DeathSpank
Those who have followed my writings know of my love for Diablo-esq beat-em-ups. (In fact I have been itching for some Sacred 2 action if anyone cares to join in on the fun). That’s why when Hothead games released DeathSpank a few weeks ago, a Diablo-like game with Monkey Island humor, downloading that bad boy was a no-brainer for me. The DGR crews hinted at a fantastic review of this game a few weeks ago, but were side-tracked by some tomfoolery known as an anniversary show or something. Anyhow, after successfully completing this adventure, I felt the game deserved some discussion, so I’m offering up my thoughts for you to enjoy.
DeathSpank is the brainchild of game designer Ron Gilbert. Best known for his witty action/adventure series Monkey Island, Gilbert had been working on DeathSpank since 2004. The game centers around an egotistical hero known simply as “DeathSpank”, a character originally found in Gilbert’s Grumpy Gamer comics. It was foretold that DeathSpank would be a hero to the downtrodden and that he was to possess an artifact of unimaginable power known simply as “The Artifact”. However, this artifact has been stolen by the very evil, and also very egotistical, Lord Von Prong. Your assignment, should you choose to accept it, is to recapture the artifact from Lord Von Prong, making the universe safe from evil again. Ok, so there’s way more to the story than just this, but you get the basic picture.
During his quest, DeathSpank acquires loot (weapons, armor, cool stuff like that) from enemies he kills, thus making him stronger and more powerful. Aside from the thirty-three main quests in the game, you have the option of performing seventy-nine additional side missions from characters you meet along the way. These quests don’t take too long, and most of them can be accomplished along side the main storyline. All in all, the entire game took around 6-8 hours to complete and cost 1200 Microsoft points ($15 on PS3) to play. The big question of course, is DeathSpank worth the $15? Read more and decide for yourself.
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