When Good People Make Average Games
May 23rd, 2008, 8:02pm by GeoffSo the first installment of Penny Arcade Adventure is now out, and the reviews are in: the game is “not bad.” This isn’t particularly surprising; after all, most games fall into that category. I think what was slightly surprising though - at least for me - was the idea that guys who live and breathe gaming (who in fact make their living off of it) came in around the average. This probably shouldn’t have been so startling. After all, thinking about it provides plenty of reasons that it might be so. But I suspect a lot of us play a mediocre title only to think, “I could make games better than these guys.” So why couldn’t we?
Maybe the best reason is that we’re simply not a team. Most reviews cite the Penny Arcade mentality as the game’s biggest strength; it’s got the humor and style that fans of the strip have always enjoyed. (I’ll note that it also seems unfair to knock the game simply because you’re not a fan, as some reviewers do - you need to judge a game on its own terms.) Naturally, since Gabe and Tycho have risen to fame due to that sensibility, it should be expected that they’d nail that part of the game. But there’s obviously a lot more to a game than any one element. And it seems like the gameplay, although inspired by Final Fantasy and related PA loves, didn’t get the same lavish attention that the storyline and setting did. I would guess that the designers spent so much time trying to understand what Gabe and Tycho had in mind that no one really spent the time to think about how to keep the gameplay fresh.
I’m not trying to criticize them. After all, the game isn’t bad. It’s just not the revolutionary step that I think many fans were expecting. And my point in writing this is to clarify that there are so many moving parts to a game, that we often lose sight of the fact that simply doing a great job in any one of them isn’t enough to provide a truly great game, even when made by one of our own. To PA’s credit, their column has noted the concerns people have raised and have taken responsibility for them, suggesting they have to “work harder” in the future. That’s refreshing, particularly since they don’t really have anything to apologize for. I’m looking forward to seeing what happens to the series in the future - and I’m a lot more humble about my ability to do any better.
Posted in Geoff, PC, Xbox Live |
May 23rd, 2008 at 10:37 pm
Actually, I quite like the game. I think it’s pretty humorous, and the gameplay is kind of fun.
My only “complaint”, for the moment, is that there’s almost TOO MUCH gameplay at once. Rather than games like FF which automatically bring up characters when they’re ready to do something, this one has you having to select them first and there are actually 3 different “timers” that you can wait for on each character… Then, aside from balancing that, you have to worry about enemy attacks and hitting the block button with perfect timing, which becomes critical actually very early in the game if you don’t want to die all the time.
But, in a way, this sort of jumble of stuff to take care of makes the game challenging and interesting. Rather than just the simple “wait til you hear a beep and hit a bunch of times” like you do with FF type games, you actually have to think on your feet and keep track of several things at once. That’s impressive for a game like this.
Also, I’m not sure what you mean by this comment: “It’s just not the revolutionary step that I think many fans were expecting.” I don’t think anyone was thinking the game would be taking a “revolutionary step”. I think people figured they’d just create a fun and humorous game, and from what I’ve played so far, they’ve succeeded.
May 24th, 2008 at 9:57 am
I’m with Jeff on this. I wasn’t expecting some revolutionary game. I was expecting a decent quality game that let me play as my favourite webcomic characters. So far I’m having a blast. It’s like playing a years worth of PA on one go.
Hell, even the basic menu screens have soem kind of humour to them.
May 24th, 2008 at 11:45 am
Is it worth the $20? Seems like a lot for a short game, so I haven’t actually bought it yet.
May 24th, 2008 at 5:19 pm
I dunno.. same price as other episodic games (Sam and Max for instance)… The reviews I read didn’t seem to put a length on it, but most said that there was “plenty” there for fans. I’m happy with my purchase so far.
May 24th, 2008 at 5:30 pm
Just read a review that says it should be about 6-8 hours… Maybe slightly on the shorter side for $20, but there are certainly full priced games that are just as long/short. Perhaps $15 would’ve been the sweet spot, but I think, as we predicted awhile ago, that the overall price of XBLA games is going to go up… And ones that are of as high quality as PAA, the $20 price tag probably makes sense.
May 24th, 2008 at 8:18 pm
Well, Sam and Max is $35, but it gets you all 5 episodes (at ~5 hours apiece). So I view it as a pretty cheap game in general. The same length for PA would cost $100, and that would probably make me feel a little cheated (since presumably the episodes are thematically linked, I’d need to get all of them).
May 25th, 2008 at 3:40 am
Geoff-
$35 is only the price after they’re all completed and available, if I’m not mistaken. If you want to play them as they become available, you either need to be a Gametap subscriber or, I believe, you can buy them for a set price. Right now on their site it’s $9 an episode, but I’m not sure if that’s always the price for them or not (that is, they may be $9 now because all episodes are available).
That being said, PA may be more expensive, yes.
May 25th, 2008 at 9:28 am
@ Geoff
If you like Penny Arcade and Jrpgs then yes.
Make no mistake, the game is raw unabashed fanservice. If you aren’t a fan of PA then you’ll be missing out on a HUGE part of what makes the game fun.
But i love the basic gameplay. Kindof a combination between paper mario and chrono trigger. And as I said before, even the basic rpg menu screens and “You have found a healing potion” messages have some kind of humourous twist to them.
May 25th, 2008 at 1:37 pm
@Jeff,
I’m continuing not because I think there’s some terrible flaw in PA’s pricing, but because I’ve been pretty impressed by Sam and Max’s… the $35 can be bought at any time, and actually lets you download each episode as they become available. So it’s a great deal.
May 25th, 2008 at 10:35 pm
Yeah, Telltale has been a class act. I’ve got nothing but praise for them. I especially like that you can buy the first episode and try it out, and then buy the rest if you liked it, without suffering a financial penalty for not buying the whole season straight off.