Strongbad's Cool Game For Attractive People Episode 1: Homestar Ruiner
I'm gonna check my email, my email, my email, my what?
By Matt Kelly
It's pretty rare you get a game that someone is really happy to just sit and watch you play while you furiously work your way through it for review. But through out reviewing Strongbad's Cool Game For Attractive People: Homestar Ruiner, I wasn't alone in hysterical fits of laughter as we maneuvered Strongbad on his awesome adventure. We've all been pretty excited about Strongbad, and throughout the first play through I had at least one person watching, with four people gathered around the TV at one point. If that's not a good example of why a game is awesome, I don't know what is.
The game opens with Strongbad checking his email from his many fans. After being questioned why exactly Strongbad still hadn't beaten the 'into next week' out of Homestar, Strongbad rocks on down to the local athletics track to find Homestar revving himself up to compete in the Free Country USA Triannual Race to the End of the Race. Not only is Homestar excited about the race, but his girlfriend Marzipan is also throwing a big party for him, a party that Strongbad isn't invited to. That's all we're going to say on the plot in general, but it's safe to say the episode's title 'Homestar Ruiner' is well chosen, and many, many laughs will be had along the way.
If you've played Zack and Wiki from Capcom, you already know the general idea behind a point and click game. Add a lot of more laughs, a heavy dose of awesome, and minus all the stuff the Capcom shoved in to try and make point and click games more 'action' like, and you arrive at SBCG4AP. Basically this is a REAL point and click adventure game, and probably one of the best ones to come out since LucasArts' share holders decided that there was more money in games like 'Star Wars: Jedi Power Battles'. If there is one thing that kills adventure games, it's game designers logic. While a designer might come up with an awesome plot with great puzzles, a lot of them fall prey to the issue that you basically need to be the designer to understand any of the logic. SBCG4AP on the other hand is the genre at it's finest, it's funny, it's accessible and it makes sense. All the humor is pretty universal (go check out the Homestar series) so it's not even one of those comedy games that only appeal to certain tastes. It's definitely the strongest game Telltale have produced to date (sorry Sam & Max, I still love you guys though), probably the best game to hit WiiWare this year and one of the best in the genre in many many years.
The controls of the game are really basic, point at the screen with your cursor and hit the button to interact with objects, people, a stick in ground, etc. You've also got a few buttons around the screen for your inventory aka 'surprisingly useful crap', along with your map, and your awesome stats on the 'How Much I Rule' chart. The map is a series of tiles for various locations you unlock, which can be moved around for absolutely no effect whatsoever, which is kinda awesome in itself in a weird way. Once the game gets going, it's a matter of talking to characters, keeping your ears open for clues, mucking around with your inventory and having a giggle along the way. The game may seem a tad daunting at first, even for adventure game pros, but once you get into the swing of things it's great fun. Thankfully there's also a really well done hint system, which is something that has come out of the Sam & Max series of games. You've got three levels of hints (and the option to turn them off) and they're so well integrated that you'll assume their part of the games script. It may be an off hand comment about how athletes will be disqualified for using drugs, or it may be something a tad more direct, but either way it's pretty rare that they seem awkward.
The presentation of the game is just fab-o. The look is a tad more refined than the flash series but it's still manages to have the same under produced, over awesome look of the Homestar Runner series. And considering that most companies seem to see downloadable games as an excuse for crap presentation, SBCG4AP is head and shoulders above almost everything else on WiiWare with it's basic but well designed presentation. The characters really behave like you would expect with what they're saying, and are just really emotive. I developed an obsession with the characters eyes, there's something truly funny about watching Homestar screw up his eyes when having a fit of anger. And that's before you even touch the voice acting. You're lucky to find a disc based game with decent or full voice acting half the time, yet SBCG4AP delivers every single line true to the sound of the series, full of attitude that you can really buy into. And there is
so much of it. Go talk to a tire sitting next to a fence and you'll get laughs. Did we mention there's an opening theme song just to make the TV show episode like presentation complete?
Just still on the presentation front of the game, SBCG4AP has great timing. A lot of gags, in TV, films, and games, can fall flat if they're not timed right. Again SBCG4AP gets it right, and also does a lot of things with it's humor games don't normally try to do. Things like flashing back to previous events ('Do you remember what happened last time you came to my party' *Insert flashback of last time with no loading* 'Nope') or transitions between scenes. All in all, the whole game is pretty seamless, and you'll spend more time giggling than waiting for the dialogue section to finish.
The core of the game was about a four or five hour play through (we kinda lost track of the time) and for the price tag, that's more than enough. However Telltale just scored more love by including an extended play mode, where you'll be able to finish completing all your awesome stats, chat with characters, take modeling photos with Strongbad and more. It's basic, but as a bonus, it's pretty fun.
Summary:
Awesome humor? Check. Awesome puzzles? Check. Quite possibly the best game on WiiWare so far? Check! SBCG4AP delivers with huge budget production values at a fraction of the cost. Sure the graphics may not feature lens flares and shiny shaders everywhere, but it's not that kind of game. Strongbad works because Telltale have clearly had a very exact idea of the look and sound of the game, and followed it through. The humor is universal, the puzzle logic is understandable, and the whole game strikes the perfect balance between directing your attention on puzzles without just walling you in frustrating situations. If you knew what was good for you, you would have the money aside for this one already, you are attractive right?
Gameplay - 8.6
The initial steps may be a tad taunting but once the ball gets rolling, it just keeps rolling.
Graphics - 8.0
True Homestar Runner style, if it wasn't for all that awesome 3D movement you might find it pretty hard to tell the difference.
Sound - 9.0
The voice acting is great (we feel for the overworked Chapman behind the thousands of lines) and the music is catchy considering it's minimalist blip blip style. Oh and we love the theme song!
Replay - 7.0
The gags aren't one time affairs, and the game has been consoled up a bit with extended play mode, along with unloackables and achievements.
Overall - 8.8
Telltale's debut on WiiWare is really something special compared to pretty much everything else. For the price you pay, there is very little to complain about in this one, the best part is there's four more episodes to go!