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Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People Episode 5: 8-Bit Is Enough

Score: 90%
ESRB: Not Rated
Publisher: Telltale Games
Developer: Telltale Games
Media: Download/1
Players: 1
Genre: Adventure/ Themed

Graphics & Sound:

Well this is it, Strong Bad's final episode for his inaugural videogame season, and Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People Episode 5: 8-Bit Is Enough does a good job of not only supplying a ton of fan service (something Strong Bad himself points out), but also makes plenty of references to the past four episodes in the season.

The visuals are, as always, decidedly Homestar Runner-ish. The developers continue to simulate the Flash cartoon's look, and this time they do it while throwing in a few strange 2D characters like Snake Boxer and The Algebros.

And, of course, like the previous episodes of SBCG4AP, the voicework is done by the creators of the show, so everyone and everything sounds perfect. I especially enjoyed the occasional low-res background music that appeared when you went into some of the older Videlectrix games, as well as Strong Sad's impersonation of the old 8-bit music that he does early in the game.


Gameplay:

Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People Episode 5: 8-Bit Is Enough starts off immediately after the events of Dangeresque 3: The Criminal Projective and in an escape attempt to get away from the movie's critics, Strong Bad bumps the Trogdor! machine and (of course) causes it to come alive and start rampaging the area.

At first, it appears that Strong Bad's mission in this episode is to tame the half arcade cabinet/half dragon, but when this issue is quickly resolved, another one (the main problem) becomes apparent. It seems the 8-bit containment field has been breached and the low res world of videogames (specifically those created by Videlectrix) are bleeding into Strong Bad's world. Now, Trogdor himself (not just a strange dragon/cabinet hybrid) is running around and the only way to stop all of Strong Bad's friends from being taken over by game personalities is to slay the dragon.

To do this, Strong Bad will have to travel around both his world and the Videlectrix world collecting the necessary tools and party members required to fend off the green menace. Along the way, he will not only pick up The Poopsmith (who thinks he is Mr. Fixa) and Strong Mad (who believes he is some Russian Olympic Shot Putter licensed for a game), but also some characters from his other favorite games like Snake Boxer and the Inn Keeper from Peasant's Quest.

Other games Strong Bad will have to venture into include Gel-Arshie Pro Fruitboarder and Stinkoman 20x6. But all of the fun isn't contained in the videogame world. I already mentioned a couple of characters that get taken over by videogame heroes, well Marzipan becomes a crate-throwing ape, while Coach Z gets attacked by pixelated scorpions and even The House of Bad goes under attack by ghostly Red Coats from his Spirit of '76 game.


Difficulty:

Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People Episode 5: 8-Bit Is Enough is pretty well laid out. There were only a couple of times when I had serious issues trying to figure out exactly how I needed to achieve my goal. Mind you, I never had trouble figuring out what I needed to do, just how to do it. A good example of this is when Strong Bad is in Peasant's Quest and he has to get past Strong Sad who thinks he is a dark wizard, but his pink "wizard's hat" implies a more feminine role. Well, Strong Sad is blocking the way to Trogdor's cave and all the hints lead you to believe you have to convince a roaming monster (played by King of Town) to attack him in order to clear the way. Well, things aren't quite that simple and it took a bit of work to figure out exactly what I needed to do in order to progress.

Interestingly enough, because of the two worlds colliding, Homestar has found himself in Strong Bad's HUD, and he makes frequent appearance and act as a comedic, stereotypical hint system. While this gag is funny, it definitely helps out a lot and is very effective for when you get stuck.


Game Mechanics:

Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People Episode 5: 8-Bit Is Enough once again uses the standard point-and-click method of adventure gaming (so much so, in fact, that Strong Bad comments about it at one point in this adventure). But the feature that I still really enjoy in this series is the Map. Sure, once you visit a location, you can put it wherever you want, that's just funny. But what makes it useful is the simple ability to jump to any of those locations with a few simple clicks, because there is nothing more annoying in an adventure game than backtracking through several unnecessary screens just to grab a single object and come back to solve a puzzle.

Needless to say, SBCG4AP: Episode 5 is a must buy for those already following the series and the cartoon. It definitly has more than enough fan fare to make up for the broken Trogdor! machine that has been taunting us all season long. As for people not already familiar with this strange universe, the frequent references to past episodes (as well as multiple inside jokes from the series) might be a bit of a deterrent. While this game is still recommended, it would probably be best to go through the first four games (at least) beforehand.


-J.R. Nip, GameVortex Communications
AKA Chris Meyer

Minimum System Requirements:



Windows XP / Vista, 1.5GHz CPU, 256 MB RAM (512MB recommended), 32MB 3D-accelerated video card (64MB recommended) Video Card, DirectX 9
 

Test System:



Alienware Aurora m9700 Laptop, Windows XP Professional, AMD Turion 64 Mobile 2.41 GHz, 2 GB Ram, Dual NVIDIA GeForce Go 7900 GS 256MB Video Cards, DirectX 9.0c

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