Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People: Episode One -- "Homestar Ruiner"

The surreal Flash cartoon goes interactive with a new episodic game series.

gamespy

By: Dave 'Fargo' Kosak

Strong Bad reply e-mail! Help attract a girl Rosa Cartoon Girl! Attend a Montage! Casts a light switch rave! If none of these outlets at all sound familiar to you, then you're probably not one of the many millions of Internet enthusiasts who visit the website Homestar Runner each month. Flash cartoons were a test case for Internet years, with bizarre characters, surreal situations, and an unquenchable love of trashy pop culture anni'80.

But the real question fans want to know is: How Strong Bad types with boxing gloves on? (Erm.) Can a point-and-click adventure game captures the unbridled awesomeness of Strong Bad style? The answer is a surprising yes. Telltale Games, creators of Sam and Max episodic game series, made every effort not to deviate too far from the feel of Flash cartoons. The original creators, the infamous brothers cheek, has all the items and a piece of writing.

The result is that you really feel like you're playing through a Homestar Runner cartoon, but with 3D-rendered characters. This is certainly not revolutionary adventure title, and maybe you have not rolling on the floor with laughter, but it is a bite-sized fun romp through a cartoon world loved.


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The interface for the strong Bad's Cool Game for Interesting People, now known as the SBCGfAP easy to pronounce, is fully rationalized. Just click around the screen to move there or click on items to interact with them. You have a handful of items in your inventory that can be clicked and dragged on other items to use. When Strong Bad talks with other characters, you can choose from a series of icons to bring new arguments.

The dialogue is great, and this is one of the few games where you want to click around through all the options only to hear the characters speak. ( "I still do not understand why I can not come to your stupid party that I hate," Strong Bad growls at Marzipan.) Our only complaint here is that there is no indication when a train of dialogue is finished until not when the characters begin to repeat themselves, which can be annoying fast.

The original cartoon series revolves around often strange and bizarre circumstances not random sequitors. We were pleased to note that while the game keeps LOOPY feeling in the world, the puzzles are grounded in reality. The challenges Strong Bad runs as attempts to sabotage Free Country USA Tri-annual race at the end of the race can be overcome with the old logic. There are a couple of seats at stake that can not be opened until you find a particular piece of dialogue (be sure to ask about her Marzipan altered shrubs), but these frustrating roadblocks are relatively rare. For most SBCGfAP (go ahead and say out loud!) Remains on track with solid puzzle design.

As Sam & Max, SBCGfAP will be issued as a series of short episodes. You will perhaps five to six hours of play out of this. The game is available for both PC and Wii. The PC version is the easier of the two, running clean, with no loading times, but otherwise the games are identical.

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SBCGfAP is packed with little extras and mini-games, although none provide more than a few minutes of diversion. The real fun is discovering all the jokes in the series plastered all. You can explore every room in strong Bad home, buy stuff from bub's concession stand, outwit the Poopsmith, and participate in all the madness that gives the web site being such popularity. Players who are not fans of Homestar Runner does not get much of this, but if you like the work of the Brothers cheek and are looking for a couple of hours of primary-colored mayhem, you might want to the first episode a spin.

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