Review by: Ryan Asher

Presumably tired of the effeminate males hogging all of the screen time in every Japanese RPG ever made, Gabe and Tycho, stars of the popular Penny Arcade cartoons, have decided to turn a page in their careers. Instead of simply riffing on your favorite videogames in their comic strip, the sarcastic and witty duo is headlining their very own RPG, Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness: Episode 1.

Gabe and Tycho are teaming up with your completely customizable game persona and taking to the gritty streets in a rather deep turn-based RPG available on the Xbox Live Arcade for a mere 20 bucks. I say mere, because the game itself, a roughly six to seven hour campaign, as well as its intangibles, rival most fully priced offerings.

Precipice of Darkness serves as the introductory chapter of what will be several episodic adventures featuring the uproariously funny duo, and what an introductory chapter it is. Before all is said and done, you’ll have maimed mimes with Gabe’s fists, riddled hordes of clowns with Tycho’s tommy gun and smacked around thrusting (somewhat anatomically correct) robots with an ordinary garden rake. All the while a story filled with absurd and genuinely funny dialogue takes you from set piece to set piece. The personalities behind the Internet cartoon strip certainly come alive as the game progresses.

The game begins as a multi-story robot rudely disrupts your peaceful day in suburbia by obliterating your house with its massive foot. Naturally, you vow your revenge and grab the nearest object suitable enough to maim this beast — a garden rake. Equipped with your rake, you chase after the behemoth, swatting away mini robots until you meet with a pair of equally insane persons also chasing the hulking monstrosity…and your adventure begins. Warning: adult content ensues — this is NOT a game for the whole family to play.

Combat in Precipice of Darkness is traditional RPG-style. Each character in your party has three gauges that can fill during the battle: the first is for items, which fills up rather quickly; the next gauge is for a basic attack; and the final one is for a special attack. Simple enough. Aside from the normal attacks, players can also utilize various powerups from the items menu. Everything from health to bombs to attribute modifiers are represented. These items can be procured from crates or, more naturally, the dead bodies of the clowns, mimes, hobos and barbershop quartet members you’ve mercilessly killed. Special attacks usually initiate a button press scenario to increase damage, and various characters can also be summoned for super attacks, including a little girl with a flamethrower and a cat who apparently licks itself…or something.

Notably, the most interesting addition to the combat is the block. Effective and well-timed blocks will either limit damage or allow for counterattacks. The simple block feature adds a necessary level of depth and strategy to a combat system that’s — let’s be honest — not all that original. The game is also hurt by the lack of micro-management, which could put off some RPG enthusiasts. Since all of your party, living and dead, are fully healed after every battle, there’s little incentive to even search out items.

Aside from a lack of originality, Penny Arcade suffers from a real lack of pizzazz. The three combat areas, albeit incredibly detailed, are not nearly exciting enough to warrant all of the backtracking required, and while combat can be hectic at times (especially the boss fights), it rarely involves much strategy. That being said, the game oozes style and looks fantastic, and I always found myself eagerly awaiting Gabe’s next hilarious quip. It’s a title that would be difficult to recommend if the folks from Penny Arcade weren’t behind it with their expertly crafted dialogue, but this is one instance where developers can get away with a lack of substance. Pick it up if you need a laugh or a decent RPG fix, just don’t expect anything innovative.