The Baconing Review

**KillerOfCereal** · September 5th, 2011

When I saw the trailer for The Baconing, I thought the game was going to be one of the most immature games out; that only a 6 year old would even think of playing. Just hearing about how your main objective is to destroy the Thongs of Virtue into Bacon Fire to stop an invasion of Cyborques and defeat your evil counterpart made me facepalm. It’s funny on how quick I was to judge a game without even playing it and be entirely wrong. The Baconing has proven to be one of the funniest and most fun games I’ve ever played. They’ve got a lot of references from movies/T.V. shows, Pirates, Aliens, retired Greek Gods, Disneyland knockoffs, corrupt politicians, and orphans… plenty of orphans!

When I began the Story Mode, I was quickly introduced to the character I was going to play as, DeathSpank. I remember hearing that name before in a previous game title so I learned that I was jumping into another game that I knew nothing about. Within seconds of thinking that I was getting into something I wouldn’t understand, I understood how DeathSpank was and what was happening in the city of Spanktopia. I have to thank the prologue video for that. The prologue video showed how DeathSpank had grown tired of peace and how his craving for justice had grown substantially. Because of his boredom, he then decides to wear all of the Thongs of Virtue at once. Little did he know that wearing all of the thongs would create chaos and release his evil counterpart, AntiSpank! Now that there is justice to be served, he goes off into Spanktopia to destroy the Thongs into Bacon Fire! At this point, you take over as DeathSpank and are given extremely brief tutorials on how to play as him. This was one of my main issues when I played. I spent most of my time trying to figure out how to control DeathSpank while in combat than actually fighting efficiently. Because of the absence of a tutorial saying which button does what, I had too many unnecessary deaths. A good example of this was when I was at the fifty percent completion mark. I finally learned how to use the shield properly so I could deflect my enemy’s attacks or stun them. It’s either you get the tip after you really needed it or you have to learn what you want to do on your own.

I know that I have probably said this about 343 times and everyone probably knows it by now, but Comedy is something that I always enjoy to see in a game. That’s probably why I enjoyed The Baconing so much. They’ve thrown in so many movie/TV show references that no 6 year old playing the game would understand. My personal favorite is when a princess asks you to taint her rival princess’ fountain and DeathSpank immediately follows with “I guess your rival princess is going to be…*puts sunglasses on*…All washed up! YYYYYEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!” References like that are always refreshing to see. Sometimes the references are more visual than others. Sort of like the Forest of Tomorrow! This certain section looks suspiciously similar to Disney’s Tomorrowland. Even the Forest of Tomorrow’s mascot looks a lot like Disney’s iconic character, Mickey Mouse. Other times, the references will be a little of both visual and audio. Like the spider I met that had a Turtleneck sweater and always had something to say in a lighter version of Bill Cosby’s voice. Or maybe the leprechaun nicknamed The Godfather who makes someone an offer he can’t refuse. There are so many references in so little time. All of the weapons you gain also have some clever names. If you’re tired of using the Hammer of Smashing, then you should try the Magic staff of Magic! Are you more of a long ranged weapons type of person? How about giving the Orphan Launcher a spin?! I really do enjoy the little things.

Ultimately The Baconing is worth its 1200

price tag. The only issues I have are the lack of tutorials, red/green barrels that are oddly placed and kill you when they explode; even when you think that you’re a decent distance away from, that most of the quests are repetitive, and the really small inventory that is in dire need of an increase.

The things I love about the game are that there are barely any load times, the funny dialogue, really interesting landscapes, and the fact they have co-op. I never had a chance to try the co-op, but having co-op is better than no co-op at all.

Overall rating:
8/10

**Smore ninja** · September 5th, 2011

Yeah, we gotta show those orphans who is boss!

This is really high on my to-buy list right now and this review makes it very annoying that I still don't have any Deathspank games.

A great review Killer! I have also noticed how Deathspank's desire for JUSTICE reminds me of the Crimson Chin.

Fun fact: Deathspank is the reason why Penny Arcade Adventures got canceled. A good trade in all honesty.