Penny Arcade: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness (whew): initial impressions: X: 2: gaiden
So I downloaded the new Penny Arcade game yesterday, and like many I imagine, I was struck by how good the thing is. It shouldn’t be good! This is where those loud-mouthed big-word-using web-comic-making game critics get their utlimate come-uppence, right? Actually, I like Penny Arcade, so I never wished them any ill will. But it takes a certain confidence to make a game just because you have a successful web-comic about games, or just because you’re rich and popular. Who are they to make a game?
Apparently, they’re good game designers, because so far, it’s damned good.
The game is very writerly; I append that adjective in the kindest manner possible. Besides a bit of initial spoken narrative, there’s a lot of reading to be had here, whether it’s bits of dialogue between characters or descriptions of items in the environment. The game is also presented in the context of a comic strip; movement from one part of a level to the next is done by “changing panels,” at which point the characters are transported to the next panel in a strip, which can therefore change perspectives and locations. It’s a bit difficult to describe and it works very well in practice. The battle system seems cool, but I haven’t put in enough time to make any kind of quality judgement about it.
Like a new book or CD, sometimes you just know when you first press start that a game is going to hook you, that there’s something there that’s enticing and that you have to coax it out. This game is actually making me take a break from GTA IV.