There’s a reason why gaming’s comedy sub-genre is regarded as a dangerous and untapped vein, a test most developers would just rather not take. In a medium where narrative is routinely a secondary (and sometimes tertiary) afterthought, choosing to willingly infuse your title with a healthy dose of the funnies is tantamount to turning up drunk for a blind date. In other words: you’re intentionally making things hard for yourself from the offset. Hothead’s DeathSpank – its very title instantly and proudly declaring a sincere case of irreverence and toilet humour – would therefore look to have its job cut out for it. Luckily, it also has one of gaming’s stalwart witty writers, Ron Gilbert, at its sturdy helm; the humour and delivery from arguably Gilbert’s most beloved series, Monkey Island, evident throughout this quirky tale of demon poop, needy orphans and disproportionately wise-cracking heroes.
Succinctly, DeathSpank is a comical and colourful Diablo clone, with liberal dashes of its own hack’n’slash button-bashing and role-playing lite flavours peppered throughout. The nonsensical plot (DeathSpank wants to get his hands on an infamous trinket known as The Artifact for reasons probably best known to DeathSpank) suitably sets up its titular self-declared champion as he traverses a fantastical world inhabited by a typical cast of destitute folk requiring assistance and adversaries in dire need of vanquishing. For make no mistake about it, DeathSpank is unashamedly a quest-grind, the incessant and often repetitive find-and-retrieve structure clearly the backbone of the game’s core mechanic. However, what elevates DeathSpank above other games that solely rely on such taxing repetitiveness is its resplendent presentation of both world and character design, the near-perfect delivery of its signature comedy aspects and the fact that, niggling gripes aside, it wholeheartedly delivers in the fun department.
Combat is handled by mapping numerous weapons DeathSpank can both purchase and acquire through defeating enemies to each of the controller’s face-buttons with ranged attacks covered through the use of our hero’s trusty crossbow, an infinitely replenishing tool for keeping the likes of inquisitive Greems at bay. There’s staple RPG logic at play here. An axe imbued with fire magic will obviously do little to deter a demonic imp, for instance, while its icy equivalent will obviously fare much better at dispensing the fiery critters. There’s also armour, helmets, amulets, boots, charms and a whole host of ancillary bric-a-brac to assist DeathSpank on his ever-increasing roster of quests, sub-quests and other distractions. It’s overkill to a degree, especially considering the game can be completed without much more than indifferent attention paid to your bustling character and inventory screens. Eons can be spent customising DeathSpank with various weapons and defensive configurations, but as long as you assign corndogs and nachos to the appropriate directional buttons for health issues and have a couple of decent weapons at hand, there’s not much that will stymie your progress toward the end-goal. The game even tells you when you’re using an ineffective weapon against a foe, a handy “Inert” message popping up signalling the need to switch tactic.
It’s as if the creators have intentionally constructed a game that is both instantly accessible and friendly for a more casual crowd while also engrafting a clockwork of statistics driven complexity just beneath the veneer; a convoluted puzzle you can experience at your own discretion or alternatively choose to put little weight in. You don’t have to wrestle with the endless permutations found in the veritable smörgåsbord of armaments and doohickeys, a reality that suggests Hothead have produced a well-wrought game if perhaps an unnecessarily intricate one.
The co-op mode presented is a transient distraction, Sparkles the Wizard, DeathSpank’s spell-throwing buddy, doing his best to break a model that was admittedly already creaking. It’s amusing enough, and younger gamers will probably revel in the chance to tackle opponents in such a collaborative manner. But for the rest of us, what little challenge was presented as a lone protagonist is dispelled entirely when it becomes obvious Sparkles can pretty much conflagrate everything in a fifty metre radius on command.
Boss battles do up the ante but there’s little by way of penance for dying. Using one of the many outhouses as spawning points (yes, more toilet humour), DeathSpank goes once more unto the breach to tackle what are essentially oversized and appropriately stouter versions of the world’s bountiful collection of denizens.
The control system is also a tad burdensome for the job at hand – especially taking into account how the map and inventory screens have been mapped to L1 and R1 respectively. By moving these to Select and Start, the shoulders could have been opened up to allow combos or some other special attack malarky (like when DeathSpank’s Justice Meter powers up before unleashing a powerful flash of vengeance upon nearby evildoers). Regrettably, there’s no jump feature and what’s presented as attack-chaining will be deemed quite simplistic by most. There is a lock-on feature presented, though it’s completely superfluous to requirements. Much akin to the shield blocking technique that is both tricky to employ and equally redundant, there just seems to be a lot going on that often comes across as either over-complicated or under-developed. The ability to enhance your shield duration, speed of movement and resistance to certain elements through leveling up is possible for instance, though it’s often difficult to actually perceive the real benefit.
