On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness
Last night I was checking out some of the recent demos posted on XBox Live. Unfortunately I checked out Ninja Gaiden 2 and had my memories devalued by a 3D abomination unworthy of the name. Someone named “Team Ninja” published this and actually thought that the speed and timing of the original Ninja Gaiden would translate properly into a 3D world. I wish they would have stuck to the side-scroller.
But then I also downloaded a demo of Penny Arcade’s On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness Episode 1. Precipice of Darkness is an episodic role-playing game by the two geniuses behind the video game web-comic Penny Arcade and the Penny Arcade Expo.
Based on my limited experience with the demo I think it is safe to say that this game will not disappoint three demographics:
- Penny Arcade fans
- Old school computer games (fans of Space Quest, Monkey Island, etc)
- RPG video gamers
This game appears to be a slick combination of Penny Arcade humor, story-first presentation, and an interesting evolution of traditional RPG turn-based gameplay. The gameplay includes elements of turn-based mechanics such as that used in FFXI along with more arcade style mechanics such as button mashing and timing tests seen in games such as Mario Party.
I’m going to buy this game on Xbox Live but it’s also available for PC, Mac and Linux on it’s website: www.rainslick.com
