I invite you on a quest — a quest filled with bacon. And, also, unicorn poop. Your quest is to play “Deathspank,” the most recent offering from Hot Head Games and legendary designer Ron Gilbert.
I first came across “Deathspank” at the Penny Arcade Expo in 2009. At the time, it wasn’t playable. The most we could do was see how the world worked and how the game would play. In short, it was an action-RPG that borrowed the hack-and-slash dungeon crawling action of “Diablo” and combined it with the kind of humor and storytelling we’d come to expect from a guy like Gilbert, who worked on such classics as “Maniac Mansion” and the “Monkey Island” series of games. Coming from that kind of pedigree, I absolutely had to play this new game. Finally, almost a year later, the game has been released, and now everyone can enjoy it.
The game follows Deathspank in his quest to retrieve an ancient artifact known as, appropriately enough, The Artifact. Along the way, he meets various characters who require some kind of assistance. More or less, you encounter the usual bunch of fetch quests that require you to gather some exotic item or slay a few dozen monsters. It’s nothing we haven’t seen before, and while the game does get a little repetitive, the charm and wit of “Deathspank” just pulls you right in. You can’t help but enjoy playing it.
The graphics in “Deathspank” are really unique. The characters and enemies are in 3-D, while the game world consists of a 2-D, paper-craft style with backgrounds and landscapes that rise up as you approach them. The best way to explain it is to imagine the world as it would appear if it were built on the outside of a cardboard tube. As you move forward, the tube rotates and the horizon rises up to meet you. Move away from the horizon, and the tube rolls back from the screen. It looks amazing on a full-HD display.
The voice acting is great with lots of hilarious one-liners and plenty of dialogue. The humor does tend to favor a more low-brow brand of comedy, but let’s not get too pretentious here. It’s best to just kick back, roll with the punches and have fun.
Another nice feature of “Deathspank” is the inclusion of a local multiplayer mode. A second player can jump in anytime and control Sparkles the Wizard, who has a few preset moves and healing powers to help keep Deathspank on his feet. Unfortunately, that’s about as deep as Sparkles goes, and it’s local multiplayer only, no ’net play. That’s the only real drawback to this game, as it would have been perfect for hanging out with a buddy online, cutting up monsters and laughing at the jokes.
There’s tons of loot just waiting to be found or purchased in “Deathspank.” Weapons and armor that all feature some unique attributes that change Deathspank’s appearance can be found all over the place. Some special items can only be acquired by solving quests, but a lot of stuff gets dropped by the monsters you’ll encounter along the way.
The controls are relatively straightforward. You have a few short-range, melee attacks and one long-range weapon, plus some cool spells to cast. The more you attack enemies, the more your “Justice Meter” fills up until you can unleash a special attack. Aside from combat, the D-Pad lets you quickly access health potions and other items with ease.
“Deathspank” is available on the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live for $15. You’re getting about 10 hours worth of game play, plus a little extra exploring long after you’ve finished the main quest. The only other thing I can really say is that you should go download this game, immediately. At least try the demo, which gives you access to the full game for 30 minutes.
w
| Tweet | Follow @wkdr |
|
|
