It’s only been a few months since we last saw our hero of the downtrodden and he’s been quite busy in Thongs of Virtue. TOV is more or less a carbon copy of the original Deathspank which is a good and bad thing. If you loved the first you’re going to love this, but things you may not have enjoyed (such as the clunky inventory screen) are still here. That’s not to say TOV is only for people who liked the first since you don’t need to have played the first game to jump straight into this one. Deathspank might poke some fun and reference the first game when speaking to NPC’s that reappear in TOV, but that’s as far as it goes.
Deathspank: Thongs of Virtue
Developer: Hothead Games
Price: $15.00
Platform: PS3 (reviewed) & 360
Deathspank Thongs of Virtue starts out a bit after the events of the first game where our hero has been captured (again) by Orques. People who haven’t played the first game should know that you don’t need to play the first to understand the second since the game makes no references to the first except for mentioning the antagonist Lord Von Prong and a few sidequests. This time Deathspank is on a quest to gather 3 more thongs from an evil nun, a television cook, and the jolly man Santa Claus himself who have all been corrupted by their thongs. The map in TOV poops jungle donkey dung all over the first game, and Hot Head wasn’t kidding when they said this was a bigger adventure. You’ll travel from war-torn battlefields, robot factories, wild west areas, and frosty mountains on your quest for the 3 thongs. Sidequests are just as quirky as the first game but some of them are ripped straight from the first game and collecting manure for a farmer isn’t as funny the second time around, but that only happens with a vast minority of them. This time around you’ll be aiding little green aliens kills racist red aliens, “recruit” ghouls into Lawrence of Arabia’s militia, hunt dangerous beasts for a hunter, learn birthday songs, and foreclose homes. There’s a ton of stuff to do in TOV and you’re going to be looking at around 8+ hours of gameplay if you want to do it all.
The first thing you’ll notice when you play the game is that crossbows have been replaced with mechanical tubes that spit lead and fire. The guns in this game run on ammo and you’ll go through it fairly quickly, but that’s ok since enemies are also equipped with the same guns and will supply you with ammo once you pry it off their dead fingers. You’ll come across Tommy guns, light machine guns, rocket launchers, grenades, and a laser gun. The rocket launchers and grenades also come in the following flavors: fire, ice, nature, and undeath for all your killing necessities. Just like in the first game when you get the rapid-fire end game crossbow that turns the game into easy mode TOV has the alien laser gun that can be acquired by level 15 and basically turns the game into Highlander mode where you are the Highlander and instead of fighting other Highlanders you are fighting babies who are now on fire. I suppose I should mention that swords are of course still around and still fucking awesome. You’ll use shovels, jack hammers, potato peelers, and mammoth tusks to dismember your foes. Armor returns of course and this time each piece actually has a more unique look that the armor from the first game. You’ll go from wearing armor made of ice to a Mexican rancher outfit, mustache included. One odd thing about armor that I’ll mention is that quests you get early on reward you with armor you won’t be able to equip yet but that’s not a big deal because you won’t be able to actually finish the quest until much later in the story. The problem with this is that when you actually get to that stage where you can complete the quest, you’ve already found 3 or 4 armor sets that are vastly superior to the now shitty helmet you were so keen on acquiring. When I said this game is a carbon copy of the first I meant it so all the gameplay, graphics, & dismembered enemies are exactly the same as the first game. I’d recommend checking out my review of the first game since I wouldn’t want to basically copy and paste a paragraph or two since it feels cheap. You can check it out by clicking here.
Co-op returns once again but this time instead of being forced to play as Sparkles the wizard you now have the choice of playing Steve. Steve was raised by ninjas, rides a unicorn, is the illegitimate child of Lord Von Prong, and kicks ass all at day like it’s nothing. There’s also Tankko for players who purchased the game early (or now have to buy him separately as dlc) who is half man, half spider, all destruction. Now your friends have a good set of people to choose from when they come over, but remember to let them know that Deathspank and his allies still share the same health bar and to shut up about equipping loot because only Deathspank can do that.
The Final Word
In a short summary: you’ll fight dinosaurs, Lawrence of Arabia enlists ghouls into his militia, there are aliens, and you go to war against Santa Claus himself. Deathspank TOV is over the top, quirky, and a blast from start to finish so if it wasn’t obvious I loved my time with the game and recommend it to players of the first Deathspank and players new to the series.
– MonsterVine Rating: 5 out of 5 – Excellent
