Kry Reviews: Penny Arcade Adventures: Episode Two

Released 10/29/2008, Episode Two continues where Episode One left off. There are now three gods left to kill (err... three expansions left to sell) in the steampunk, Cthulhu inspired New Arcadia, set in 1920's.

The best parts about the Penny Arcade series, without a doubt, are its humor, setting and immersion. The storyline is wacky and interesting, most of the jokes will get a chuckle or two, and the artists have created a unique world to explore. EP.1 was better in this regard, but EP.2 certainly isn’t bad either.

Combat is good too, though it’s not any different from the first game. It is generally fast paced and interesting, and the interaction from either dropping specials on your opponents or timing blocks keeps you engaged.

The game feels too easy though. On my first play through, I chose difficult; I never died once. One of the new features touted is the addition of an INSANE MODE, but that is locked until you complete the game, and I’m not feeling like another play through for a while. The last boss fight is also completely trivialized. Instead of an epic fight against a giant robot with your three characters, you bring in another giant robot. Sounds cool, except your robot pretty much kicks its ass to hell and back with no more than a few clicks.

What I hated, hated, hated about this game was all the damn backtracking and fetch quests. Halfway through your progress of the Sanitarium, (the first level) you are halted by the secretary, who you need to run three errands for instead of just murdering like every other fool in the building. You also have to gather reagents for Anne-Claire’s science project. Completing both these mandatory quests constantly sends you ping ponging around the three main locales of the game. It felt like I was playing World of Warcraft with a different skin. Though Ep.1 had similar time sinks, they were not presented in as frustrating a manner. I spent more time trying to figure out how to complete these tasks than actually playing the game. The game would have been much better had we simply gone through the levels in a linear fashion, and maybe a couple hours shorter as a result.

So, in conclusion, Ep. 2 continues the same formula of the Penny Arcade series, does nothing to break out to be different, and adds some serious annoyances. But, it’s still an ok game looking past them, if you’re a fan of Penny Arcade. Otherwise it’s really not worth the buy.