Despite these qualms, combat is far from a disaster. It’s got its oddities, but for the most part sauntering around the world laying smack upon an eclectic menagerie of creatures, ghosts and poisonous plants is an enjoyable romp. The quests themselves are a motley rabble of find, fetch and ‘figure out’ challenges; one such early request to simply kill “stoopid chickens.” There’s also a trophy for killing a set number of these moronic birds, such is the tone of the gameplay on offer. The irony that you can dispense of idiot game by unleashing your own vicious fowl upon the unwary poultry as one of many hilarious special attacks is also not lost, such tomfoolery regularly permeating the other quests available.
For the most part the puzzles will unlikely incur much head-scratching, with only some of the more intricate of tasks – like when it’s necessary to combine objects in order to unlock certain new items for instance – demanding assistance. For these occurrences a clue system is on hand to help. Fortune cookies, scattered about the land like seeds of knowledge, can be picked up and used on any troublesome chore proving too difficult to decipher. It’s a useful system, though probably one that will likely only be infrequently used by the more perceptive of gamer.
Porcupine_I
i was rather disappointed that there was no side-quest about the glowing dog that had fallen from the sky :-D
Nauraph
Oh, damn! I was still hoping for a quest about the glowing dog that fell from the sky..
Fresh191
Me and the wife have been hammering the demo of this on Xbox live and its a real hoot. Good fun and I think thats something that gets a little lost in translation these days, ‘fun’.
For a tenner I reckon its a great deal.
Awesome review as well, really does the game justice.
Kovacs
Yes, there’s a hell of a lot of game here for the price quoted.
Appreciate the kind words about the review, too.
3shirts
As soon as I saw the name of Ron Gilbert, professor of monkeyology, I was already close to sold, and a solid review resulting in an 8/10 is enough to convince me
3shirts
How much is this game by the way?
3shirts
£9.99
bunimomike
If you reply to yourself twice you know you earn yourself a trip to the TSA Crazy Tower, yes?
3shirts
No, that’s not fair
3shirts
Yes it is
bunimomike
Kovacs… what a great review. For me, your finest yet. Wonderfully explained and with a great outcome. Colour me interested, fella.
I’ll go snag the demo from XBLA this evening as those visuals look such a treat. Couple this with a health smattering of tongue-in-cheek humour and I think we’re onto a winner. Hope it sells really well.
Kovacs
Nothing beats my Nier review. Nothing!
:)
Joking aside, I appreciate the kind words. Always nice to have someone compliment your work. *doffs virtual hat*
TSBonyman
I really enjoyed the demo although i did find it a bit ‘button-bashy’at times. Must top up my wallet.
Kovacs
Yep – as highlighted in the review, things can get a bit samey at times. It’s not a massive negative. Sure, it would have been nice to mix things up a little more, but the writing made up for it for me.
gernboes
Just a little addition, there actually IS a chain-attack system. you have to attack without using the same weapon twice in succession, that way a multiplier goes up which i think increases damage… there is even a tutorial message about this
Kovacs
Thanks. Yes, though I was referring more to somewhat complex comboing achieved through multi-shoulder/button combinations. You make a valid point though. Technically there is a combo system. It’s just a little light for my liking and, in my opinion, could have been expanded upon.
gernboes
nothing to add to that, i completely agree.
twas more a technical addition than criticism on my side :)
(i like using “twas”)
DelBoySmiffy
Is it from EA?
Kovacs
It is.
DelBoySmiffy
Oh well.
dejinator
Is it me or does Deathspank sounds remarkably like Captain Qwark of the Ratchet and Clank series
Kovacs
They both take off Bruce Campbell in the Evil Dead series so there’s a good deal of cross-over going on.
“Greetings nondescript citizen!” etc.
dejinator
I see your point but I was also referring to the voice actor as well.
Nauraph
I have to say that I place the tsa reviews above all other reviews I can find anywhere else (mostly). Thanks again. Although I already have this game, I really love the reviews over here.
badgersnapper68
Played the demo…was bored within 10 minutes. Really wanted to like it as it reminded me of the Baldurs Gate games for the PS2 but with a skewed sense of humour (the gameplay mechanics more than anything)….I dunno, the search goes on.