Penny Arcade is a very popular online comic which generally focuses on video gaming culture and all things related. The game based on the comics has been released onto the Xbox Live Arcade and four episodes have been announced, Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness: Episode One is of course the first. The game stars the two well known characters of the comics, Mike "Gabe" Krahulik and Jerry "Tycho" Holkins as well as a main protagonist which the player must create. The game is set in the 1920's and is based in a place called New Arcadia, as you might expect from Penny Arcade the characters are humorous, the dialog is even funnier and the story will keep you smiling.

Gameplay:

The game is a turn based RPG, but given its arcade status, it has been simplified, this however doesn't mean that it wont suck you in like a lot of epic RPG's. The combat is fun and it also involves a bit more interaction than traditional turn based RPG's thanks to the ability to block attacks with good timing. The combat should be easy to pick up and the first few fights will act as a tutorial. The first thing that will come into most people heads is how the game has been designed visually with the comics in mind - good use of cell shading, comic book style story boxes and dialog speech bubbles and even a storyboard like level design. As the main character, the player teams up with Gabe and Tycho to chase and investigate a giant robot which has crushed your home. The first and only weapon that will be available to the player is a rake, which like your party members weapons can be upgraded as the game progresses using parts salvaged from the enemy robots. Gabe will have his fists to use and Tycho will have a Tommy Gun which he finds time to fire in between reading his book. Each of the characters weapons will be more or less effective against certain enemies, hobos will be resistant to punches but weak against bullets and members of the evil barber shop quartet will have built up a resistance to garden tools rendering your trusty rake almost useless. Combat attacks can be launched after a certain time when the bar is full, the items bar charges almost instantly, then the attack bar will charge and if those two are left the special attack bar will charge. The usual items are available to the player, different levels of healing items, tonics which can improve damage, defense and the time it takes to charge up the attack bar as well as ones which can do the opposite to enemies.

At the start of a fight, initiative will be given randomly to one of the characters, both friend and foe, who will have their attack bar instantly charged. Since players will only have one attack each for the three characters, combat would probably come a little repetative but its not a case of selecting the attack and sitting back. When an enemy launches an attack, their health bar will flash for a split second, a well timed press or the right trigger will result in a successful block and even the odd chance of a counter attack, if its just missed it will be a partial block and if you are way off the mark then you can expect to pay the full price of the attack. The storyline progresses as tasks and quests are successfully completed, usually to obtain a part for someone who will give you something in return. There isn't much depth in this aspect, it will be a simple case of go and kill this guy and get this item back to me, but to be fair most gamers who will play this game is because of the popular comics its based on and not for a deep and thought provoking RPG. Every character you meet seems to have some bizarre purpose, whether it is a professor who urinates on everything to a landlord who uses a bag of hobos as a weapon. The items that were mentioned earlier can be obtained from breaking open chests and bins that appear in the levels however thats all there is in terms of interaction. There are many items and signs which can be examined but all players will get is a message in tune with the rest of the games humor, for example learning how awesome crabs are. There are certainly more than a few statements that have to be admired however sometimes it can become a little tiresome clicking on everything knowing that only a joke will appear, one which may be repeated.

Graphics:

For an arcade game, the graphics are superb. Even though it is just cel shaded there are no signs of any anti-aliasing issues, every outline looks very smooth. The gameplay part of the game is done in 3-D however at parts where the story is being developed it goes back to the more recognisable 2-D comic strip. There is great attention to detail in terms of visuals, blood splats from clowns will be multicoloured, the almost horizontal rain that is typical of comic books and the character design which is spot on.

Audio:

Unfortunately there isn't much to say here, although it is based on comics, after the first few tutorial battles which have a witty narrative voice-over, there is almost no spoken dialog afterwords. It is easy enough to read a few pages worth of comics with no sound, but in a video game it can become slightly tedious, perhaps a few spoken words at key points in the story would make it a bit easier on the brain. The sound effects in game all seem pretty standard although there is sometimes funny music to accompany certain conversations.

Longevity:

Penny Arcade Adventures has definitely got to be one of the longest arcade games yet, it may possibly stretch to double figures depending on how much exploring is done. There are only four environments in the game, however really it is only 3 that can be fully explored which means a bit of backtracking in the game. Outside of the main storyline there are plenty of easter eggs to collect such as artwork and music clips so if you are a big enough fan of the comics then this will also be a reason for another play through.

Overall:

This is definitely a quality title for the arcade, however it's hard to recommend to gamers unless they are familiar with the Penny Arcade comics. If the humor of the comics doesn't appeal, then this game will probably just seem like a shallow adventure game. It is one of the more expensive games on offer, coming in at 1600 MS points so will probably only attract fans of the comic at that price. The game is quite forgiving and wont give anyone a hard time, the boss battles are straightforward and the puzzle solving side quests are a breeze, but the style and the story of the game will more than make up for this if you are a Penny Arcade fan.