14 DAY TRIAL // 
DeathSpank is Ron Gilbert's latest labor of love, a parody to the action role playing game genre that involves a lot of funny writing and, unfortunately, repetitive combat. For those who are unfamiliar with him, Ron Gilbert is the writer behind the first two titles in the legendary Monkey Island adventure series. This new creation has been in development for quite some time now, as Gilbert has been pushing to see DeathSpank made since 2004. It is currently available on the Xbox 360 through XBLA and the PlayStation 3 through PSN, with a rumored PC port in the works.
What is striking as you make your way through the first stages of the game is the incredibly delightful aesthetic. While the character models and the world are 3D, the trees, houses, castles and other objects are like 2D cardboard cut-outs. This look alongside the environment's vibrant colors results in very charming and atmospheric visuals and it is one of DeathSpank's biggest achievements. The various areas of the title are differentiated nicely through color schemes and themes, a bit like in World of Warcraft's regions.
The voice acting is what one would expect from a Ron Gilbert game, as the cast succeeds in portraying the title's wacky characters and deliver the very funny dialogue without spoiling any of its humor.
The writing is well done, even if quite irreverent at times. While I really enjoyed it, I would advise those who do not really click with toilet-humor to try the demo before purchasing DeathSpank, as some of the one-liners may offend some more sensible tastes. On the other hand, I cannot imagine an RPG fan who will not laugh when they will encounter the Log Sword or face their first Vicious or Stoopid Chickens. In these terms, the satirical vibe of DeathSpank is a spectacular success. It manages to take-on the many absurd tropes of the genre and make the most hardcore of fans smile or laugh out loud.
DeathSpank himself is a great character, well voice-acted and his responses to the crazy world around him and his constant ramblings about dispensing justice are as whimsical at they are quixotic. In the wake of all the thong and toilet references, some of the deeper jokes, both about heroism, but also about some of the more traditional notions of action-RPG are a breath of fresh air. Gilbert brilliantly manages to be complex and approachable at the same, in the vein of his work in the Monkey Island series.
It is too bad then that DeathSpank fails to deliver on the gameplay side the same level of quality as in its presentation and writing. This is a simplified Diablo style of combat and exploration, with a few elements streamlined to ease in the casual audience. You can bind four weapons on the face buttons, block with the right bumper and target with the left bumper. Four helpful items like potions and damage-dealing runes can be mapped on the D-Pad.
The Weapons of Justice have a purple icon and have a powerful effect alongside the normal attacks. These abilities can vary from freezing all enemies to a single hit that deals a massive amount of damage. They can be triggered when you manage to string a number of blows with the normal weapons. Once the Justice meter is filled, something that is not really hard, you can activate the purple thingies, as DeathSpank calls them. You can make something fun out of the combat when you try, but most of the time it is not worth bothering, as mindlessly mashing different face buttons will work the same, contributing the boring grind that plagues this game.
The game has one rendered world, with no load times between the wildly different areas. Most of your time in-game will be spent doing the main quests and other side missions. All of them require either killing a number of foes or gathering a slew of items around the world. While this can be fun for two or three hours, the repetitiveness will finally take its toll and boredom will ensue, despite the great writing and atmosphere.
There is a cooperative component included in this release, but it is not very well developed. At any moment a friend can join your adventure as a supporting character named Sparkles. He is a wizard that has four spells he can cast to help DeathSpank, but that is it. Sparkles does not have any kind of progression or bearing in the story.
There are some well-realized portions in DeathSpank's gameplay. For example, you do not have to get to a vendor and sell your loot when your inventory is full, as an item grinder is included. You can put unnecessary weapons and armor in and gold will come out, successfully streamlining this aspect of the title. Also fast-travel is available through various outhouses scattered around the world, exactly like the checkpoints in Blizzard's seminal Diablo series, making see the game's beatiful environments a breeze.
It is quite tragic really as DeathSpank falls in the same pitfalls of the genre that it tries to be a parody of. In this respect, it reminds me of 2004's The Bard's Tale, which went at great lengths to make fun of the absurd loot drops that are part of all role playing games, while at the same time letting the player find their weapons inside dead wolves. DeathSpank makes fun of all the heroism, the witches, the magic seals, the artifacts that are so embedded in the action role playing games. Despite this, it sends you on the same quests, engages you with the same types monsters and tasks you to find the same artifacts like Diablo or Titan's Quest, sadly rendering its satire useless.
