Penny Arcade has been as hugely successful as a Web comic can get, spawning a host of impersonators, a huge fan base, and even an annual expo held in downtown Seattle (PAX). Now, it seems that Gabe and Tycho are getting their own game with Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness Episode One (whew!). Whereas the logistics of a video game based on a web-comic known for lampooning video games is mindboggling, the game does a surprisingly solid job of capturing the cleverness and humor of the comic while being pretty fun to play. While the gameplay is a tad simplistic and the RPG elements aren’t terribly deep, fans of Penny Arcade are sure to love the style and faithfulness of the game.

Penny Arcade Adventures: Episode One takes place in the 1920’s and begins with you creating your character and detailing his overall look, choosing from several different moustache types, hats and so on. After creating your character, you’ll be thrust into the story, which finds you teaming up with Gabe and Tycho after a giant robot terrorizes your neighborhood. Armed with a rake, you move on through your decimated town, taking on robots and figuring out just what is going on.

Penny Arcade Adventures is a cross between a point-and-click adventure and an RPG. In the PC version of Penny Arcade Adventures, you play exclusively with the mouse, using it to move your character around and select moves while playing through the combat system. The combat is both timed and turn-based, as your moves take a while to queue up. Your item usage is the quickest to queue up, followed by your basic attack and finally your special moves. Once you get extra party members, you can perform team combos which will cause more damage.

The best element in Penny Arcade is the sense of humor. Considering the sharp and acerbic wit of the strip, the game’s story could’ve made or broke the game, but luckily the dark humor is spot on with the comic, meaning that hardcore fans of Gabe and Tycho will enjoy the faithfulness to the subject matter as well as the inside jokes throughout.

The game’s RPG elements are a bit scant, and shouldn’t overwhelm many players. The experience is also fairly short-lived, clocking in at about six hours, but this is to be expected given the game’s episodic nature.

Graphically, the game looks pretty good for as small as it is, with the cell-shaded aesthetic doing a fine job of mirroring the overall look of the web-comic. The characters are nicely representative of their comic counterparts and the general look it pretty solid.

The sound effects are also pretty good. The game’s score is appropriately weird and fits in nicely with the theme, and the general sound effects are pretty clear. The voice acting is also pretty good, but is unfortunately limited to the first few moments of gameplay.

Basically, if you aren’t a fan of Penny Arcade, then this game probably isn’t for you, since the RPG-lite gameplay elements won’t deliver what you’d hope for. Still, if you enjoy the web-comic, then the game’s faithfulness and sense of humor should make it a worthy investment.

Gameplay: 7.0
The game is pretty easy for most gamers to understand, but the RPG elements are a bit on the simplistic side.

Graphics: 8.0
The game looks pretty good, with the cell-shaded look doing a fine job of representing the characters from the web-comic.

Sound: 8.0
The game’s score and sound effects sound good, setting up the game’s theme nicely. The voice work is also pretty impressive, but sadly short-lived.

Difficulty: Medium

Concept: 8.5
The game does a fantastic job of emulating the humor of the comic, with snappy dialogue and great writing.

Overall: 8.0
While the light RPG elements aren’t suited for more hardcore RPG fans, the game’s humor and wit make it worth a look for fans of the web comic.