Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People - Episode 1: Homestar Ruiner was released on August 11, 2008.
Plot
Strong Bad receives an email suggesting he "beat the snot out of" his long-time rival Homestar Runner. When he gets there, however, he discovers Homestar has entered the Free Country USA Tri-annual Race to the End of the Race, and decides it would be even more fun to beat Homestar at his own game than to simply beat him up. He then disguise as Homestar and loses the race. The resulting chaos turns Homestar into a loser, earns him a criminal record, and makes his girlfriend Marzipan break up with him. However, these efforts backfire when Homestar moves into Strong Bad's house, believing him to be "the only friend I've got". In an attempt to get Homestar out of his house, Strong Bad must undo the harm he did to Homestar's life. Homestar Ruiner also includes a minigame, Snake Boxer 5, a parody of the Atari 2600 game Boxing that sees the player controlling a boxer named Boxer Joe from a top down perspective as he battles round after round of snakes in a boxing ring.[1]
Reviews
Homestar Ruiner received generally positive reviews from critics. The Wii version holds an average of 81% from 10 reviews at GameRankings,[2] as well as a Metacritic Metascore of 81 from 13 reviews.[3] N-Europe gave the game a 9/10, praising its many in-jokes and references to the Homestar Runner cartoons and its simple but clever use of WiiConnect24. They were however concerned that players who haven't watched the Flash cartoons will be a little lost and unsatisfied in regards to some scenarios, characters and jokes.[4] IGN gave the game an 8.1 out of 10, with the authentic presentation, voice work, music and the opening song impressing them the most. They also believed the game to be a must download for fans, but felt that the experience was short-lived and doesn't break any new ground for the genre.[5] In contrast, GameSpot believed the cartoon's humor did not translate well to an adventure game, and gave it a 5/10.[6] ONM gave it 88%, naming it one of the best WiiWare games so far, but that the humour in it isn't for everyone. It was awarded Best Voice Acting for the Wii by IGN in its 2008 video game awards[7] IGN also made it a nominee for Best Story[8] and Best WiiWare Game.[9] This was the only episode to be rated T by the ESRB.
References
- ↑ Snake Boxer 5. Homestar Runner Wiki. Retrieved on 16 July 2009
- ↑ GameRankings: Strong Bad: Episode 1. GameRankings. Retrieved on 2008-08-21
- ↑ Metacritic: Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People Episode 1: Homestar Ruiner. Metacritic. Retrieved on 2008-08-21
- ↑ Whincup, Nathan (2008-08-11). WiiWare Review: Homestar Ruiner. N-Europe. Retrieved on 2008-08-28
- ↑ IGN: Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People -- Episode 1: Homestar Ruiner Review. IGN. Retrieved on 2008-08-11
- ↑ GameSpot: Strong Bad: Episode 1 Review. GameSpot. Retrieved on 2008-08-12
- ↑ IGN Wii: Best Voice Acting 2008. IGN.com (2008-12-18). Retrieved on 2008-12-19
- ↑ IGN Wii: Best Story 2008. IGN.com (2008-12-18). Retrieved on 2008-12-19
- ↑ IGN Wii: Best WiiWare Game 2008. IGN.com (2008-12-18). Retrieved on 2008-12-19