Hands-On: Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People

Fri, May 16, 2008

We've been crowing about Strong Bad's WiiWare debut for a while now. Telltale Games and the Chapman brothers have struck a deal to bring Strong Bad, the wrestling-masked antagonist from HomestarRunner.com, to fans and gamers in Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People (SBCG4AP) on Wii and PC. Much like Telltale's other offerings, the game is of the point-and-click adventure persuasion, with a high emphasis on humorous puzzles, situations, and dialogue, featuring the colorful cast of the Homestar Runner universe. GameCyte had the opportunity to visit Telltale Games' offices this morning, and we got to sit down and get a gloves-on experience with the first episode of this new downloadable series.

The version of SBCG4AP that we were shown was a demo version which had previously debuted at a Nintendo media event last month. A few animation hiccups still needed tweaking, a number of options were closed off, and several puzzles had been shortened for the purposes of the demo. A key item needed to solve a crucial problem, for example, was conveniently placed under an extremely conspicuous cardboard box in the middle of a field; Telltale assured me it would be much trickier to acquire in the final game. Still, if the portion of the game that we saw was indicative of its future potential, I am pleased to report that Homestar Runner fans are in for quite a few treats.

Strong Bad starts the game asleep on his couch, his hand wedged in a bag of chips, mumbling about an old SNES game. It's the sort of joke that, while funny on its own, is very clearly a nod to longtime fans of the series. These moments are sprinkled throughout the game, but not too frequently as to be off-putting. Strong Bad's particular brand of humor is the kind that most anybody can enjoy -- the clever dialogue will make most anybody chuckle, yet there were one or two moments when, as the only Homestar aficionado in the room, I found myself to be the only one laughing. SBCG4AP makes no excuses for the fact that it is aimed at fans, but the newcomers in our group found plenty to laugh about as well. My impression wasn't that you had to be a fan to enjoy the game... you'd just get to enjoy it more.

Once Strong Bad makes his way through his house and over to his computer, the game begins. Naturally, this being a game about Strong Bad and the Lappy sitting before me, I had Strong Bad check his email. Devotees of the series will be pleased to know that the game's dialogue is spot-on. The creators' influence can be heard not just through Matt Chapman's inimitable voice acting, but through every word spoken by the characters. Strong Bad pulled up a typo-ridden stupid question from his inbox, and proceeded to rip it apart as only he could, criticizing the sender's grammar and likely homely appearance.

Strong Bad's email will have multiple uses in the game, Telltale informed us: Beyond the ability to abuse his adoring fans, SB will also get the occasional plot-advancing email from other characters. Or, if the player becomes stuck in the game for an extended time, they can check their email again -- a helpful hint may be waiting in the inbox. I asked Telltale if, like the "sbemails" on the website, the in-game emails were actual user submissions. The answer was no; for legal reasons, Telltale can't reproduce a stranger's email in their games without consent (so, no dice, those of you who have been emailing like crazy in hopes of appearing in the game). On the other hand, Telltale did hint pretty strongly that Strong Bad gets hundreds of emails... the ones appearing in SBCG4AP could very well be based loosely on actual submissions. Or not. Who can say?

With emails thoroughly checked, it was time to get Strong Bad moving. Aiming the Wiimote will move your cursor around the screen, allowing you to tap 'A' to move Strong Bad or interact with objects or characters. The cursor illuminates when moved over a hotspot, moving the game forward exactly as one would with any mouse-driven adventure game released in the last few years. The game's interface isn't anything revolutionary -- players can likely expect a very similar experience between the Wii and PC versions. The one instance we saw where the Wiimote was used as something other than a pointer occurred when Strong Bad sat down to play the latest Videlectrix masterpiece, Snake Boxer 5. Turning the Wiimote to the side, as one might for a Virtual Console title, allows players to experience the ultra-low-res action of punching snakes while Strong Bad delivers his usual commentary.

Diversions like Snake Boxer are plentiful in SBCG4AP. Telltale described the game as significantly less linear than the Sam & Max titles, with a wide variety of side activities to keep you distracted from the core storyline. Strong Bad can head home at any time to create a new Teen Girl Squad comic or prank call other characters, or he can spend his time collecting new costume pieces, insulting his friends, or just plain breaking things. The game, following the Homestar Runner tradition, is chock full of easter eggs, all of which can be tallied up while playing. We were shown an in-game score sheet, counting things like prank calls made, collectibles found, and high-scores for the various mini-games (e.g. Snake Boxer). Strong Bad will rate your in-game progress based on your completion of these extras, praising you as "Wicked Awesome" as you explore more and more of the game's offerings. Many of the collectibles, as well, will add fun moments to the game -- we stumbled across an index card with a badly-drawn car on it, which SB immediately added to his list of ideas for Teen Girl Squad. Finding more index cards will allow players to design different comics with the new ideas, for more fun and higher ratings.

Ultimately, what we saw of SBCG4AP was both an enjoyable game and very true to the Homestar Runner cartoons. Telltale has found creative ways of bringing the characters into 3D, and the Chapmans' humor is quite intact. Fans will find a wealth of new H*R content to enjoy here, and as one who numbers among them, I'm looking eagerly forward to playing the full version when it arrives in June.

Adventure, Hands-On, Homestar Runner, Nintendo Wii, PC, Preview, SBCG4AP, Telltale Games, Videlectrix, WiiWare

This post was written by:

Jesse Henning - who has written 474 posts on GameCyte.

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SBCG4AP Releasing on Monday | GameCyte Says:
August 5th, 2008 at 12:19 pm
[...] Bad has a date! Not so much with Marzipan, of course, but the first episode of Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People has just been issued a release date. Episode 1, “Homestar Ruiner,” will be released [...]

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