Penny Arcade Adventures 1
It’s been awhile since this game was released… Well, less than two months actually but since it’s a downloadable game made by a company based around a tri-weekly webcomic I’m using internet time. The Penny-Arcade game is more or less just another extension of their franchise, Penny Arcade embodied in a RPG/Adventure Game hybrid. The gameplay is very similar to the “Mario and Luigi”- RPGs, with simple commands triggered by single buttons and reflex-based minigames in order to block or maximize the potential of attacks, so as far as gameplay goes it’s simple but not very original.
Penny Arcade has grown from the comic and the accompanying rants, something that is clearly visible in the game as the hand-drawn cutscenes and witty dialogue between the main characters are easily the best parts of the game. As for the rest of it, it is okay but not very good; minigames feel like a chore, quests are always “Bring item X to Y” or “Kill X of Y” and the battles are very straightforward with few elements that actually make a difference throughout the game… To be fair though, as it only is the first part of a series it is pretty short and you don’t have time to grow tired of it.
It also has some glaring technical difficulties, at times the game doesn’t allow you to pick up objects that you’re supposed to be able to pick up, or move to place you’re supposed to go. And it’s not a technologically advanced game so it probably could’ve looked better in-game, as it is now it just looks like geometry with drawn surfaces on them and characters practically pasted on afterwards, instead of the comic book-feel I assume they were going after.
It all depends on whether you think using a very by-the-book game to deliver a Penny-Arcade- style story is a good idea or not. I personally like it and think that the writing is better than you usually are rewarded with for doing tedious tasks in game, but I can’t really see non-PA fans liking it – although seeing how many of those there are, I doubt they’ll need to appeal to the masses.