DeathSpank is one of those rare titles where everything comes together to make a perfect game.
DeathSpank is the brave but incredibly stupid hero of an animated comic by Ron Gilbert and Clayton Kauzlaric. He is an overly macho hero with a penchant for vanquishing evil and dispensing justice. When he was young it was foretold that his destiny was to claim a powerful artefact so he has spent his life becoming a hero to the downtrodden and trying to find it.
For those familiar with Ron Gilbert's other enterprises it should come as no surprise that DeathSpank is choc-a-bloc full of satirical humour. Every cut scene, weapon, piece of armour, object, quest and dialogue option is rife with hilarious stupidity. It's almost impossible to describe just how hilarious this game is in a review but the combination of perfect scripting, voice acting and gaming references combine to make DeathSpank a work of pure comedic gold.
The game itself is a button masher with some basic RPG features. You receive a variety of humorous quests ranging from killing a flock of stoopid chickens to collecting unicorn poop (tastes like innocence) or even finding a sock for a lonely tree! There are over 50 quests in the game and, whilst most aren't required, you'll find yourself wanting to do every single one. They're not particularly varied or complex but each comes with a witty dialogue that will keep you laughing.
The world is presented to you in a colourful 3D landscape with 2D, cardboard cut-out like scenery. The art s_tyle is very cartoony and suits the game perfectly. Enhancing this light hearted feel is the catchy soundtrack. From the very first song at the title screen DeathSpank will have you humming along... even my 1 year old son dances to the music!
The game is played using the analogue stick and the face buttons/D-Pad. Simple right? You assign weapons, spells, food or potions to any of the face or D-Pad buttons then simply run around pressing the button corresponding to the action you wish to take. For example; you might assign an axe, a sword, a mallet and a crossbow to your face buttons and some food, a health potion and a shield spell to your d-pad buttons. Want to attack with the axe? Just press the button it's assigned to. Want to cast a spell, just press the appropriate button. This very simple yet customisable control method makes the game very accessible and easy to use.
Weapons come in a variety of forms each with their own damage stats and special attacks. Every weapon has a base physical damage and sometimes additional elemental damage. There are just 4 elemental types and, as you'd expect some enemies are strong against one element and/or weak against another. The best bit is that, if you use an elemental weapon against someone who's strong against it, the base physical damage value for the weapon still applies. So gone are those fights where you slowly chipping away at someone's health and then realise that, if you change weapon, it's a 10 second fight.
As you hit enemies a "Justice Meter" slowly fills. When this is full you can use your weapon's special attack. These range from lightning bolts to encasing enemies in stone and even making DeathSpank spin like a top. Every weapon type has a unique special attack and all are both useful and fun. For those craving a little more complexity you also have the option of picking up rune stones. Rune stones allow you to combine weapons for an extra special attack when you justice meter is full (press two buttons at once). I won't spoil them for you but they're well worth checking out.
Armour comes in 6 pieces: a helmet, shoulders, chest piece, gloves, boots and an amulet. DeathSpank has no need for other protection as his purple Thong of Justice provides him with all the protection his nether regions require. Each piece of armour gives you a health bonus and, sometimes, a percentage defence against a particular element.
In addition to weapons you can equip potions, food and magic. Food is used to restore health whilst potions and spells grant you health, speed, stealth, damage and defence bonuses. They are all limited by the number you have but fear not, DeathSpank is not stingy when it comes to giving you items, weapons, armour or money. In fact the land is scattered with barrels containing money or food and most enemies drop something when killed. This helps keep the game moving and forces you to constantly update your armour/weapons and try out different attacks.
Don't let this deter you though, the basic stat system for weapons and armour mean that you don't need to micro manage your inventory if you don't want to. The game even has an inbuilt option to auto equip the best stuff so you don't have to worry about it at all! This is a game built on fun and humour. Whilst there are technical component it is clearly designed so your focus is on the game itself.
The simplified RPG components extend to the levelling/bonus system too. There are 20 levels in total and you level up by killing enemies. When you level up you can select from a number of bonuses like "Melee attacks do 5% more damage" or "Enemies drop 10% more gold"... and that's it.
I only have two criticisms of DeathSpank. The first relates to the length of the game. It can be fully completed in around 4 hours however you'll be coming back for more and laughing about it for years. That said, the length of the game probably works in its favour as, while the game offers a lot of variety, it is in essence a button masher. If the game been any longer, it may have had players growing tired of the format.
The second criticism is that multiplayer is only offered locally. Whilst I didn't feel that the game needed a coop mode it's a shame it was only offered locally and not via PSN/XBL.
DeathSpank is one of those rare titles where everything comes together to make a perfect game. It doesn't take itself too seriously but, underneath the kooky exterior beats the heart or a truly great game. Once you've completed it once you'll want to play it again to relive the jokes and see all the game references and item names you missed the first time around.
Plus it has chickens... lots of chickens.