50. Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People
Release: 2008, PC/Wii
Beaten: September 24th, PC (Steam)
Playtime: 13h 42m
Because this is an episodic game, I'll collect my thoughts for each episode individually. Sorry for the long post, but I can't figure out how to add a Read More break anymore.
Episode 1: Homestar Ruiner - A really funny start to the series. It sets the tone and general feel of the games up pretty well. Compared to later episodes, it has some puzzles that felt a bit out-there. The formula gets refined right away with the next episode so I think they were just getting comfortable with how they wanted the game to play. Right off the bat, the character models are great in 3D and all the dialogue is, as expected, funny and well VA'd.
Episode 2: Strong Badia The Free - The chapter immediately presents a much higher-stakes (comically so) scenario than the first episode. It leads to some really silly gags and an interesting new direction. The puzzle solving feels a lot tighter and more logical, with hints that are actually well telegraphed. I only had to look up a solution once because, despite being correct about where an item was, the game's "metal detector" segments are a bit unwieldy and become mandatory in a later part of this chapter. Still, it's a good sign that the only thing I had to look up was something that I was just not doing correctly as opposed to feeling genuinely lost.
Episode 3: Baddest of the Bands - This one has a pretty funny premise, wherein Strong Bad needs to recruit all of his friends to compete in a Battle of the Bands just to pay for video game console repairs. Something I haven't mentioned yet is that these first three episodes all take the format of: Strong Bad wants to do a thing, then he has to reverse everything he just did because something unexpected happened as a result of his decision to do said thing. And it's funny every time. H*R is such a good world for this type of game, because it really lends itself to silly and borderline nonsensical solutions to puzzles. My main gripe is that I was really annoyed when the music and vocals audio tracks just cut out during the climax cutscene.
Episode 4: Dangeresque 3: The Criminal Projective - A solid episode in which you live out the filming of Dangeresque 3, filled to the brim with gags related to its low production value and eccentric cast. It's my favorite of the season. I can't think of anything to say about it--which I hope reads as "no notes, A+" instead of "nothing interesting here"--but it was really funny and had the best concept out of any of the episodes.
Episode 5: 8-Bit is Enough - Definitely the most ambitious episode of the season. It really leans into the absurdity of its premise and goes in a bunch of interesting directions. The series already had a lot of meta humor, but this is the episode that really dives into it the most. Overall, this is probably my second-favorite episode, but I can see why people think it's the strongest one. It's a great finale and is extremely polished.
