So I want to preface this review with a little something. I am a casual Strong Bad fan. By that I mean that I watch the flash videos every now and then and am not so entrenched into the whole Strong Bad world or Strongbaddia world if you will. I thought this important so the hard core fans don’t say I am leaning one way or the other. With that said, here we go.

For the most part this game plays through, via “episodes,” much like the clips of flash video. Except you get the chance to select how Strong Bad reacts to everyone, sometimes. So it’s kind of a ‘choose your own adventure’ type thing. Which, at first, made me think that was how the game was going to play the rest of the time. It does to some extent.

When you get down to the basics of this game, it is more of a search for puzzle items to continue the story of each episode along. Find hedge clippers to clip hedges. Find objects to build an awesome album cover to take a picture. Search to solve is the bulk of the game, something very reminiscent to the puzzles of Tomb Raider and Resident Evil. Not saying that you need to do this to escape for your life, but this is the only way to continue on the overall story of the episodes.

Before I get into my normal Good, Bad, Rating section, I feel I need to also let you know that I was only able to play through the first four episodes of this game. The fifth episode has not yet been released. So this is also a review on only part of the game.

The Good:

At first when I was playing, I was a little off put by the controls and style of the game. But it grew on me and I felt compelled to keep playing even though my initial reaction wasn’t the best. Kind of how a WoW addict keeps saying, “Ok, just one more level then I’m logging off for the night.” It was something with the click-style movement and the puzzles. So the puzzles of the game kept bringing g me back in to keep going. They were pretty well thought out.

The humor of the game was also a shining factor of the game. Maybe it is just my skew on things, but for the most part, I found myself giving a chuckle. I love a bit of humor to my games and this one had its fair amount, even though some of it would try my nerves at times.

One other thing, and I’m not sure why, was the mini-game Algebro’s. I thought it was brilliant to play. There is just something about offing or adding ninjas to move on to beat down a much harder ‘boss’ formula. I played that for a bit when I stumbled upon it.

The Bad:

Even though I mentioned it in the good section, the humor of the game took a little getting use to or ignoring and skipping scenes. At least it was for me. There were just a few things that seemed flagrant and unneeded for the over all game. I’m sure that this was placed in to appease the hardcore fans of Strong Bad, but to a casual fan, it took a bit of effort.

The GUI of the game, while sleek, could have been a bit more intuitive or instructive as to what is going on. You get a list of option when talking to people, but they are just images. Some of these images are hard to decipher out what they are at first. Which could have been alleviated by having some kind of mouse-over text, but there was none of this to be found. At least outside the items on the screen you could interact with.

That being said, this also made figuring out what needed to be done its own little puzzle. A puzzle to understand the puzzle you need to do to further the game. Just doesn’t seem to flow right. It took me a bit to figure out how to get into the main bulk of the second episode because I had little clue for a bit on how to get out of the house. Once I found the first object and a random voice over with a cryptic hint, I was able to move forward. But it just seems like they want you to sit idle for the game to hint at the next step you need to take to get to the first puzzle. A little frustrating, at least to me.

It also seemed to be a supped up version of a flash game when you get down to the basics of the game. “3D” graphics in a side-scrolling world. Point and click controls. All of this, just very reminiscent of a flash game. I understand the number of people on the team and the depth they could go, but it almost seems like it could have been done in that medium. At least from the expectations that we have all come to look for in our PC games. It just seemed a bit of a let down.

The Rating:

6.8

I will say that if you are more than a casual fan of Strong Bad, you will love this game. You will be able to see past some of the above downsides I reported and enjoy the hell out of this game. But it would seem that was the target demographic. That or people who have never seen Strong Bad before and have the same sense of humor. Bring in the closet cases and such. But you really need to be into the whole experience to enjoy.

Mind you I am not saying I hated the game, but it just was not what I was expecting and thinking it would be. I also don’t think that anyone should have to force themselves to try and force on to enjoy a game. When a casual fan feel the need to do this, it doesn’t look good for anyone else looking to give it whirl and not be an avid fan.

So in the end, if you love Strong Bad, check this game out. You will most likely not be let down. If you are a casual fan, I’d say check it out if your curiosity is at all peaked. But be a little weary. If you have never even heard of Strong Bad, check out the flash movies and the like before to see if you enjoy this kind of experience.