Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

10 Hours or Less

The Bottom Line:

"Rocks"

Given how short Rain-Slick episode 1 is I'll keep the review short as well.

If you're a fan of Penny Arcade than buy this game. It's six hours worth of Penny Arcade humor. You'll brutalize mimes and clowns, take down the fruit-lovers (cursed auto censor) and hear snarky remarks. If you're not a fan of the humor that made Penny Arcade big than there's still something here-a rather solid traditional RPG that is.

Given control over Gabe, Tycho and your own personal character, battles must be won against the evil fruit-lovers who are but a prelude to something decidedly more sinister and silent.

The dialogue and jokes are certainly the focus here and most do succeed but the narrator can become overbearing. Humor is subjective so if he works for you than cool.

The game is structured to be like a traditional adventure game. Pointing at a point on the map will make the characters march there. Click on an object and it will be interacted with. While it may look like one, the game isn't an adventure game in any real sense. The combat actually works for one.

Speaking of, the combat is easy enough to understand and succeed at. With three characters to control-each with their own timer until an action can be taken-items in need of handling and button prompts occurring allowing for more crit damage or a block move, the fights can be an enjoyable challenge. Each character also has a limit break that can utterly ruin an enemy. Tycho will unload a barrage of bullets, Gabe will beat a mime into a bloody pulp and your character will hit something really hard with a rake. It's also possible to wait until all three breaks are ready to go and unleash an utterly devastating three prong attack. Bloody stuff that.

While only a few fights tend on the absurd spectrum of difficulty, the majority are easy enough to win. Your enemies also go all out trying to make the fights fun-with clowns exploding all over the place into an orgy of guts, you'll fight little fruit-lovers that can be distracted with a thrown fruit and they'll prove their name-sake, mimes that pantomime a machine gun that somehow does actual damage. It's a strange game to be sure but an enjoyable one.

It's a short game but it's also an example of brevity being the soul of wit. The laugh out loud worthy humor, enjoyable combat, seeing your own custom character featured in the cutscenes in Penny Arcade's distinct style and the wanton murder of mimes all make for a good package.