I have expressed my love for Tim Schafer’s work, but I have not given enough credit to Ron Gilbert. Tim and Ron created The Secret of Monkey Island together. They have collaborated together on multiple projects, and have written some of the funniest games in the world. I spent a lot of time this year playing games created by these two geniuses. Maniac Mansion, Grim Fandango, and the Costume Quest series are still just as lovely as when they first originally released. I played DeathSpank and DeathSpank: Thongs of Virtue when they originally released, but had not played the third game, The Baconing. I decided to revisit this series created by Ron.
When boiled down to their basics, the DeathSpank games are Diablo meets Monkey Island. They are simple action RPGs filled with loot, but they also feature adventure game puzzles. On top of all that, they are hilarious thanks to Ron’s writing. The titular character, DeahSpank is a hero, who’s only job is to be a hero. He is all about justice, and is single minded in his quest to vanquish evil. He goes around murdering all of the evil things, and running errands for citizens.
All three games are fully voiced, which is great. Every character is perfectly cast, and the dialog just oozes charm. The comedic time of the voice acting adds to the game. On top of that, the music is great, and provides a fun atmosphere, no matter the location.
The writing in the first two games is outstanding. I was laughing at several of the lines. It reminds me of Nickelodeon cartoons. The comedy is kid friendly, but there are some undertones only adults will get. I mean, the story involves magical thongs, but the games are never sexual about them. They are just another piece of magical clothing. There are dialog trees, and I was clicking every single one I could just to hear additional dialog. The Baconing is a bit different from the first two games, since Ron Gilbert had left the team. Although the game is still funny and well written, it definitely does not reach the heights of the first two games.
The gameplay is straightforward for all three games. The game is designed with a controller in mind, and everything is streamlined. Items, armor, and weapons can all be equipped. Because the games are smaller, weapon and armor management is simple. I basically equip the thing with the higher number. There is even an option to automatically equip better armor as I vanquished evil.
There is not much customization. I always equipped a melee weapon that does the most physical damage to my main attack button slot, I equipped a ranged weapon to another slot, I juggled elemental weapons in another slot, and I had a weapon that allowed me to use my Justice meter in the last slot. With the right combination of weapons equipped, I could use my Justice meter to trigger runes. They do big damage, and have special effects. However, I never needed to do them. The games were best when kept simple, and the runes just added too much complication for my liking.
Healing is a little complicated, and I think it could be better. There is a ton of food dropped, and there was no limit to how much I could carry. The food heals over time when used, and could be interrupted if I did anything besides walk. So, no using the shield, attacking, opening menus, or talking to NPCs. I reserved food for out of combat healing.
Healing potions also drop. Potions healed me instantly. However, I could only hold five of them at a time. This made it so I had to be strategic with my healing. If I knew I was going to die in combat, I used a potion. If I thought I could eke by and finish the encounter, then I would wait and use food afterwards. This backfired many times, and I would end up dying. Dying spawned me at the nearest outhouse, which are plentiful. Unfortunately, I respawned with a sliver of health. Any enemies I did not kill get to heal, but I was left to chomp on some food outside of the outhouse. They could have saved the player time by just having them be at full health.
Deathspank does have a shield. This shield only last a few seconds before it needs to be recharged. In the first two games, it does a good job of mitigating most of the damage. In The Baconing, it has some added features. I was able to bounce back ranged attacks with a well timed use of my shield. A shield bash is also available, which stuns and knocks back enemies. This adds some additional strategy to the combat.
I spent most of my time hitting enemies until they died. Combat felt satisfying. The difficulty is all over the place in these games. In the first two games, I felt some combat encounters were too easy for my level, while others I died over and over. The first two games had me backtracking for quests, and I would just ignore enemies if I had to walk through a low level area again. The third game is structured into sections. This is nice, because it prevents backtracking. However, it seems like each section was designed with an average level in mind. This makes it so the beginning of the section can be tough, while the end can be too easy. Outside of combat, there were some puzzles in all three games, but they were not too difficult. The in-game hint system helped me whenever I was stumped. Besides a few hiccups with the difficulty, I think the games struck a good balance overall.
I am not sure which game structure worked best. In the first two games, the objective for a quest could be close by, or it could be in a far away, unexplored region of the map. They feature lots of backtracking, but the reward of more dialog was usually worth the trip. At times, it got annoying, but it also made the world feel bigger.
The Baconing has a more structured layout. As I mentioned, the game is sectioned off. Although backtracking is possible, there is little reason to go back. The developers were careful to only give quests for that section of the game. This definitely flowed better, but it also felt a little boring. It did not feel like a world, but just felt like levels. Because of this, the chaotic structure of the first two games felt a little better to me.
I am not sure how I would recommend these games. I think you should play the first game. You’ll get the comedy, the fun of the combat, and it is around ten hours long. It doesn’t overstay its welcome. If you do want more, jump into Thongs of Virtue. I did like the story more in the second game. It is a new world, but the game is basically unchanged from the first. After the second game, I was getting tired of the games. The third game has some differences, but is mostly ten more hours of DeathSpank. And over thirty hours of DeathSpank was too much for me.
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