SBCG4AP: Strongbadia the Free!

“Onward to Strong Badia, Strong Badia the Free!”

Strongbadia Flag Shot
I'm Charming!
In Strongbadia the Free, the King of Town has imposed an email tax where all send and received emails cost one swisscake roll like snack item. Strongbad, being the email checker he is, calls for a rebellion against the King of Town.

He’s immediately placed under house arrest for calling for a rebellion…in an email. From there, he has to escape his house before he goes insane from his little whiny brother, Strong Sad.

Once you escape (with some help from the protesters outside your house), you move to Strongbadia, where you call a meeting with other fellow “countrymen.” When the countrymen do not want to go to war, they secede from Strongbadia into their own independent nations.

From here, it becomes your primary goal to rally all the nations to help you conquer the King of Town. Using logic, and a variety of silly ways you can reach your objective.

“Hey, that’s the name of this…” “SHUT UP!”

Protesting
No more King of Town!
One of the first things you’ll notice is the amount of changes in Strongbadia the Free. The game no longer has trophies that you have to unlock by doing certain things. You can collect flags of each country. The map has changed, mainly because the King of Town ate your old one (odd….). In following from the last game, Snake Boxer 5 is replaced by Math Kickers: Featuring the Algebros, which is a parody of those math games and Double Dragon.

And you can go into Strong Sad’s room now (not that you would even want to go in there anyway). Emails are less emphasized and you start out with all your email “hints” that are “supposed to guide you through the game” according to TellTale. It’s probably not the best idea to read them all until you get at least three or four countries. The story is a lot better than Homestar Ruiner, but that might be because it’s more linear. You have a tad more freedom to explore and use the metal detector in more places.

“We can never be truly free until we reject the fat-thority of the King of Town”

Ahhhhhhhhh...Im a running joke about jumpsuits
Ahhhhhhhhh...I'm a running joke about jumpsuits
As with every game, there are some problems that make this game far from perfect. But doesn’t mean that it sucks. It has it’s good points, and not-as-great points.

Pros:

  • It has a great story that is more linear than the first episode
  • The puzzles are a bit tougher than Homestar Ruiner
  • The graphics have improved
  • Featuring more characters!
  • Strongbadia the Free has better jokes
  • It doesn’t feel repetitive

Cons:

  • In some puzzles it can be hard to tell if they are making a reference to an sbemail or if they want you to do something completely different. The 2nd appearence of Strong Sad is like this.
  • You can’t take over Bub’s country, but it isn’t obvious enough. He does say he’s neutral, but when has that ever stopped anyone from invading?
  • It felt a tad short
  • It’s a really big file, you will have to delete several other games in order to play on the Wii. Or buy an SD card.

Overall, it’s a pretty good game. I’ve never been of point and click games, but this game is an exception. I do wish it was a bit longer though. If you are not a Strongbad fan, play the demo. Otherwise, get the game. I rate this game: 4/5

Force demo is Unleashing next week

The new Star Wars game, Force Unleashed, will be “unleashing” onto the PS3 and the Xbox 360 marketplace August 21st. According to LucasArts, the demo places you in the TIE Fighter Construction Facility level that has been taken over by a Jedi general named Rahm Kota. Your mission? Kill everything (though you aren’t a crazed killer [the game isn’t as dark as it sounds]).

Not only that, but LucasArts is also throwing a tutorial level into the demo as well (which according to them, is very important [not that any other demo we’ve played has not had a tutorial level in it]).

The full game releases September 16th for the Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, DS, PS2 and PSP.

Spike TV will be running a dedicated night to the release of the new game (much like they did for Halo 3).

Stay tuned.

Nintendo denied from appeal against Anascape, still fighting

Anascape, the company that claims that they “invented” controller buttons (analog buttons on a remote control [which seems to only apply to game companies]), won another suit (filed in 2006) against Nintendo late 2007.

Recently, Nintendo was rejected a request to appeal by the US District Judge of Texas for the above case ruling that would force them to pay $21 million or risk of getting blocked from selling any WaveBirds (the wireless GameCube controllers), regular GameCube controllers and the Wii Classic Controller.

Nintendo is currently taking this to the Federal Circuit court, where they hope they can win.