Fans of Penny Arcade - Rejoice! On The Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness is a great game from the creators of this witty comic. It's vulgar, it's nonsensical, and it's a quality game from an unlikely source.

Being that Tycho was part of the creation process, the game was most assuredly set to be an RPG, and that assumption was correct. You enter the game with a story of Gods warring and a giant robot (known as Fruit Fucker Prime in the comics, his spawns being Fruit Fuckers) steps on your house. You go through some learning and combat training and team up with the comic's main characters Gabe and Tycho. The initial forays into combat are against minor Fruit Fuckers, whom can be hilariously distracted with the toss of an orange (which they immediately attempt to fornicate with).

It's a good RPG, allowing players to roam about a cel-shaded world and getting drawn into combat when enemies pop up. Once in combat, the player can control 3 characters and 3 support characters each with unique attacks. Initiative is rolled at the start of combat to decide who goes first, but it's largely irrelevant. Every player can block, but I found this overly complicated. Since this combat isn't turn-based (every player is loading attacks at the same time, friend and foe alike) you choose your attacks while enemies are attacking. So while you're focusing on choosing your attack and your enemy, the enemy is coming at you. It forces you to pay attention to when they're attacking and press the block button at a specific time to be able to block. I found the block system to be pretty poorly done and hope it gets redone in the next episode.

Besides the blocking, combat is pretty easy. You start gaining levels quickly as you battle the higher level enemies, everything ranging from Fruit Fuckers to singing quartets to mimes and clowns. There's swearing, there's explosions, there's blood, and there's a guy throwing hobos at you. There's even an apartment complex named "The Shithole."

Penny Arcade Adventures Episode One: On The Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness is a fun game with a good story, good graphics and fun combat and enemies throughout. You're easily drawn into the 1920's fantasy world and I was constantly ready to come home and pick it back up again. The replay value, however, I think is pretty low. Being that it's short and simple, when one beats it, the game is pretty much over. After beating the enemy boss, I don't really see a reason to go back through and play again, unless it's to get achievements. It's a short game, but it's worth it in the end, leaving me excited for Episode Two. I recommend this game to anyone who loves traditional RPGs, doesn't mind vulgarity, and definitely to fans of Penny Arcade.