Once Upon a Time…
While there are a lot of battles, the real draw of the game for most people is going to be the story. In fact, we think it's best to characterize the game as something of an interactive Penny Arcade strip… only a lot longer and with a (mostly) coherent theme. Gabe and Tycho work as paranormal detectives, running their own Startling Developments Detective Agency. Gabe tends to be the brawn of the operation while Tycho provides the brains. Your character just comes along for the ride.
If you read the blog entries that go along with the Penny Arcade comic strips, you'll know that Tycho frequently writes long diatribes about random subjects, as well as providing a bit of background for the individual strips. He also laments any form of continuity between strips, and they "try" to avoid such things. One can only wonder at his horror when he began to put pen to paper and create a story that lasts several hours.
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The story portions of the game are certainly not revolutionary, but they're the real meat of the game for fans of Penny Arcade. You get to experience the Gabe-Tycho-Other dynamic that shows up in the webcomic, and some of the comments are sure to induce real laughter - unless of course you hate the comic and all things gaming, like Jack Thompson.
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Conversations are your typical "multiple-choice" trees, but with few exceptions they are strictly linear. You can ask for further clarification, and sometimes you'll be given several options - i.e. why are you interested in the giant robot, Tycho wants to know, at which point you get to choose an appropriate response - but other than fleshing out the story somewhat there is no consequence to your choices. We were a little disappointed at this, as we expected at least some difference in response to some of the choices.
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It's not strictly part of the storytelling, but there's also interaction with your surroundings. In standard adventure game fashion, you can click around on various objects in the environment to get text descriptions. Unlike the conversations, the descriptions generally aren't all that humorous, but there is a mini game of sorts here as you can find hidden artwork and music that you can listen to back at the Startling Developments office. Find them all, and you even unlock a secret Penny Arcade comic.
The simple summary of the story and gameplay is that it's entertaining for roughly the duration of the game. You can play through it again, but it's not as good the second time around… rather like reading and rereading the same comic strip. Once you know the punch line, it's not as funny. I've purchased Penny Arcade books for about the same price as the game, and they provide about the same amount of entertainment. That's coming from a fan of their work, of course, so adjust your expectations as appropriate.
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joetron2030 - Wednesday, July 9, 2008 - link
Just now getting around to reading your review. I'd have to agree with you on the gameplay and "fun factor" aspects of the game (and I too come as a fan of PA).Also, one minor correction, the actual XBLA point cost is 1600 points. US retail prices for a 1600 pt. card is usually about $19.99. So, it ends up essentially costing $20 that way as well.
Wolfpup - Wednesday, June 18, 2008 - link
How can you seriously say it's not a big deal that for $20 we're only getting a rental? And how can you hesitate to call "activation" DRM? It's the worst form of DRM I'm aware of, which is saying something given how nasty this stuff has gotten.I would have purchased this, but like so many other recent PC games, they've taken that option from me. I will not pay $20 for a rental (and yes, if you don't own an actual copy of it you can use whenever and however you like, it is a rental).
tonjohn - Wednesday, June 18, 2008 - link
"(and yes, if you don't own an actual copy of it you can use whenever and however you like, it is a rental)."As a consumer, you never own any piece of software. You are merely purchasing a license to the software and must adhere to the terms set aside in the licensing agreement.
While DRM can be frustrating, it is a necessary evil. And things like Steam make DRM seem non-existent (unless you are on 56k) and we should embrace those methods.
JarredWalton - Wednesday, June 18, 2008 - link
As I said, it's a ONE TIME activation, and from the quote it appears if you end up needing to install it on more PCs and encounter problems, they are more than willing to help you out. DRM in my mind is locking content like a movie to one device. Locking an OS to install on one PC (at a time) or an application to only install on a few PCs is reasonable, I think. We're not talking about EA levels of "call home every 10 days to validate" DRM (even though EA decided not to do that), and with the game being available exclusively through online distribution the requirement to activate over the Internet is hardly a problem.I've voice my concerns for the long-term, but then I just don't see this as such an important game that we're going to want to return to it in five years. I thought it was fun, I got my $20's worth of entertainment, and I doubt I will return to Precipice for another round again. Just like I haven't really touched Assassin's Creed, Bioshock, Crysis, and any number of other games since I finished them (outside of benchmarking purposes).
yacoub - Tuesday, June 17, 2008 - link
On the last page - pretty sure the comics go back to 1998 not 1988.Jynx980 - Monday, June 16, 2008 - link
Shouldn't the system requirements be on the performance page instead at the end of the review?JarredWalton - Monday, June 16, 2008 - link
Some people just skip to the end. :)tonjohn - Monday, June 16, 2008 - link
:(This game was also released on Steam and includes all of the achievements from the Xbox 360 version.
I'm not a fan of these sorts of games but I have really enjoyed playing this one so far.
JarredWalton - Monday, June 16, 2008 - link
Page five, bottom of the first paragraph.tonjohn - Tuesday, June 17, 2008 - link
My bad! Thanks :)