Ha.
Fitting that I should begin my foray into the games reviewing business with such a trendy topic. Episodic game play, staple topic of the corridors of game developers and magazine publishers...
But I digress as it's far too early for delusions of grandeur.
On The Rain Slick Precipice of Darkness, Episode One. Do you like that title? If the answer was yes then you can probably stop reading the review now and buy it. For those who say "no" or are more stubborn or untrustworthy, digest the following:
On the Rain Slick Precipice of Darkness is the video game based upon the eminently successful website Penny Arcade. Having existed from the dawn of time, or at least the dawn of the 32-bit era, Penny Arcade has risen from obscurity to the limelight and beyond that. The limelight itself is in the hands of Penny Arcade’s owners at The Penny Arcade Expo (PAX), which will begin this weekend and showcase many of the games we'll be playing in the next couple years. This is truly testament to the empire Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik have amassed. Other than massive geek-meets, another offshoot of this empire is the game-ization of their humble webcomic. This game suitably shares many of the qualities of the comic, for better or worse.
Prior to pointing out flaws, let's get a framework for this game set: Japanese-RPG. It features a fairly rigid levelling system in which little control is given over character development, the emphasis instead being on accruing experience points as opposed to a unique character build. This style of RPG is known for being extremely conservative and prone to producing a fairly generic gameplay experience. This allows the player to keep his focus on the angsty space night whose village was destroyed by a marauding school of space cucumbers that are threatening to destroy his mom's house/planet/solar system/giant cat robot.
Precipice manages to avoid this game play-light pitfall by providing a number of distractions in combat. Attacks can blocked with proper timing, even counter-attacked if you're quick enough. Special attacks require furious button mashing at times and precision reflexes at others. The Overkill system, which boosts the overall damage a character can inflict if he manages to oust an opponent in an excessive manner, requires careful planning to execute. Overall, the battle system is somewhat reminiscent of Mario RPG, itself a J-RPG that departed from the base formula.
With decent or at least distracting game play taken care of, get to the game's treacherous slope, the writing. Any Japanese-style RPG rises or falls based on the quality of the storytelling, unless it also features an interesting twist on the standard set up. In the case of Precipice, it's a matter of taste. If you read the comic every day and wear the odd t-shirt marketed by Krahulik and Holkins, then the writing will be laugh out loud funny numerous times throughout the course of the game. If amorous automatons and a plethora of expletives aren't exactly your idea of a fun afternoon, direct your credit card somewhere else. Penny-Arcade is known for its refusal to spare liberal doses of grit, whether it involves a sprinkling of four letter words or a brush stroke of dark humour. It's an acquired taste, and one that might be shocking to those first exposed to it. Definitely not a purchase option for your kid brother.
As far as faults are concerned, Precipice sports a pretty clean sheet. The number of environments in this first episode are fairly limited, so by the time you're on the way to Hobo Alley for the fifth time you might be a bit tired of the same old four streets. The art style keeps thing interesting, as Hothead Games really managed to convey the art of the comic to the game. The game is also fairly brief, which is to be expected due to its episodic nature.
Precipice begs some additional discussion however because, along with the new Sam & Max games, the writing is what really carries it. Sure, the twenty-sided die roll at the beginning of the combat is enough to give even the most jaded of gamers a bit of a boner, but if the battle with a sinister barbershop quartet that immediately follows isn’t your idea of a good time then please, skip this one. There are few games out there that can brag that their writing is truly the prime reason for tearing through the shrink wrap. This is not to say that the rest of the game is a travesty. The bizarre steam punk setting may in itself be enough to sell a few copies, as well as the exceedingly verbose title.
What Precipice does do is add just a little bit more steam to the indie games scene. This game represents a noted departure from anything that would be produced at a major studio, particularly taking into account the at times downright rank subject matter and the expletives that could have been omitted to lower the rating to a more Walmart friendly T. For this, Precipice should be universally commended, but not recommended to nearly as broad an audience.
Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, Episode 1.
B (B- if you don’t like Penny Arcade)
