Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People

“Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People” is a Telltale adventure game based on the popular web comic Homestar Runner. The graphics are very basic but based on the source material which is a Flash animation.

I've never seen Homestar Runner so I went into the game not knowing about any of the characters. I didn't find the characters very likeable though. Most of them are simplistic and lack any real personality. Some of the characters cannot speak or have limited speech. The Cheat is a small furry creature and makes noises, Homsar speaks gibberish, Pom Pom makes bubble noises, Strong Mad speaks in limited English and The Poopsmith holds up signs. I initially found it hard to remember the character's names since there's quite a lot of similar names; Strong Bad/Strong Sad/Strong Mad and then there's Homestar Runner and Homsar. There's a character called Bubs too, and with a name like that; you may expect him to be the one blowing bubbles - but he doesn't. All the voices except the only female character, Marzipan - are voiced by Matt Chapman. I found Marzipan to be one of the better characters and she was one of the only characters whose voice didn't annoy me in some way.

Strong Bad works as the lead character because he has a cynical outlook like other point-and-click protagonists. I did feel most of the humour falling flat though. The world is pretty bland and you spend a lot of your time in Strong Bad's house, or a bland field. There's other locations like a running track and other houses like Marzipan's house.

The dialog options are represented by simple icons and often you get different dialogue when you click them again. However, most aren't removed once you have exhausted the dialogue which means you end up with repeated dialogue; which is incredibly annoying.

The puzzles were okay, but sometimes I felt the characters didn't give you enough hints to work out what your overall aim was. There were times I consulted a walk-through and thought it would have been a good puzzle had the dialogue been stronger. There are some nonsensical puzzles too, but the quantity of these depends on the episode.

Like the other Telltale games, the episodes will take around 1.5-2.0 hours to complete. There's quite a lot of optional stuff to do though like finding the clothing items, or playing the mini-games. I think this game is probably fine for fan's of the series, but is otherwise a bland point-and-click adventure.

Episode 1
Strong Bad wants to enter “The Race to the End of the Race” in order to beat Homestar but he has missed the application deadline. He then aims to impersonate Homestar to enter the race and disgrace him instead.

Episode 2
The King of Town enforces an email tax. Unaware of this rule, Strong Bad is put under house arrest. After breaking free, he decides to create a new nation to set his own rules. However, the residents also do the same. Strong Bad decides to conquer each 'country' and make his way to overthrow the King of Town.

Episode 3
There's a battle of the bands which Strong Bad decides to organise in order to raise funds to repair his broken games console. I felt this was one of the weaker episodes due to the vague objectives.

Episode 4
Strong Bad makes a detective film where he is the main character called “Dangeresque”. The puzzles were pretty obvious which is a direct contrast to the previous episode.

Episode 5
Strong Bad's arcade cabinet goes haywire, and Trogdor is unleashed in the town. After trying to repair the cabinet, his world and the gaming world are intertwined.