SBCG4AP Episode 1 - Homestar Ruiner

Ever wondered why Telltale Games have a lot of success with the majority of the games released? Because all the games are mixed with just the right amount of dark humor and when you want to take a break from all those shooters or hack and slashing, Telltale Games are the ones I'd recommend. Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People makes no exception from the rule so, read on to find out what it's all about.

Looking a while back, Homestar Runner "was birth" in Atlanta in 1996, by two students, Mike Chapman and Craig Zobel. In 1999 homestarrunner.com was launched and the website became so popular, it exceeded the original hosting company, Yahoo. Now, we can find on the website a whole bunch of cartoons, games, and videos about the characters, download in-game sounds, music, icons and much more. We can say that Homestar Runner has quite a background.

But will the game from Videlectrix and Telltale live up to the expectations? Well, it surely does. This episode is called "Homestar Ruiner" and the main plot is centered on the "Race to the End of the Race" in which Homestar is about to race. Of course Strong Bad is up to no good, and he decides to ruin his race, furthermore, takes his place in this "Race of the End of the Race". Repeat the title "Race to the End of the Race", you'll be hearing it a lot.

In the beginning of the game, you'll be presented with the tutorial which is made in the same funny fashion (learn to be cool and attractive) parodying that tutorials are "required by the video-game law". After the most of the characters are presented, you learn how the inventory works, how to use the map and that you can say nice words to the game's characters. I thought this was a cool game!? J Hehe.. I'm only kidding.

Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People is a point and click adventure game that will make your day and ruin someone else's... like Homestar. The thing is, you don't ruin just Homestar's day but everyone else. So, along the game you will need to go from place to place, collect items and dialog with different characters like Marzipan (Homestar's girlfriend), Strong Sad which is Strong Bad's big, sad and elephant footed brother (you won't be interacting with him that much), then there's The Cheat who helps Strong Bad cheating the characters, but he always ends up in the dish washer. You'll also find Coach Z, the one responsible with the Race to the End of the Race; Bubs is the Concession Stand owner; the Town King is always sleeping or hungry and it's servant, the Poopsmith.

The game brings loads of fun, both for the fans of the comics and the newcomers. Because the puzzles usually don't require a lot of brainstorming, you just need to sit back and prepare for a good laugh. Episode 1 - Homestar Runner feature side-games like Snake Boxer 5, an 8-bit arcade video game (something like Code Monkeys TV-Show) and Teen Girl Squad, Strong Bad's comic book where 4 girls: The Cheerleader, What's Her Face, So-and-So and The Ugly One! Basically you have to create a story in which each of the four girls gets eaten / pulverized / set on fire / smashed and so on… before the story ends.

The in-game interface is very basic, with 3 buttons in upper left corner for inventory, map and camera. The inventory, as Strong Bad calls it in the tutorial is the place where "useful useless crap" is stored. From the map button you can travel to different locations and you can see "How much I rule chart" where high-scores, items found, trophies earned and Awesomeness Level Achieved can be seen. The episode can be completed in about 6 hours and you can be the next Trogdor Polo Chucker.

Since my colleague was playing Sam and Max, I couldn't wait for Telltale to bring something new to the market. Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People is really a cool game and at a price of $ 8.95 or a total of $34.95 for the full season, you can say it's a real bargain.

Even if the game has its sarcastic humor that is enjoyable to many, I bet there are some shy people out there that might find the game a little too offensive. But for the rest 99%of people, Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People is the desert we've all been waiting for.

Although the game has minimalistic hud and simple graphics I must say, that cartoonish style does the job. There are some graphic glitches here and there, but it doesn't take away the fun of the game.

The voice acting is great. Despite the fact that Strong Bad is wearing that Lucha Libre mask, he shows his emotions and state of mind through his voice. I really liked when Strong Bad is imitating Homestar and is playing pranks over the phone. The slow and relaxing music fits the game.