Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People Episode 1: Homestar Ruiner
Score: 80% ESRB: Not Rated Publisher: Telltale Games Developer: Telltale Games Media: Download/1 Players: 1 Genre: Adventure
Graphics & Sound: Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People is a great combination from the talented developers at Telltale Games and the people behind the Homestar Runner Flash-based web cartoons. And if Episode 1: Homestar Ruiner's level of fan fare and random comedic goodness is any indication of what the next four episodes of this season have to offer, then adventure gamers should have a lot of fun with this series. From a visual standpoint, the game moves from the flat 2D style of the Flash cartoons to a 3D environment. But besides the extra dimension, everything still has that unique Homestar look to it. All of the characters from Pom Pom, to Coach Z and Homestar and Strong Bad themselves still take on the same visual style as their web-based counterparts. Audio is decidedly Homestar-ish as well, which makes sense considering the same actors do the voicework of the show, and the writing for the game's plot and dialogue come from the creators as well.
Gameplay: Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People Episode 1: Homestar Ruiner's story is all fan fare. The game starts off with Strong Bad reading his e-mail (as followers know, he is very prone to do), only to find someone asking why he hasn't decided to beat the snot out of Homestar after all these years. To which our little boxing-glove clad anti-hero replies that he would prefer to just beat the stuffing out of him because he suspects a large amount of snot to be in Homestar, based on his very nasal voice. Okay, here we should take a bit of a pause. If you haven't ever visited the Homestar Runner website before and are unfamiliar with the show's, umm... unique brand of comedy, then you might want to do it now, because if the events described in the previous paragraph are turning you away from this game already, then it (and the series) are definitely not for you. Back to the review. Anyway, Strong Bad then decides beating up the tall, armless star would be a fun thing to do, so he heads out of his house and starts a journey that will take him to many of the favorite locations from the show. Strong Bad will roam around the town, not only looking for Homestar, but he will also end up borrowing a hedge trimmer from Bubs, running a foot race as Homestar himself (don't ask), and trapping the King of Town in a hole. Needless to say, this game's story takes what might normally happen in a Homestar cartoon, and adds even more craziness. There are also a few side missions and collections you can do just for fun. For instance, you can create a Teen Girl Squad comic or try to find all of the pieces to the Snake Boxer 5 manual (the game that is currently in Strong Bad's console.
Difficulty: Strong Bad's Cool Game for AttractivePeople Episode 1: Homestar Ruiner has a couple of moments where I just didn't know what I needed to do next. The resolution of these typically resulted in me learning something new about the game (like not having to use the map to go to another part of the town). While there were a few points where I felt a little lost, they were few and far between, but at least the puzzles on-hand were fairly simple to figure out and only rarely too illogical. But even they tended to have some payoff in the end. For instance, I didn't know why I needed to trim a hedge into the shape of Homestar, but I did, and by the end of the game, I was glad to have gone through that seemingly pointless task.
Game Mechanics: Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People is your stereotypical adventure title as far as the game mechanics are concerned. So much so, in fact, that it tends to poke fun at the genre while going through the motions. The first few times you pick something up to put it in your inventory, Strong Bad comments about not knowing what he will need it for, but he will bring it along just in case. Controls wise, the game is very straightforward. You will use your mouse to move Strong Bad around and click on various items. For those people who are big fans of the show, you will want to click on everything to get the most out of your Homestar experience. When you need to go to a new location, you will be able to draw it on your map, and you will also be able to collect a wide variety of costumes to be used in the photo booth (or all the time, after you've beaten the game). All of these little bits help to add to the game's limited replay value, but they will probably only apply to existing fans of the show. While I did enjoy playing through Homestar Ruiner, my fear is that the level of fan fare won't be able to be kept up, and quite frankly, I doubt that people who aren't fans of both Homestar Runner and adventure games will find this series too appealing. That being said, if you do happen to fall into this category, then Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People is definitely worth looking into, at least Homestar Ruiner is. We will report on the rest of the season as it becomes available.
-J.R. Nip, GameVortex Communications AKA Chris Meyer
Minimum System Requirements: Windows XP / Vista, 1.5GHz CPU, 256 MB RAM (512MB recommended), 32MB 3D-accelerated video card (64MB recommended) Video Card, DirectX 9   Test System: Alienware Aurora m9700 Laptop, Windows XP Professional, AMD Turion 64 Mobile 2.41 GHz, 2 GB Ram, Dual NVIDIA GeForce Go 7900 GS 256MB Video Cards, DirectX 9.0c
PixelJunk Eden Beijing 2008