Gaming Trend Review
Strong Bad's Cool Game For Attractive People: Episode 4 Dangeresque 3
- Official Site
- Platform: PC
- Publisher: Telltale Games
- Developer: Telltale Games
- Release Date: 11/17/08
- Genre: Action/Adventure
Pros
- Familiar characters
- People not familiar with the familiar characters will still be able to jump in and have a blast
- Simple gameplay lets you pick up quickly into the game, with the common in game tutorial taking about two minutes to get through.
Cons
- Short gameplay
- Some repetition to jokes and puns from earlier games and toons
- Gameplay directs you through the game, without much challenge in where to go or what to do
by Mike Repella
Available for WiiWare or PC, Strong Bad Episode 4: Dangeresque 3 is the newest release from Telltale Games and the crew at homestarrunner.com. The game stars all of the characters from the website, reprising their roles from the Dangeresque shorts on the website, wrapping up all the questions left behind from the previous episodes, creating new questions and leaving those unanswered.
We follow Dangeresque from his office, where he picks up a new case from Cutesy Buttons to restore a formula that will save the rainforest, only to end up searching for her after her kidnapping by obvious but unknown villains. He eventually meets his father (?), solves a decades old kidnapping, and goes on to save the day in true Strong Bad fashion.
After following the web toons for a few years on the original website, I was familiar with all the characters and their general attitudes, but someone who is not a regular visitor to the site will still be able to enjoy and follow the game. Parents can feel safe letting their kids play the game unsupervised, as there is nothing objectionable in either the humor or animation.
The following review is for the PC version, but Telltale games promises that there will be very little difference in the Wii version.
My review PC Specs are:
* Windows XP SP3
* AMD Athlon 4200 X2
* Nvidia Geforece 8800GT
* 2 Gigs of DDR
Not much has changed from the previous three episodes. All toons on the website have a good, flat cartoony animation style to their cartoony animation. It wouldn’t be too hard to make the transition to video games with that animation (think 1983’s Dragon’s Lair), but animators for the game tried to add shading, 3D aspects and value that makes the animation style differ subtly from the original toons.
As one could imagine, I had absolutely no trouble playing the game on my PC as the hardware requirements for the game are fairly low. Unlike the Wii version, the PC version does features scalable graphics so the PC version should look sharper than its console counterpart. Baddest of the Bands also features widescreen support.
The game development staff used the same voice actors from the toons and kept the music in the same style, making everything flush nicely with the old toons. No complaints here. As always with the Homestar Runner universe there is a cheesy music track that fits the style of the game to a T.Screenshots
Controls are very simple, with a point and click interface, useable items highlighting and words appearing over top, letting you know what you are about to click on. Clicking on a spot makes Dangeresque walk to that spot, and clicking and holding will keep him walking, while you moving your mouse changes his direction. A double click makes him run.
The mini games are also easy to control using the w,a,s,d, combo. Nothing too overwhelming.
Just like the previous episodes this is an adventure game with point and click exploration mechanics. Puzzles in the game/tasks are simple enough, and tend to relate to items, events and locations from the toons. This makes sense, with Strongbad filming his “movies” with whatever he happens to have laying around at the time.
Tasks are completed by either solving the problem or just trying every option on everyone and everything. If you make a mistake in the game Dangeresque will often respond with a comical response, making failure as entertaining as success.
The mini game in this episode is called Space Circus Catastrophe and it has you shooting down alien clowns in space with a ship. It has an arcade feel to it much like the past mini games in the series.
Anyone who has played Episodes 1, 2 or 3 will know what to expect and people who haven't played any of the prior games should be able to pick this episode up and not miss a beat.
Game replay itself is limited, with not a lot of areas to explore for actual gaming purposes, but a “photoshop” is included, where Dangeresque can collect different costume pieces for fashion shows. The crew at homestarrunner has always had little extras and easter eggs hidden in their toons, so no surprise here.
Costumes carry over from earlier games on the PC version, and both the WiiWare and PC version have a second hidden game, “Space Circus Catastrophe” . If you haven't paid for the entire season up to this point then you can download episode four as a standalone product for $8.95.
Fans of the website or the previous games will enjoy the story and jokes. The homestarrunner crew has turned out several enjoyable games over the years on their website, and this one is no exception. I enjoyed the game, along with the subtle and not-so-subtle references throughout to past games and toons.