A quirky adventure plagued by reptition.
Deathspank, an amazing game with humor everywhere but too repetitive for it's own good.
Presentation 5/5
The art style that this game utilizes is very simple yet beautiful at the same time. It reminds the player of a pop-up book from their childhood. The world feels like a giant sphere as you travel through it, backgrounds fade downward as you walk away and new ones seemingly pop-up as you draw closer. The textures are well done and the details put into everything shows a lot of dedication and hard work towards making this game look great, and it shows. Overall the presentation of this game is second to none in the Xbox Live Arcade and leaves you speechless.
Gameplay 3/5
The gameplay is where the game falls short ultimately. It starts out a blast and walking through the world and killing Savage Unicorns and The Leprechaun Mafia. However, as you progress through the game the combat never really changes from that easy tutorial level difficulty and the quests don't stray from the "go here and fetch this" variety. It really starts to fade when you realize this and it never attempts to change the game on you.
The second major part of the gameplay is amazing though, the humor is integrated into the weapons and armor as you collect them in this loot based game. Weapons ranging from the "chicken cannon" to my personal favorite "Fire Axe 2: Fire Harder" and armors such as "The Bladed Shoulders of Blades" are never in short supply as you'll find yourself scrambling around looking for a sword with more damage or a chest piece with more health. Fans of loot grinding will love it.
Difficulty 3/5
The difficulty of this game is also a flaw it has. The beginning is ridiculously easy which is easy to look past because it's a tutorial. But even on the final boss you'll feel like the game never stopped holding your hand. The difficulty settings don't help either, even on hard you'll have no real trouble since the shield makes you invincible. Overall the difficulty lowered the fun factor of this game a good amount.
Story 5/5
This game truly shines in the story department because of a surprisingly great plot mixed with gut busting humor. The plot revolves around you, the mighty hero Deathspank, who is trying to retrieve the artifact from the evil Lord Von Prong. It's got a few twists and turns that will catch you off guard and a very satisfying ending that will leave you craving a sequel. The humor is a heavy key to making the presentation of this story top notch. The humor is even present in the characters through felt dealers who speak in only double meanings to retired cross dressing hero turned blacksmith.
The sidequests are even mini storylines in themselves revolving from things like helping take down the leprechaun mafia to assisting a wizard in creating crazy mixed breed animals like the Kangamoo and Biclops. The sidequests will have you in stitches from laughing too hard. Overall they truly are needed to take this game from a funny Diablo clone to a unique and interesting take on the Hack'n'slash genre with gut busting humor.
Overall 4/5
Overall Deathspank is a hilarious, interesting game that will having you laughing the entire way through as you struggle to figure out the mysteries of this wonderland. While bogged down by repetitiveness and an easy difficulty Deathspanks humor and story more than compensate for its downfalls. The loot grinding and level grinding will also appeal to the hardcore gamer as well. Deathspank is an enjoyable ride the whole ride through that will have you guessing around every corner until the very satisfying finish.
