X3F TV -- XBLA in Brief: Penny Arcade Adventures

by Richard Mitchell { May 21st 2008 at 7:15PM }

For this week's XBLA in Brief, we welcome the arrival of (ahem) Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness: Episode One. The first in a series of four episodes, Penny Arcade Adventures presents the very first episodic game to grace Microsoft's download service. The question that remains is whether or not it's any good. After our experience with the trial version, we'd say that it is (so long as you like Penny Arcade, role-playing games, adventure games or, even better, all three). Check out the video to find out if On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness is for you.

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Tags: hothead, penny-arcade, penny-arcade-adventures, rain-slick-precipice-of-darkness, x3f-tv, xbla-in-brief

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Lewis (GT: StoneRevolver) @ May 21st 2008 7:32PM

Must buy. :)

Chase @ May 21st 2008 7:38PM

It looks like a solid, fun game - which is what I thought it would be. It has my money.

Brian Arnold @ May 21st 2008 7:52PM

Couple of thoughts after the video:
* Double-teaming opponents is mentioned. You can also triple-team, if you're willing to wait for all three characters to get up to their top move. However, Tycho is kind of slow so that can be a little painful.
* Most reviewers have been saying 7-10 hours. I completed the main campaign with all characters at max level with max weapon upgrades (the only thing I don't have are all of the hidden pieces of art, really) at around six hours. Still worth the $20 if you're a PA fan, but it doesn't quite feel "as advertised" in that sense.

Richard Mitchell @ May 21st 2008 8:11PM

Mileage will definitely vary.

Thanks for the input. Personally, I can't wait to plow through the game.

Digital Limit @ May 22nd 2008 4:05AM

It took me about 8 hours. 7-10 is definitely fair.

Anticrawl @ May 21st 2008 9:26PM

After playing the demo thuroughly to the end I have to advise people to only bother with is game if they are true Penny Arcade fans. It's only somewhat entertaining for me, and not 20 dollars entertaining.

Mr.ESC @ May 21st 2008 9:27PM

What you know it actually looks great.I'm maybe buying this after I finish GTAIV.This game looks good but I don't have 1600p right now.

LongshotX @ May 21st 2008 9:32PM

If my Xbox 360 craps out and I buy another one...can I still play this game or is it stuck in trial mode?

PerfectStrategy @ May 21st 2008 11:50PM

If you want to use an arcade game or paid dlc on a completely different xbox 360 than the one it was bought on, you need to be logged in to the profile that paid for that content (connected to Xbox Live). Other profiles can also play the content as long as the purchasing profile is logged in.

If you console get's swapped for another at the MS repair center, you can transfer the licenses.

Homer 918 @ May 21st 2008 11:41PM

I love that intro to the game, it definitely starts things off well.

Deck @ May 21st 2008 11:50PM

Played the trial all the way through and I absolutely love it. I read penny-arcade but not religiously, so I am not a "massive fan".

I am however, a massive RPG fan and a good story is the thing I look for first in a game. This has both great elements of those two things, so I would say that even if you aren't a major fan of PA but love RPGs and a good story in a game, this is a must buy. I know I'll be buying the whole thing asap. It is well worth $20 for the right person. (And that may be the key, the right person)

Ottochops @ May 22nd 2008 2:02AM

Hey XBF guys this game looks great but i feel the twenty dollar price range is a bit steep. I have a question that you all might be able to answer for me. Will the twenty dollars i spend go towards the other three episodes? or are we going to have to spend twenty on each?( making it an 80 dollar game.) If anyone can answer this for me it sure would be appreciated.

Mrblonde @ May 22nd 2008 3:53AM

You will have to pay for each episode. If you wait till the last episode, they will release all four on the PC in a set and possibly on the marketplace

Brian Arnold @ May 22nd 2008 10:12AM

The answer is that we don't know exactly yet how much future episodes will be. I agree with the other commenter that there'll probably be some sort of collection by the time we hit the end of four episodes.

You can look at it as an $80 game, but it's not an $80 outlay up front. It's $80 over the course of a few years.

I look at it like a movie series. For example, any of the tons of recent trilogies. If one were to buy the individual films at release, they'll be paying a TON for what is effectively one long film, or they can wait for the end of the series in several years and hope for (and most likely get) a cheaper collected version.

So, if they stick with $20 pricing (which we don't know if they will), then it's an $80 game, but that extra cost is the premium of playing the content now. By the time the story wraps up, there'll probably be a nice packaged PAA quadrilogy set or something to download for $50 or something.