Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness: Episode 2 Review - Xbox 360

7

Gameplay: 7
Graphics: 6
Audio: 5
Innovation: 6

Introduction

Can a web comic really translate well into a game? Penny Arcade is not the first to try, with Homestar Runner already having taken a crack at the transition from internet to videogame, appearing on Nintendo’s WiiWare service. Penny Arcade have already had their premiere outing on the Xbox Live Arcade, so what’s the follow up episode like?

Gameplay

Penny Arcade is an RPG game. There’s nothing too original here, but the game plays well, and has a very suitable interface. During the game you will be in command of three characters, Tycho, Gabe and a custom character that you create when you start a new game. The game’s story makes little sense really, but is surprisingly entertaining. Episode 1 saw players chasing after robots called Fruit Fuckers (machines with demonic spirits bound to them in a factory run by hobos). Fruit Fuckers are generally small, robotic juicers with an unusual method for extracting juice (hence the name), but there is also a bigger, more dangerous version call Fruit Fucker Prime. Tycho, Gabe and the Player spend the first episode gathering evidence and parts of Fruit Fucker Prime, and meet various wacky characters along the way. In Episode 2, the story continues, with Tycho and Gabe once again recruiting the Player’s help in tracking down Fruit Fucker Prime, and putting an end to its destructive rampage. The game’s writing is very well done, with dialogue segments being quite entertaining on the whole, with some witty jokes mixed in.


Getting back to the actual gameplay, the game’s combat segments play out through relatively simplistic RPG style battles. The battles are turn based, and give you full command over all three characters at once. Each character’s picture and commands are displayed at the bottom of the screen, with health being displayed next to each character’s in-game representation as they fight. Your control over the characters is limited to highlighting the boxes at the bottom of the screen, all of which give you the same three options for each character.

Pressing A while highlighting a character’s box allows you to access your inventory of items. Pressing X executes an attack command, making an attack icon appear next to an enemy (targets can be selected by moving the control stick), pressing X again will confirm the attack. These attacks are basic, but quite different for each character as each one uses a different weapon. The Y button triggers a special attack. Just as with the attack command, an icon appears next to whichever enemy you have selected, pressing Y again confirms the attack. Once the attack is confirmed, a mini-game begins, with each character having their own unique game. Let’s take Gabe for example. His mini-game consists of pressing a string of buttons that scroll across the screen, the more you press correctly, the more damage the attack inflicts. These attacks upgrade over time as your progress through the game, and have three stages, each of which makes the game you have ...