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Ben Kuchera - Jul 20, 2010 2:22 pm UTC

Do you like loot? Do you enjoy classical video game humor? DeathSpank is a game that's hard to pin down from a quality point of view; it's an experience that knows exactly what it wants to be and if you're not along for that ride, it doesn't do much to try to win you over. It's an action RPG, a hack n' slash title with a flair for the absurd, and it features the sort of humor that is a throwback to old-school PC games. That's not exactly a shock: Ron Gilbert served as the game's creative director. He was previously co-creator of a little game called Monkey Island.

The problem is that these jokes have been made before. Our hero is the hyper-earnest type with a square jaw and a can-do attitude—think Zapp Brannigan from Futurama or Captain Quark from the Ratchet and Clank series—and the game seems self-aware enough to poke fun at the quest structure and the hunt for what is basically nothing but a McGuffin. Winking at the audience has almost become its own cliché at this point, and the potty humor and groan-worthy jokes can wear thin. Stick with it though, and the game begins to hit almost all the right notes.

You are DeathSpank, you are trying to find the Artifact, and you will complete quests for people you meet. You will destroy everything in your path to do so. It's the hack 'n' slash distilled to its purest form, and there are plenty of elemental weapons and different magical effects to play with. In fact, each of the face buttons of the controller has its own weapon mapped to it, making it easy to switch up your attacks to use a full arsenal of ranged and melee weapons. This is a very nice touch, and keeps combat fast and fun.

Should you wade in with your swords and clubs? Attack from afar with arrows? Use an elemental weapon that could be more effective against certain enemies? With four weapons available to you at any time, and the ability to map other magical items to your digital pad, you can really play with your fighting style and have fun with the many, many weapons you'll pick up as the game goes on. 

Leveling is handled by giving you a choice of "Hero Cards," which allow you to be more powerful in certain ways, move faster, increase the loot being dropped, or other buffs. It's an original way to sidestep the standard point-based levels, and you're forced to make some hard choices about how you want to upgrade your character... at least early in the game. If you don't mind a little bit of grinding you'll be able to power up all aspects of your hero.

The game is little more than a series of fetch-quests given to you by the characters you meet, and as you gain power and weapons you'll be able to safely venture into more and more of the world's map. You'll be going there, killing that, and bringing this back for most of your time with the game. Outhouses are used to teleport to different sections of the map if you don't want to walk, although a little grinding to level up never hurt anyone in this sort of game.

The art style is beautiful, with a colorful, hand-drawn look to many of the scenes and very distinct areas of the world with their own aesthetics and enemies. There is also a sort of rolling effect that happens when you move from place to place, as if you were on the surface of a moderately large sphere... it's hard to describe in words, but gives the game its own goofy, surreal look that fits the setting very well. There can only be so much doom and gloom in games; it's fun to play something that uses so many colors to paint its world.

One missed opportunity is co-op. You can only play with a friend locally. Online co-op is not supported, and the second player does not get to use found weapons; they are limited to predefined attacks. This may have been an easy place to scale back on features in what is a downloadable title, but it's still a major shortcoming. The ability to play with a friend, trade loot, and level up characters to fight together online would have been a big selling point. The humor and setting still makes this fun to play alone, but online co-op would have certainly made it easier to recommend.

DeathSpank does have funny moments, and it's a game that's aimed squarely at players who love to play with new weapons while decking their character out in the best armor possible, but it may not appeal to anyone else. With very well-worn mechanics and combat that can sometimes feel repetitive, this is a release that is forced to get by on style... which it does. But only by the skin of its very large, veneered teeth. Expect over ten hours of gameplay if you want to complete every side quest, and the game is much more enjoyable than not for the majority of that time.

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