Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness - Episode One

I'm not the best known fan of the turn based RPG, you'll most likely find me playing a tennis game rather then spend time with a turn based RPG. But after a while of hearing all the good things about the game, and giving the comic series a look I instantly got into it. I bought both Penny Arcade adventures: On the Rain - Slick Precipice of Darkness: Episode One and Two. And might I say this game did change my thoughts on the turn based genre. 
 
You're in New Arcadia, nice day, just got a paycheck bought a new AC/DC CD, life is good. And then a giant fucking robot murders your house. DAY RUINED! Feeling vengeful? Thirsty for some robot blood (oil?)? Well this is the main plot to the game (in my own summary that is). You, your created character that is, runs into Tycho Brahe and Jonathan Gabriel who are trying to find this giant, oversize robot. You join them and thus start the journey. I'm not too familiar to the Penny Arcade comics, as a person who follows video games news and such I basically only knew the name Penny Arcade because of the PAX events every year. So I'm pretty new to comedic style of Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik, and after playing the game I say it's pretty phenomenal stuff. Never got too old, stayed pretty fresh through out. 
 
I'm not too familiar with the turn based format, again cause I never play that genre too much, but the Penny Arcade gameplay

was fluid and very good. Blocking takes some skill, as your timing has to be just right to get that counter. Overall though, the game is pretty easy. That's not a knock on it, it opens the door to more people like me that don't play them as much. I'd have to say it's the gameplay that makes the game accessible to everyone. It's not overpoweringly hard that new players will lose interest and just hard enough to keep hardcore fans interested. Also the it's fair for those who might not care for the humor. But why even buy it at that point?

 To continue the talk about the gameplay, the battle system is pretty dope. I always found it to be frustrating when I'd start a battle and see that the enemies are resistant to ammo. FUCK. I used Tycho a lot. But I did like that. It lets you know off the bat who you can use and who you should let use the items you may have available. Along with that is the specials they all have. There's a meter at the top of the characters little box at the bottom of the screen. Let that fill up and you can do some special attacks. The effect of the attack is based on how well you can hit the prompted commands. Better yet, wait till all the meters are filled to murder someone, fast. Probably my favorite part of the battle system. And of course there's the

special NPC that you can call upon and they will help you out. There's Tycho's niece Anne Claire, a cat you find and a robot. The cat can either be a waste of time or a great help. It's a roll of the dice with that one. It can either murder all enemies or only dish out one hit of damage. 
 
All in all Hothead made a fantastic game, one of the best games on PSN. There is no way I can tell you that the game isn't worth the $15 bucks, though when I bought them they were in a package. Both game for $15. Not bad at all, in fact that's a steal. Penny Aracade Adventures: On the Rain - Slick Precipice of Darkness: Episode One changed my perspective on the turn based genre. A phenomenal game.