On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Goodness

Published May 14, 2008

Jerry "Tycho" Holkins and Mike "Gabe" Krahulik have come a long way indeed since they began the now celebrated Penny Arcade web comic in the late nineties. Combining their talent for the written word (Tycho) and artistry (Gabe), the duo has been dishing out web comics for nearly a decade filled with satire and piercing commentary aimed at the industry they love.

Gabe and Tycho, interactive at last.

What began as an indie-project cobbled together in their free time has evolved into a remarkable enterprise that now includes the wildly popular Penny Arcade Expo and the enormously successful Child's Play Charity, which so generously fills hospitals around the world with games and consoles, offering thousands of children untold joy and a needed escape from the rigors of their treatment.

The game is filled with classic Penny Arcade characters,
knowing nods to the comic strips, and, most importantly,
the prodigious talents of both Gabe and Tycho.

Now at long last Gabe and Tycho have been brought to life by developer/publisher Hothead Games in Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness Episode One for Xbox LIVE® Arcade, available for download May 21.

Welcome to New Arcadia

Equal parts adventure game, role-playing game, and fall-off-your-chair hilarious, Penny Arcade Adventures takes place in New Arcadia, a teeming world brought to life with imagination and filled with a style perhaps best described as "noir meets Penny Arcade."

You begin innocently enough with your custom-made character—itself an amusing delight as you pick among a host of cartoon-styled head sizes, body types, haircuts, and more—raking your lawn outside your quiet suburban home at the bidding of a voice whose tone could conservatively be called ominous, if not downright apocalyptic.

Of course, the peace is shattered in a few moments time as a giant robot juicer, whose maliciously amorous intent is purely (we can only hope) fruit-focused and whose proper name is not fit for public consumption, demolishes your home while delivering a payload of tiny juicers no doubt intent on doing New Arcadia a mischief. From that moment, the hunt is on as your character marches forth, rake firmly in hand, to claim vengeance for the unceremonious stomping of his home and to uncover the mystery of the invasion.

You can always count on Annarchy for a bit of guidance.

BattleTime

It won't be long before you face off against malevolent juicers, murderous mimes, and deranged hobos, to name but a few members of New Arcadia's rogue's gallery, and it's here that the battle system reveals the depth of gameplay with a sophisticated blend of real-time and turn-based combat mechanics.

Combat begins as a twenty-sided-die (pen and paper fans rejoice!) rolls ceremoniously across the screen, assigning your player, party members (including Gabe and Tycho themselves), and enemies their initiative roll. This determines when during combat each character can act. However, unlike so many RPGs, the proceedings from this point on are largely real-time as the initiative counters for each of your various characters' abilities count down in real-time.

This requires you to continuously cycle through your party members during combat, executing attacks and using items the moment they're available, to say nothing of timing your defensive blocks when attacked by the enemy. There's no enduring waiting for your turn as even pedestrian encounters require constant activity.

It's worth noting too that enemies boast different sets of strengths and weaknesses. For example, the toughened hobos will shrug off Gabe's jab attack, while the juicers suffer greatly in the face of Tycho's niece Anne's technological attacks. It's important then to identify these elements and take advantage of them. For example, when facing off against the hobos, use Gabe in a support role and heal party members with bandages, since his attacks inflict less damage.

You can hardly go wrong with dual-wielding tommy guns.

Items, Upgrades, and Abilities

While you'll make use of basic attacks with regularity, you'll also have access to special attacks, items, and even combination attacks with other party members. For example, Gabe's Unsporting Conduct power attack delivers a great deal more punishment than his standard jab, and also requires an on-screen mini-game for its proper execution.

Items like Torpor Brand Sloth Oil will reduce an enemy's speed, and Double Mild Weak Sauce will sap their strength. You can even toss bits of fruit at the evil juicers to, um, distract them, and trap mimes inside an invisible box.

The PA Touch

Fans of the series can rest comfortably knowing that every last nook and cranny of the game is filled with classic Penny Arcade characters, knowing nods to the comic strips, and, most importantly, the prodigious talents of both Gabe and Tycho.

With Tycho handling the story and dialogue, and Gabe lending his expertise to the look and feel of the world, every bit of the wit and talent displayed weekly on the websitehttp://www.penny-arcade.com/ is in full effect here. What's more, you can, at any time, visit the Startling Developments Detective Agency (your in-game headquarters) to peruse concept art, watch cinematics, read dossier entries on the various in-game characters, or even play with an Easter egg or two (roll the D20 next to the caged juicer and see what happens).

Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness comes your way May 21. Don't delay. New Arcadia is waiting.

Article by Ryan Treit