(Thanks to Threepwood4Life from the forums for pointing out this news story.)
So Hothead Games pulled a (mini) Telltale today and announced a couple of titles in one go. Douglas Adams fans, rejoice: there's a new Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy game in the works. Ron Gilbert fans, rejoice: there's a new DeathSpank game headed your way. Hothead is baconing beckoning you with The Beckoning The Baconing, a new and 100% natural Curse of Monkey Island-esque sequel to last year's beloved DeathSpank: Thongs of Justice, now touting Hothead-powered "improved gameplay" and the industry-catchphrase "improved AI":
The developers at Hothead tell Kotaku that this new game, which was made without the involvement of the lead character's creator, Ron Gilbert, should be more satisfying to play than last year's games. While the earlier Deathspank adventures were funny, their enemy-bashing, loot-collecting gameplay got dull quickly. (It was their script and attractive cartoon graphics made them worth playing.)
I'm going to digress for a moment here. If the gameplay indeed got "dull", then why did Thongs of Justice receive higher all-around scores than the original? Because the jokes certainly remained proudly at toilet level. So I'm going to guess that either: 1. the gameplay didn't get that dull, or 2. Someone at Kotaku really, really loves poop jokes.
Anyway, the game comes to XBLA, PC and - assuming it's still alive by then - PSN. Read the Kotaku article again if that gives you any pleasure.
Source: Kotaku
Jason
Apparently Ron Gilbert didn't even know they were making this. Gold!
Wow, Ron must be getting really sick of making two games of a series and then someone else swooping in to make a third one after he's left the company.
Kroms
Remi O
So you didn't play the whole thing yourself and are basing your views off Eurogamer? ¬
That's unfair. I played an hour's worth - OK, hardly the whole package, but there was a decent chunk of poop humour in there. Reviews indicated the game in general was no different.
You played an hour of two games that clock in combined at around 15 hours? Not quite sure how that makes my statement "unfair." Editorializing about the tone of a game you've barely looked at (and one I'm guessing you haven't looked at) seems a bit odd to me.
Remi O
So you didn't play the whole thing yourself and are basing your views off Eurogamer? ¬
That's unfair. I played an hour's worth - OK, hardly the whole package, but there was a decent chunk of poop humour in there. Reviews indicated the game in general was no different.
Kroms
I'm not saying the game wasn't funny, because it was. I do think they threw in too many poop jokes in the timeframe I played, though, and several reviews (especially Eurogamer's, as far as I remember) thought this was a problem that applied to the game in general.
So you didn't play the whole thing yourself and are basing your views off Eurogamer? ¬
Kroms
I'm not saying the game wasn't funny, because it was. I do think they threw in too many poop jokes in the timeframe I played, though, and several reviews (especially Eurogamer's, as far as I remember) thought this was a problem that applied to the game in general.
I can't say I found it hilarious, Monkey Island-style, in any way (although some bits certainly would make me laugh now and again, particularly in Thongs of Virtue), but it was all so light-hearted I still had a general smile on my face all the way through. Like the opposite of D&D Daggerdale (don't get that, it's terrible).
Remi O
Don't quite get Kotaku's views on the gameplay or Kroms' "poop joke" assertion here. I found both games great. Too bad Ronzo isn't working on the third one, but it could still be entertaining. Here's hoping the writing will be better than Curse.
I totally agree, I enjoyed both immensely. Whenever I'm looking forward to going home after a day at work just to get back to playing a game, I know that I'm playing something special.
More though... Hitchhiker's Guide! And Simon Jones might be in it (he's on the website right now).
Deathspank makes me scared about their Hitchhikers-game. I'm not one of those guys who thinks you can't do anything with Hitchhikers now that Douglas is dead, but their writing needs to get a lot better. Douglas was one of the best comedy writers out there. Hothead writes about poop.