A look at Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People Episode 1:Homestar Ruiner

[thunderhero4]

Yo, this is my review for the first of a 5 part WiiWare (and PC) exclusive series, Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People (SBCG4AP)



Name: Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People Episode 1: Homestar Ruiner
Platform: Wii (WiiWare)
Genre: Point-and-Click Adventure
Developer: Telltale Games
Publisher: Telltale Games
ESRB: T (Teen)
Retail: 1000 Wii Points ($10.00)
Also On: PC
Input: Wii Remote
Release Date: August 11, 2008
# of Players: 1

K, lets see what we have here...

Story

The story for this game is almost exactly like a Strong Bad's Email cartoon, but you do it yourself. Strong Bad is doing a typical email, and it asks him why if he hates Homestar so much that he doesnt beat the snot out of him? He replies in his own comical and "thats our Strong Bad" type of way (stating that beating the snot out of him would be messy since he has so much snot) and the game begins. He finds himself racing in the Global Race to the End of the Race instead of beating on him in the end, however. Visit just about all the places from the show to gather objects, clues, and information from all of the characters from the cartoon (or almost all of them). In the end, his email will be answered.


Strong Bad from his cartoon

Oh, and this game is very funny, and will garner quite the laugh.

The story isnt amazing, but its what you would expect from Strong Bad... 4/5

Gameplay

The gameplay is actually good, and there is alot of it for a downloadable game for 10 bucks. You can go from place to place by holding down your A button pointer on the ground and having Strong Bad follow it. You may hear dialoge when you mash A on any object in the game by Strong Bad and sometimes another character if he/she is nearby. Most of the dialoge is something you would only hear from Strong Bad (ex. interact with his computer stool and he will call it his "trusty steed to lead the battle into email war"). It offers a suprisingly deep, downloadable experience.


Strong Bad singing his funny song at the beginning of the game!

The whole game has parts that can make you laugh, but if you have never watched or heard of Homestar or Strong Bad, then you will have a harder time playing and understanding this game. So if you havent, get your ass down to YouTube or the website and watch some Strong Bad Email! Then come back and read.

You will aquire a multitude of items through the course of Episode 1, each can be used as part of the story, or to unlock a secret collectible or easter egg (and sometimes both). Some of the items will be gone after one use, and some will never leave. It all depends on how you use them. Its easy! Simply go to your inventory (minus button or just clicking on it), choose your object, and put the pointer of the item over your target to use the item on. Most of the time, Strong Bad will simply say it wont work, but at other times, you may find a secret! (ex. putting Macho Steroid powder on a "hole trap" will get you a collectible, because the mole people at the bottom of the hole love it).

Speaking of collectibles, there are a bunch of stuff to find in the game. There are 4 pieces to a game manuel (that game can be played in Strong Bad's fun room) and once you find the 4th you get a code to play as a Cobra. There are 4 note cards for ideas to Strong Bad's little comic from the cartoons: Teen Girl Squad. They hint on how to win the game with a perfect score (also played in the fun room). There are 4 pieces of clothing that you can wear in the photo booth from hell (will explain later). And there are 4 trophies called "Achievements" that you get in pretty much the same way as the 360 versions you are thinking of: do something special. I only have 2 of these but I can tell you how to get them: Trim all of the hedges in the game, and speak with all of the characters in every situation in the game.

There is quite the amount of gameplay for a game you download, but thats not all. There is also the dialoge options. You may speak with every living thing in the game, and you always have multipe choices on what to say. Sometimes you may say something nice or nasty depending on your choice! It's a point and click/RPG element for ya.

You also have a map for going from place to place. It is customizable, which makes it different from other maps.

It was pretty surprising how much was in this game through my first playthrough! 4/5

Replayability and Fun Extras

There are quite a bit of these, including a Wii Exclusive extra! There is an area in the game called the Photo Booth (I call it the photo booth from hell because of it's politically incorrectness from the inside). In here, you may put on costume pieces you had from the game (or found) and step in front of a big background while the Cheat (a character that cannot speak english) "tries" to help you (he would if he could speak english) and you may take pictures of yourself while Strong Bad poses. You may then take these pictures to your laptop located in your room, and type emails and attatch the photos to them and send them to your Wii friends AND your friends with email. They should go to their Wii Message Board/emails. You may also take a picture wherever you are, but i am not sure if that is Wii Exclusive. So pretty much the game has it's own Wii Message Board built in

If that last mode wasnt enough, say hello to Snake Boxer 5 and Teen Girl Squad, 2 minigames that you can play on your spare time, both located in the fun room.

Snake Boxer 5 is a very old looking top down boxing game where you box a snake...knock out 5 and something happens...

Teen Girl Squad comes straight from the cartoon. You may take Strong Bad's poorly and crudely drawn teenage girl comics and change them around so they end up different every time! You ultimate goal is find the items to use to make them all die before the end, and you cannot do that unless you find all 4 of the collectibles, so just have fun until you do.

And there is also a mode unlocked when the game is beaten called "Extended Play" where the game is different and you can get some things you never could have.

Nice Replayability and fun extras! 5/5

Graphics

This game combines both 2D and 3D so you could consider it 2.5D. At any rate, it's pretty much the models taken from the show and given them shading and 3Dness. It actually looks pretty good, and the frame rate always stays with the game!


Strong Bad with cel shading. Can you tell the difference if it's not in motion?

But...it takes up a hefty 319 Blocks for the channel and another 8 or 9 for the file...so...yeah...

3/5 I have no complaints, but memory taken is rediculous.

Sound

The music is kind of "just there" so you wont really notice or appreciate it. But the game has some of the best voice acting I have ever seen in a video game, and its everywhere! Plus all the sounds are fine.

4/5

Controls

The controls are about average. There are no Wii Remote waggling moments in the entire game, so dont worry about that, its all pointing. It can get a little clunky at times when walking, but thats kind of the case for all games of this genre...


Movement in general...if you look close you can see the blue pointer next to him

3/5

Overall

This game is really short, but when compaired to 90% of WiiWare games, its actually alot longer than you would think, lasting around 5-6 hours about, and it's worth the $10 thanks to all the features it has.

Overall, i give this game a 2 way rating system:

7-8/10 Good - Great if you are a fan of the series

5-6 Ok - Avarage if not

get this game if you like point and click games, Strong Bad or Homestar Runner, or if you want one of the better games for WiiWare.

I look forward to Episode 2: Strongbadia the Free comming out next month, and expect to see a review for that too!


Strongbadia, the main location of Episode 2

Thanks for reading, I am Thunderhero4 and I approve this message!

[Triforce_Luigi]

Of course you'd approve the message. You wrote it.

But good job anyway.

[thunderhero4]

Of course you'd approve the message. You wrote it.

But good job anyway.

thats kind of my review catch phrase :P

And have you watched Strong bad email? If not, get the heeel down to YouTube and watch some, its freakin hilarious!

[guido123]

it sounds pretty cool...but one question...are the side missions long

[thunderhero4]

it sounds pretty cool...but one question...are the side missions long

They can be, depending on your skill in problem solving and looking at random things that could work together

[Lohn Jocke]

it sounds pretty cool...but one question...are the side missions long

They can be, depending on your skill in problem solving and looking at random things that could work together

Like when you put the Jello in the pool to cross the log easier? I just randomly clicked stuff and that happened XD

[thunderhero4]

it sounds pretty cool...but one question...are the side missions long

They can be, depending on your skill in problem solving and looking at random things that could work together

Like when you put the Jello in the pool to cross the log easier? I just randomly clicked stuff and that happened XD

Yes, like that ;)