Strong Bad’s Cool Game For Attractive People: Episode Two Review
It has been one month, and as promised by Telltale Games, we have the second instalment of Strong Bad’s Cool Game For Attractive People. In this episode we see our rippley-abbed hero being unjustifiably held under house arrest by the ultra-conservative King Of Town. It seems that SB has not paid his taxes on all of his email usage, and the Municipality is pissed – you don’t want to mess with Strongbadia! Now it’s up to Strong Bad to unite the citizenry of the town under one common flag and take on the buttery empire that is the King of Town.
After playing the first episode I thought that, while excellent, this series could go stale pretty fast if they are only going to stay in the single-puzzle solving and object gathering, point and click formula; but I have to give it to TellTale Games – they know how to keep the game play inovative. Sure, everything I just stated still exists, but they added enough interesting elements to the episode that the game really brings the story to a fun place. The “Risk”-style gameplay introduced after the opening is one of the most prominent elements.
The citizens of Town have divided and formed their own countries (my favorite is Strong Mad’s country, which is simply named “Country”). It is Strong Bad’s job to unite all the principalitiesand new countries under the flag of StrongBadia. To do so you, as Strong Bad himself, must sway each of the characters to your will. It’s really quite fun.
They have also brought back the cool little side games, like a new Videoletrix game called Math Busters which is a mix between Math Rabbit and Double Dragon, (you have to play it to fully understand the glory that is there). They also add a new twist to the Teen Girl Squad maker.
Another thing going for the game is that it is following, in my opinion, one of the best storylines that has ever appeared in the Homestar Runner cartoons. The Orwell’s-1984-inspired “Municipality” vs. the WWII “Homstarmy” is a great place to take these characters and an amazing way to get the player involved in characters that have been all about jokes and less about story. As a player, you finally get one of my personal favorite characters in the mix, Homsar. (If you don’t know Homsar, you should really look up his episode. Absolutely Fanatastic.)
The only problem I have with these games so far is the length. They are a little too short, coming in at about a good 2-3 hour solve time. I can forgive this, and so should you, since these episodes are like getting a 2-3 hour Homestar Runner cartoon once a month – which makes the price of the games more than worth it.
The game has not lost any steam and I am looking forward to the third, which will be out next month. I would definitely recommend buying this for the PC or WiiWare while you can still catch up. This is a very enjoyable game that adds nuances to the Homestar Runner franchise.
