Deathspank Review (PS3, PSN)

Prepare to feel the wrath of the thong…

Though our world has been graced with many needed heroes throughout time, not many have been quite so eager to help as poorly named Deathspank. No matter how small the job, Deathspank is more than keen to take part in scrapping and journeying to make one iotas worth of difference to a random civilians day. It’s only fitting that a Samaritan of such calibre got a game named after himself that can truly reflect on his simple, yet undeniably charming nature.

Tirelessly following the generic road of questing, the seemingly self-employed hero to the downtrodden Deathspank is actively seeking out an artifact known only as THE Artifact. An artifact as vague in name as it is by nature, it’s nevertheless the unquestioning saints primary goal in a world filled with distractions of side-quests. What leads from a simple mission to obtain an item of unknown power soon descends into darker realms…of thongs…

It’s not quite the narratively subtle and spellbinding plot-point to work upon, but when it’s from Monkey Island creator Ron Gilbert, then it’s expected to be somewhat kooky in presentation. A bizarre taste in toilet humour, constant tongue-in-cheek acknowledgements to the duller aspects of game design and Deathspank’s own Mighty Booshesque responses to the most civil of requests bind together to make a consistently funny package that still packs enough punchline to have you sniggering hours in.

There’s a solid amount of hours that can be wasted here

Though Deathspank beams the blind perseverance of a hero with bugger all intuition, he’s really just an idiot in over hyped pyjamas. Fortunately, though, his menu consists of many blank spaces to fill up an arsenal of many weapons upon his travels. Deathspank seems to hold the ability of quad-wielding four weapons, with each assigned to one of the four face buttons to be swung/fired/bonked upon demand. It’s not an intuitive combat system, nor does it ever feel the need to evolve from constant thwacking in self defence, and for that it simply gets by, simply thinking it’s humorous atmosphere and artistic merits will make up for one on par aspect.

The treacherous road Deathspank has to walk seems to be placed upon a cylindrical planet filled with a cardboard cut-out wilderness. Exploring the land is akin to traversing a cylindrical pop-up book, and has a bewildering charm about it that brings upon a particular essence to the small world that’s been created. The playground may not be exceptionally compelling, but is unique enough to widen the grin on your face through play.

Talking to fellow citizens in peril sparks off weird and wacky conversations and requests which all spark off the need for adventure. There are plenty of side quests to take part in, yet a majority are little more than standard fetch quests. If it weren’t for such humour derived from the bizarre requests, it would be hard to press forward and find commitment in the sheer amount of backtracking you’d be doing. There’s a solid amount of hours that can be wasted here, and the motivation to do so isn’t hard to find, but even the greatest of jokes begins to suffer when the realisation hits that you’re just repeating the same quest over and over. Thankfully, landmark moments in the plot manage to stamp out this slight nuisance when it appears before it turns into a major game breaker.

It’s not the most awe inspiring ride of button mashing released for download, yet Deathspank manages to flourish in both artistic flair and rib tickling humour still shines as a unique title that sticks out from the crowd. A pocket sized RPG that can easily suck away hours of time with such bright charm and simplicity, it’s not to be overlooked as one of the best games on the downloadable market.