Publisher: Hothead Games
Price: $9.99 (£6.99)
Description: A Hilarious Take on the RPG/Adventure Formula
Fullscreen Support |
Mouse Support |
File Size |
Launch Date |
Required Specifications |
Yes |
Trackpad not Recommended |
939 MB——- |
31st August
|
None Specified |
Rating
Pros: Same great graphics, unpredictably hilarious, more of the same.
Cons: Some frustrating difficulty spikes, more of the same.
Review
The Baconing. I can’t help thinking those two words without conjuring up fireworks and explosions and hearing dramatic music and the booming voice of DeathSpank himself saying a witty phrase. The ad agency behind the advertising effort of The Baconing did a good job at making this new iteration of the DeathSpank series look as imposing, spectacular and dazzling as possible; as if it’s the most important thing that’s happened since the Berlin Wall collapsed. You only need to venture onto the game’s webpage or watch one of their numerous trailers to get caught up in it all. But is the hype warranted?
The Baconing still retains a lot from the previous games. The excellent comic-book art style remains to dazzle and delight. The music hasn’t changed and still bigs up the protagonist as if he’s some new-age James Bond and DeathSpank himself, as well as the people around him, continue to spew out rollicking one-liners. But we’ve seen all of this from the previous two games, and despite introducing a few new formulas, The Baconing feels all too familiar. The DeathSpank developers seem to have come at The Baconing with a ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ attitude which rings true in some cases. But with each new revision of the DeathSpank IP, they feel more and more like cash-ins on the franchise’s popularity.
From the start, The Baconing’s story feels contrived and doesn’t develop from the game’s Mac App Store description box. Some badass Anti-Spank has exploded into existence and is wrecking havoc front, right and centre. Feeling partly responsible for this global catastrophe as well as having nothing better to do, DeathSpank has taken on the difficult task of defeating Anti-Spank along with his menacing minions.
Creativity is plentiful in the lush environments, masterful weapon designs and hilarious script but The Baconing sidesteps character progression and plot development like it’s roadkill. This ruins the game’s cohesiveness and instead makes it seem like a bunch of crazy ideas mashed into one crazy game. But this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Only The Baconing would include an excessively-vain super-computer, a leprechaun Mafia boss, an edible suicidal mascot and a deranged family that spontaneously combust when angry – and that’s just in the trailer. Breaking away from the bonds of traditional gaming formulas allows The Baconing to surprise and delight gamers in wholly unpredictable ways. Although the story and realism suffer as a result, the game’s hilarious character and good sense of humour make it a worth-while trade-off.
The Baconing is hard, and you will die a lot.And it doesn’t even have the decency to do this with consistency. The game is riddled with difficulty spikes and overpowered enemies. At times foes are as effortless as a harvester cutting wheat. Other times, monsters are grossly unbalanced and threaten to kill you in a couple of hits. Even though this forces you to experiment with potions and explosives, the endless back and forth between spawn point and overpowered monster lends itself to an awful lot of frustrating downtime. Yes, I am looking at you Cotton Candy Monster and Forbidden Polar Pip.
The Baconing feels less like a sequel and more like an expansion pack. If you’ve enjoyed all of the previous DeathSpank games and are lusting for even more over-the-top tongue-in-cheek humour with some great combat and RPG mechanics then The Baconing is sure to please with even more of what you’ve seen before. If you’re instead looking for a sequel that advances the series forward then all that lies within The Baconing is disappointment.
