Strong Bad’s Cool Game For Attractive People – Episode 1: Homestar Ruiner review (PC)

What is it with episodic games and word-count-devouringly long titles? From now on, this is Strong Bad, and yes I do realise it will get very confusing by episode five.

While I'm reviewing the PC version instead of the Wii version*, this is the first Telltale game to come out on the new WiiWare downloadable games channel.

It plays practically identically on both platforms anyway, so apart from the novelty of using a Wiimote to play games with the added bonus of costing more and not coming out worldwide so you can’t actually play it yet.

"I borrowed it to read on the train – and by train, I mean toilet"

So we'll forget the Wii then and concentrate on the 'REAL' Strong Bad, the PC version. Fortunately, that's a very good thing to do.

If we have to compare them, Strong Bad isn’t quite as good as Sam and Max. It has less of an epic feel, the music just isn’t very good (apart from the opeing/closing song), the graphics look nowhere near as lush or intricate, and it’s slightly shorter.

What it shares with Telltale’s other licence though is being incredibly, and occasionally hilariously, fun to play.

Strong Bad is a really enjoyable character to control. I personally love how whenever you interrupt a character in the middle of a line, Strong Bad tactfully tells them to shut up.

The other characters are great too - I may not be a massive fan of the online flash cartoons, but after this game I love them all. Only in a platonic way, mind.

The real strength of this game and its characters, like all the best adventure games, lies in the quality of the writing.

It’s penned by the Chapman brothers, who created the series, and Michael Stemmle (Sam and Max Hit The Road, Escape From Monkey Island and recent Telltale employee), and it had chuckling happily all the way through - certainly as much as a Sam and Max episode.

"Don't be dissin’ my meaty-milk!"

I did mention the graphics being decidedly simple, but, in fairness, this is for two reasons – that WiiWare requires the smallest amount of space possible, and because it’s faithful to the flash animation. Telltale chose their first WiiWare licence well.

What of the puzzles though? Are they also simplified? I would say they are slightly easier to complete than the ones in any random Sam and Max game, but not necessarily easier to work out.

This is an adventure game after all - you’ll be scratching your head with the best of them. I got stuck a couple of times, although I must raise a slight complaint that the game gives no indication that you can use objects on Strong Bad (at least in the review copy).

As this is the only way the player can use the phone, it’s no wonder I got stuck. Apart from that, it’s all do-able.

Even the story, which at first seemed so simple (beat Homestar Runner in a race), managed to twist my expectations, with Strong Bad forced to help Homestar in the most helping-him-as-little-as-possible manner imaginable.

"The kitchen and all its four-year-old condiments are mine!"

Taken as a whole, this is a very enjoyable game - if Telltale can keep up this standard all through the season, then they’re looking at another winner.

There’s even loads of mini-games and recovery quests to increase the play time for obsessive fans, not to mention the camera function and the mysterious 'Extended Mode' that I’ve yet to try out.

I can recommend this game to even non-fans of Strong Bad, although real haters won’t obviously be converted.

Think about it this way: a game where you can infinitely kick annoying Pikachu-alike 'The Cheat' into a washing machine is a game that can be heartily recommended.

If you want to try the game out, you can get the demo from Telltale's website.

8.5/10

Chris ‘The Tingler’ Capel

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*I won’t get into why – let’s just say I don’t want to get the latest Wii update, which has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that this will stop me using my Freeloader to illegally play the violent version of No More Heroes.