By Gieson Cacho
San Jose Mercury News
“DeathSpank.” What kind of name is that? What’s that about? I looked it up on the Internet. It looked intriguing, but the one thing that sold me was the name — Ron Gilbert. Could it be? Was it THE Ron Gilbert behind this game? He’s the guy who helmed legendary games such as “Maniac Mansion” and the “Monkey Island” series. I spoke with the man himself this week and played the game. Here are four things you need to know about the game, scheduled for release this summer on Xbox Live Arcade and the PlayStation Network.
1. Why is the game called “DeathSpank”? It’s the name of the title character, which Ron Gilbert created as a comic strip about five years ago. The warrior runs around fighting for justice. Voiced by an actor named Michael Dobson, he reminds me a lot of The Tick or Groo. He inhabits a light-hearted fantasy world, where characters are cracking jokes and are always in need of help. Like the comic, the game satirizes fantasy games that take themselves a little too seriously.
2. What is the game about? Well, DeathSpank discovers that all his questing and adventuring has been for this moment. The adventurer has to find a relic called The Artifact. But to actually retrieve it, he’ll have to go through a number of trials and tribulations. The first one involved a Demon Witch named Ms. Heybenstance, who was paid to hide The Artifact. She sealed it away, but to unlock the treasure, DeathSpank will need to do a few jobs for her.
A lot of what DeathSpank does in the world is fairly routine. He’ll go through collection quests, fetch quests, delivery quests. But Gilbert says there’ll be some adventure game elements to some of these tasks. For example, one character will request a spicy taco, but DeathSpank soon learns that a vendor only sells mild ones. So what does he do? From the sound of it, DeathSpank may be more than a mindless hack and slash. Players will have to use their noggin.
Gilbert said there’ll be hundreds of quests, and he expects players to have at least four or five ongoing tasks as they complete the main missions in the game.
3. What does the combat play like? First off, it’s very customizable. Players can map four weapons to four face buttons and they’ll be mashing them, trying to find the best combination of range and melee to kill foes. Some weapons use a special attack that’s activated via a Justice Meter. I used the hammer to do an area-affecting stun to make the crowds of enemies easier to kill. When I got low on health, I was able to instantly use potion and other items with the direction pad to heal. Second thing to note: DeathSpank will travel on what seems like a flat plane, but it actually rolls to reveal more land. It’s interesting effect that gives the world a more rounded look, despite a 2D comic-book feel. It’s a nice touch.
As DeathSpank levels up, he’ll be able to choose power-ups called Hero Cards and these Hero Cards will go into a Hero Book. They act as his boosts, and players should pick the cards based on the type of combat they prefer. If your DeathSpank is more of a melee fighter, players will choose cards that boost attack speed or strength. If he’s more of a ranged character, they’d choose speed or a more powerful ranged attack. It’s best to focus on one because players can only use six cards at a time.
Gilbert describes the combination as a Diablo light. Customizing your DeathSpank is vital. Players will need to give him more powerful armor. There will be sets of armor, but unfortunately, they won’t have bonuses so players should feel free to mix and match them to create interesting-looking combinations. When picking weapons, fans need to understand that their swords and bows can do different types of damage. In the game, there are three: fire, ice and nature. And some foes are immune to some but vulnerable to others.
4. What is the world like? When I pressed the Back Button, I actually got to see the land itself. It’s huge. Given this fact, you’d expect getting around would be a pain, but it isn’t thanks to an unusual save system. Scattered throughout the wilderness are outhouses. As DeathSpank approaches these structures, the game automatically saves. After that, our hero can uses these toilets to travel around the world, just don’t ask me how this happens. I shudder to think about the physics of it.
The areas themselves are varied from forests to swamps. They’re painted in vibrant colors that changes as the world streams into the system. Yes, there are no load times when walking from one end of the land to another. It reminds me of the 2D “The Legend of Zelda” games with the obvious difference being that the visuals are hundreds of times more beautiful.