Fans of the videogames-meets-comics site, Penny Arcade, may look at their game's ironic price point as some kind of joke. How else can you look at a title with the word 'Penny' in it being the most expensive title on Xbox Live Arcade? Yet, this polished RPG lives up to the old adage 'you get what you pay for', earning every penny of its sixteen-hundred Microsoft Points price.
The game takes place in the imaginary town of New Arcadia in 1922, opening with your custom-created character out raking leaves as a giant robot crushes your house with its massive foot. From there, it is a non-stop quest to determine why it happened, and get some form of revenge. Along the way, you run into the comic's heroes Tycho and Gabe, working for themselves as private detectives, already on the case. Together, the three of you and some special guests engage on a trek through three rather colorful sections of the city in an attempt to unravel the mystery surrounding the onslaught of robots, mimes, clowns, zombie hobos, and other assorted baddies.
It is clear from the start that this is not just some generic title with the Penny Arcade slapped on it upon completion. From the ground up, it very much feels like a game designed by gamers for gamers. While the RPG formula has been time-tested, there are some aspects, like random battles, gamers have long bemoaned. The developers take the basic turn-based RPG gameplay and damn-near perfect it. Gamers used to slowly churning battles that grind on at your convenience are in for a rude awakening. The battles are only turn-based in the way that you must wait for a character's attack meter to refill before you can attack again. Baddies will not politely wait their 'turn' to attack you.
Each player has three meters: inventory, basic attack, and special attack, from the bottom, up. The meters fill one at a time, starting with your bottom inventory meter. Once filled, you have the option of selecting an item to use, such as health or power boosting items, or waiting until the next meter is full and pull off a standard attack. Those who look to pull off a more effective attack can wait even longer for the special attack meter to fill, with the final option of waiting until all three special attack meters are full to unleash a powerful three-character special attack. Waiting for the special attack meters to fill works well against weaker enemies that are not so fleet in battle, but against the game's tougher foes it can be suicidal. The slick concept turns typically methodical battles into quick-thinking fights that force you to think on your feet as you are get your brain bashed in.
The game never removes you from the action, thanks to the special attack mini-games and responsive blocking mechanics. The special attacks themselves are not quite as easy as hitting the button to unleash them. Instead, selecting a character's special attack opens a quick mini-game. For Tycho's machine-gun blast, it is as easy as hitting the corresponding buttons that flash up on the screen before the timer runs out. Your success matching the buttons determines the effectiveness of the attack. Even when being attacked by the enemies, the game keeps you involved by allowing you to hit the right-trigger just before the hit strikes your character. Time the block right, and you may even get to perform a counter-attack. You are even involved in the comic-themed cut-scenes, thanks to a variety of selectable responses. It is the little additions like this that make Penny Arcade such a blast to play.
The site itself is based around comics that take a humorous look at the world of gaming, and the game itself is fuelled by the same brand of humor. Throughout the game, you gain three support characters, whose own meters slowly fill while in battle, enabling you to use them strategically against tougher enemies. The first you gain is a cat, whose support attack is to walk between the battling sides and lick himself; dealing out a whopping one-point of damage to all in view of the 'attack'. The first enemies you run into in the game have a strange affinity for fruit, and are appropriately named 'Fruit F*ckers'. One potential angle to fighting off these little robotic monsters is to toss them an orange, which gives them something else to 'do'. This diversionary technique allows you to pound on them as they pound on the fruit. You can look at nearly every door, house, sign, and garbage can in the game, typically with very entertaining text accompanying the various items. Even the attacks get great names, such as the mimes' damage dealing 'I'm throwing a boulder at you'. Fans of the comic will be pleased with the level of comedy here.
While the game lasts around six hours, it would have been nice to have a little more to do. It tell a decent story that you will want to continue with Episode Two, but what seem like side-quests eventually reveal themselves to be entrenched in the story itself. With no side quests to attend to, once the game is over, you are pretty much done with it until the next release. There are a few difficult to attain Achievement Points, like not dying during the game or defeating the final boss without healing items, but there is little reason to go back to it once over.
While the website's slick art-style remains in the text-based cut-scenes, the developers did a nice job maintaining the look and feel of the site when transforming the comic into a 3D world. The levels and characters all look like a Penny Arcade comic brought to life, full of the sparkling personality and sharp wit that has earned them a boatload of fans. The sound in the game is fantastic from start to finish. The game begins with a heavy dose of brilliantly delivered narration; so good that you sorely miss it once it exits the game after the first area. If there is one complaint, it is that there is not enough voice work. Tycho and Gabe do not get voices, and the same goes for the hilarious characters you run into while playing through the game. While the text is typically entertaining, all the reading gets tedious after a while, in spite of the hilarious story. Hearing the characters delivering the lines would have added a lot to the game. Still, the fantastic score, sounding like a cross between vintage Looney Tunes and a Tim Burton film, makes sure that you are never reading in silence.
In the end, many a gamer will look at the hefty price tag and wonder whether Penny Arcade is worth it. In a word, absolutely! It sets the bar for what is possible from an Arcade title. It is a fantastic, polished RPG that will leave you happily setting aside points for the sequel.
