Nukezilla Review: DeathSpank (PS3)

With the recent announcement over at Hothead Games of the impending sequel (September 21/22), I realized that we had neglected to review DeathSpank in a timely manner (or at all). I have only myself to blame, for as anyone who knows me knows about my love for what I call the Holy Trinity of LucasArts – Ron Gilbert, Dave Grossman and Tim Schafer. While trying to take fangirlism as much out of the equation as possible, I will say that I have yet to be let down by anything these men have developed, together or separately and I am pleased to report the same about Ron Gilbert and Hothead Games’ latest offering, DeathSpank.

Any reviewer worth their salt will immediately describe DeathSpank as Monkey Island meets Diablo: Take the humor of Monkey Island and combine it with the hack and slash of Diablo while throwing in a well-meaning but dumb as a post protagonist and you have DeathSpank. As such, I would say a player will find a dash of “The Tick” in there as well. The titular character of DeathSpank is a parody of every superhero you’ve ever come across, set in a sort of surreal acid fantasy setting. Bright pink landscapes, talking trees and feral chickens abound in DeathSpank’s world as he searches for a mysterious and powerful artifact (known simply as “The Artifact”, natch) while trying to free the world from the Evil Lord Von Prong and his Thong of Power (no, really).

Gameplay is fairly simple. DeathSpank must travel throughout the land in search of The Artifact while collecting orphans (yeah, you heard me) to keep them and their free labor away from Lord Von Prong. While traveling with his bag of orphans, DeathSpank must use the weapons at his disposal (swords, lightning rods, and crossbows) to defeat both Von Prong’s soldiers and the local wildlife hell-bent on sabotaging his progress. Additionally, DeathSpank can choose to embark on side quests to assist the downtrodden, ranging from finding a missing brother to collecting unicorn droppings to helping a yuppie build an exclusive suburban community. These side quests will garner DeathSpank stat boosts, weapons, and inventory needed to defeat Von Prong and liberate the land.

There’s something inherently charming about DeathSpank, though I am hard-pressed to say exactly what. Certainly it’s the clueless but ego-filled titular character, but there’s more here to enhance the experience of what would otherwise be a generic (but stylized) action RPG clone. Perhaps it’s the echoes of Monkey Island with all of the in-depth, humorous dialogue. Perhaps it’s the incentive to get as many of the weapons and armor as possible just to read the ludicrous names and descriptions (“Epic Shoulders of Epicness?”). Perhaps it’s the desire to see just how much more ridiculous the game can actually be. In the end it’s a combination of all these things, and the fact that DeathSpank is an epic adventure set in a decidedly non-epic world. All of the makings of a world-traveling epic are present, but for as large as the DeathSpank world is, it actually feels quite small, and fits nicely with the overblown ego of our hero. I’m certain the outhouse teleporting system contributes to this effect (yeah, I just said that).

There are a few problems with DeathSpank. As enjoyably random as the side quests can be, there are nearly eighty of them, and as such there are times when gameplay can become monotonous — all side quests follow the “go here, kill x amount of enemies/gather item, come back, receive reward” format. In addition, the jazz-inspired soundtrack loops quicker than I would like, but while it’s a downside worth noting, I find I didn’t mind all that much. Finally, I noticed a slowdown in the latter half of the game, causing brief but noticeable graphics flickering: an annoyance, and little more.

Is DeathSpank perfect? No, but it’s a heck of a lot of fun and despite its minor problems, I eagerly await September’s release of DeathSpank: Thongs of Virtue.