly draws a lot of inspiration from the classic comedic adventures that used to be produced by developers such as LucasArts. This interplay between JRPG and Adventure elements underlies the game’s structure and design, and provides between six and eight hours of often delightful gaming.
Penny Arcade Adventures begins in 1920s suburbia, in a city called New Arcadia. Your character, which you create through a simple but robust system, has his house trampled on and subsequently destroyed by a giant robot. And so the adventure begins, with your character setting out to find a new place to live. This mission is soon hijacked by the arrival of Tycho Brahe and John “Gabe” Gabriel, of the Startling Developments Detective Agency. Tycho and Gabe’s in-game characters are obviously based on their webcomic personas, but have been slightly reinterpreted with regards to the game’s story and setting. Here, Tycho is a thoughtful and pessimistic expert on mystical matters and “apocalyptics,” while Gabe is the more upbeat and endearing character, but also prone to violent outbursts.
Setting out with Tycho and Gabe, players will be thrown into a surreal and twisting plot involving robots, mimes, hobos, slum lords, ancient arcade texts, clowns, cannibalism, gods, and an academic who has a dubious fascination with urine. It’s a story that’s as strange and unpredictable as we can expect from Penny Arcade, and it works well.
The plot and dialogue in the game will immediately appeal to Penny Arcade fans, being mostly rich and delivering more than the occasional chuckle, and also providing quite a few in-jokes that only regular PA readers will grasp. It’s easily on par with the webcomic’s more adventurous and experimental outings, but unfortunately there are some weak spots too. Firstly, the game is liberally peppered with crudeness, lewdness and profanity, and the game is clearly not at all suitable for players younger than eighteen. This itself is not a problem – this is a Penny Arcade game after all. The problem though is that it’s sometimes layered on too thickly, and there are quite a few instances where this makes the writing seem forced and overwrought.
The second problem with the writing is that while it’s authentic Penny Arcade, it’s not necessarily the best that Penny Arcade has to offer. The webcomic has always been at its funniest and most relevant when it’s providing commentary on the gaming industry. Given the game’s plot and setting, that is obviously completely absent here. It’s understandable, but also somewhat regrettable that they couldn’t have rather found a game approach that would truly played to the Penny Arcade strengths.
I’ve mentioned that Penny Arcade adventures is, on the surface, a (J)RPG. This is particularly evident in the combat. The fighting system to be found here is a simple turn-based/real-time hybrid system, with more than a few similarities to the Active Time Battle system found in some Final Fantasy games. During combat, the player controls not only the primary character but Gabe and Tycho as well. Each character has three possible actions available: an item use which can be either offensive or defensive, a basic attack and a special attack. While the system appears simple and basic, it’s surprisingly diverse and involving. Combat is also surprisingly challenging, and players can expect to have their skills tested quite often. Learning to use all aspects of the system effectively is essential for steady progress through the game. Enemy attacks can be blocked or countered, and it takes quite a bit of practice to learn to use these options properly. On the downside, the game’s combat does not offer a lot of variety, and during the latter part of the adventure encounters can get quite repetitive.
Players earn experience through combat, which is used to level up and unlock new special attacks. Weapons can also be upgraded to higher levels. Overall, it’s a simple but fun progression system that mostly works well.
The game’s plot is advanced through basic puzzle elements. Players encounter a rich cast of characters that will give them certain “cases,” and these need to be “solved” in order to progress through the story. As stated earlier, there is a definite old-school adventure feel to the design, and fans of late ‘80s or early ‘90s adventure games will find quite a bit of fun here. Most cases consist of simple fetch-quests, but the richness of the characters and the environments make these more than what they appear to be. If there’s one fault to be found here, it’s that the game takes a bit long to really get going. The introduction and tutorial sequence quickly wear out their welcome, and some players may find that they need to slog through the first hour or so before the game will really get good. It’s a pity, given the already short length of the game.
Penny Arcade Adventures is realized through a beautiful visual style that does a commendable job of bringing the webcomic to life, and cut scenes are mostly presented as two-dimensional comic panels. Penny Arcade fans will definitely find it to be immediately engaging. The audio presentation is functional but nothing special. There’s no voice acting to be found here outside of some occasional narration, but that’s not a problem, as the intention was obviously to create a game that will still feel as much like the comic as possible.
Penny Arcade Adventures Episode One does a solid job of setting the scene for this episodic adventure series, and represents an interesting option for gamers looking for a more traditional adventure gaming experience. It definitely has its faults, but there’s a lot of gaming goodness to be found here too. It should be noted that some of the game’s quirks will make it uninviting to players who are not already fans of the web comic, but Penny Arcade enthusiasts looking for entertainment that’s a bit more fleshed-out than the comic will find Episode One to be a worthy purchase.
Pros: Great art style; simple but engaging gameplay; some truly funny moments.
Cons: Only fans of the web comic will really enjoy it; crudeness and profanity can sometimes come across as forced; combat gets a bit repetitive.
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| Contributor: |
Mark |
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