allgeektout

On August 11, 2008, Strong Bad of homestarrunner.com graced PC and Nintendo Wii owners alike with his amazing style in Strong Bad’s Cool Game For Attractive People Episode 1: Homestar Ruiner. Now, one month later, he’s back in an all new point and clickemup adventure, Strong Bad’s Cool Game For Attractive People Episode 2: Strong Badia the Free. Check out a review of the new installment after the jump.

In this installment of SBCG4AP, Strong Bad is answering e-mail like he does every day, when all of the sudden the King of Town comes in, putting him under house arrest for refusing to pay the new e-mail tax. Strong Bad escapes from house arrest, and gives an inspiring speech to the inhabitants of Free Country, USA, hoping to unite them under the Strong Badian flag against the King of Town — or as Strong Bad begins to refer to him, “the Of Town”. Unfortunately, this doesn’t have quite the desired effect, causing everyone to create their own country. It’s up to you, as Strong Bad, to unite the countries under your iron fist, and destroy the Of Town.

Onward to Strong Badia! Strong Badia, the free!

This episode manages to surpass its predecessor in every way. The puzzles harder than the original, but they are more entertaining. The story isn’t just funny, but it is also well written, with a surprising turn of events. Strong Bad’s new video game, the Algebros, is a pretty entertaining, though simplistic, street brawler with hidden moves to unlock. And fans of hidden secrets can rejoice, as there is more to unlock, such as costumes (even more than in the first), collectable flags, and names to call Strong Sad.

There is one problem with Strong Badia the Free. The original game, Homestar Ruiner, had a fantastic hint system where, if you ever went too long without doing anything, Strong Bad would talk to himself, jump starting the thought process without giving anything away. You could even change how frequently he dropped these hints. However, in this episode, even with the hints set on high, Strong Bad never gave any hints.

If you’ve never seen any of the Homestar Runner cartoons before, then there may be some jokes you don’t get, but you can still enjoy the game. You don’t even have to have played the original game to enjoy this one, as there are no story ties to the original. PC owners who have played the original, however, will get all of the costume items they unlocked in the last game in this game (Wii owners will have all the items from the first game by default).

There is very little reason to not get Strong Badia the Free. It’s funny, it’s fun, and at only $8.95 (1000 Wii Points, or $10, for the Wii version), it’s a bargain. It can be beat in a couple of hours, but if you want to collect all of the unlockables, it will take even longer. One word of warning, though – if you don’t like homestarrunner.com, then more likely than not, you aren’t going to like this game.

Hits: Well written, lots to unlock
Misses: Hint system from last game removed

Final Score: Eight out of Ten

Mac Users: SBCG4AP isn’t available for the Mac, and there aren’t any plans to make it available anytime soon. It is, however, compatible with Crossover Games — just be prepared for it to run slowly.