HomestarRunner.com has consistently been one of the funniest destinations on the internet for going on 10 years now, and the Flash cartoon site has amassed a huge fan following. Fans of the site should be well aware that the site’s creators (Mike and Matt Chapman, aka The Brothers Chaps) have a long-standing love of point-and-click adventure games, as they’ve created several for the site’s “games” section that parody PC classics like Space Quest and Secret of Monkey Island. The brothers have joined up with Telltale Games (the team responsible for the recent Sam and Max revival) to create Strong Bad’s Cool Game 4 Attractive People, a new episodic adventure game. The episodes are releasing for PC and WiiWare, starting with Episode 1: Homestar Ruiner.

For those of you unfamiliar with the site (and if that’s the case, you should definitely check it out — it really is one of the funniest things you’ll ever see on the Internet, and family-friendly to boot), SBCG4AP stars Strong Bad, the little angry guy in a lucha libre mask who began as the series’ de facto villain, but who has since evolved into the site’s most popular character. Strong Bad begins his day (as usual) by checking his e-mail, which today contains a request from a French viewer, who asks why Strong Bad has never simply beat up Homestar (Strong Bad’s nemesis, although Homestar thinks they’re close friends). Inspired, Strong Bad sets out to do just that — but things get more complicated quickly, and before you know it, Homestar’s been ostracized by the entire population of Free Country, USA, and has resigned himself to living in despair … in Strong Bad’s house. Obviously, that’s not going to fly, so it’s up to Strong Bad to clear Homestar’s good name if he ever wants to get his life back to normal.

 
Homestar crashing at Strong Bad’s? This simply cannot happen.

Gameplay-wise, the game takes its cues from Telltale’s own Sam and Max series (no surprise, since it’s built from essentially the same technology). Just like in the LucasArts glory years, simply point at objects of interest in the environment and click on them for Strong Bad to interact with them in a variety of ways. The environments are full of details that can be interacted with — some are important to the story, some are inside jokes referencing various elements of the website, and some are just there for Strong Bad to make jokes about. There are also tons of jokes to be discovered by using (or attempting to use) the various items in your inventory on any and everything you come across. Sometimes, the least likely item uses lead to the most hilarious jokes. Sure, SBCG4AP doesn’t revolutionize the world of adventure games, but the interface is as user-friendly as you could hope for (the ability to instantly travel to any location on your map — from any other location — is a godsend, and an absolute requirement in any adventure game from here on), and what really matters in a comedy-adventure game (the jokes and the writing), the game’s got in spades.

 
Your adventures will lead you to interact with just about every character from the cartoons,
like Homestar’s on-again, off-again girlfriend Marzipan.

When you’re not actively trying to pursue the next storyline sequence, there are a couple of side tasks worthy of your attention. At Strong Bad’s drawing desk you can help him write the next issue of Teen Girl Squad, SB’s underground comic that features a group of high-schoolers that have a habit of getting killed in ridiculous ways — collecting the index cards where Strong Bad wrote his best ideas (which were accidentally scattered all over town) opens up new absurdities to subject So-and-So and The Ugly One to. In the den you can fire up the Fun Machine (an Atari 2600-style game console) to slug it out with a viper in Snake Boxer 5, a parody/homage to the simple action games of the early 80’s. Strong Bad can also find new hidden outfits throughout the game, and then enter The Cheat’s extradimensional photo booth to pose for some glamour shots (or wear them through story mode, after you’ve finished it once). You can even acquire Homestar’s cell phone and use it to prank call most of the major characters. While the story is relatively short and straightforward (3-4 hours for this first episode), these side quests add some variety and a little more playtime to the game.

 
Using the ideas at the bottom of the screen, it’s your job to kill the entire Teen Girl Squad
in bizarre ways in four scenes or less.

The team at Telltale has done an impressive job of capturing the look and feel of the site’s world. While the site’s cartoons are done in Flash and the game is done in 3D, the game uses cel-shading to perfectly mimic the flat visual style of the site. Every location looks just like its cartoon counterpart, and fans of the site will love getting to walk around and explore their favorite spots, from the backyard country of Strong Badia to the most popular meeting spot around, The Stick. They’ve also nailed the presentation on the audio end. The voice work is all done by the original voice actors (every male is voiced by Matt Chapman, with the lone female voiced by Mike Chapman’s wife), so everybody sounds exactly like they should. The music captures the feel of the cartoons as well, and the game even begins with a new original song by Strong Bad.

 
Characters and locations look identical to their cartoon counterparts.

Not everybody’s going to like Homestar Ruiner. Some might be put off by the game’s relatively short length, although with another episode due next month, it’s not that big of a deal. Adventure game aficionados likely won’t find the game to be much of a challenge, since many of the puzzles have (gasp) rational solutions that don’t require absurd logic to solve, which is the way these things are usually done. Anyone who’s not a fan of the site (or simply not familiar with it) might be discouraged by the large number of inside jokes and references, but enough context is given that most of the comedy can be understood even if you don’t know the various characters and relationships.

Homestar Ruiner is a great start to Telltale’s new episodic adventure series, and a tremendous value for the $10 download price. It delivered more entertainment than many games that I’ve paid twice as much (or more) for. Obviously, Homestar Runner fans are going to get the most out of it, but anybody who can appreciate wacky comedy and point-and-click gameplay could do a lot worse than to give this one a try.

Gameplay: 8.5
The game uses an extremely streamlined interface, which results in a learning curve of about 30 seconds. The puzzles are pretty straightforward, but always clever and entertaining. Walking around interacting, just interacting with the people and things around you, doesn’t get old, even after the story is resolved.

Graphics: 7.6
They’ve managed to perfectly capture the look of the source material. The graphics are pretty simple, but then, so is the cartoon they’re trying to emulate. Fans will appreciate the attention that’s been paid to even the tiniest details.

Sound: 8.4
Every character sounds exactly like they should, and the music used is spot on. It might not be the sort of thing you’d want to download and listen to, but as far as making the game sound like a Homestar Runner cartoon goes, the audio succeeds.

Difficulty: Easy
Even genre newcomers could finish this in a couple of sessions. The puzzles, while clever and fitting, are never all that difficult, and even if you get stuck, just wandering around talking to everyone usually puts you back on track pretty quick.

Concept: 8.6
The adventure game style perfectly fits the site, and the whole thing feels like a long-lost cartoon.

Overall: 8.5
For Homestar fans, this is a no-brainer, but if they’re the only ones who play it, it’ll be a shame — the only thing you need to enjoy it is a sense of humor. It’s a great beginning to a longer adventure, and absolutely worth a download.