Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People: Strong Badia the Free review

Episode 2 kicks off when our shirtless hero is put under house arrest with a big, explosive collar, for failing to pay his newly-imposed email tax to the unusually stern and giantly moustached King of Town. Escaping and declaring war against the king is your opening puzzle, and kicks off an adventure of one-liners, hilarious videogame parodies and production good enough for the TV (Comedy Central, at least).

Don’t worry if you missed the first episode – this is much more standalone than Sam & Max episodes. And the setup is basically Sam & Max slotted around Homestar’s decade-old web comic. Like S&M, environments are lush and the puzzles lean towards the easy side, but as a pint-sized comedy show (with lots of wonderfully animated characters and scenery to click) Strong Bad is an excellent evening’s worth of entertainment.

This game’s also funnier than TellTale’s other series; the humour’s definitely more Viz than The New York Times. Replacing Snake Boxer is the excellent Double Dragon piss-take, Maths Brothers, and if you don’t chuckle your way through Strong Bad’s second episodic outing then there’s something deeply wrong with you.

Oct 21, 2008