DeathSpank starts off with the titular hero on his way to finish the quest that he has been on his entire life: the quest for The Artifact. He was sent to do the quest by a red-headed knight who told him that The Artifact (which looks a lot like a piece of cooked bacon) was, in fact, an item of immense power that despots the world over sought for their own purposes. Naturally, Deathspank went out as a self-styled asskicking hero and proceeded to make a name for himself as a Hero of the Downtrodden, eventually making his way into the general location of the item. Throughout the story you will discover more about The Artifact, exactly what powers it possesses, and the forces that wish to snag it. All while cruising around, beating the snot out of enemies.

DeathSpank is a lovingly rendered game with a very distinctive art style. The landscape and characters are rendered in a hyper-stylized, low resolution 3D, while things such as environmental objects and cutscenes are created with a cardboard, 2D effect. We especially love the cutscenes, as they are the funniest part of the game and also the most interesting. This is due largely in part to the stellar writing and eye for style applied to it. Beyond the visuals are the sound effects, which are standard, and the music, which is grating. Seriously, turn off the music and put on your own. it's great the first time, but it loops. Endlessly.

If you've played any hack-and-slash game since the 90s, you have a good idea about how to play DeathSpank. You move around the cylindrical world, beating the snot out of enemies. You have quests to do, most of which amount to "kill these guys" with a funny explanation behind it. There are also a few dungeons, but they are relatively sparse compared to how much time you spend in the world proper. Killing enemies makes them drop semi-random equipment, which you can then put on to give yourself a bonus. They also drop consumables, which are handy in a tight spot. Except for health potions, which are almost a requirement to stay alive.

When examined closer, however, the gameplay is suddenly revealed to be far, far more shallow than it appears at first glance. The random drops consist of created equipment with pre-determined stats, and it follows a roughly linear progression. There's no such thing as a "side-grade", as your best choice in all situations is to simply run in with your best melee weapon, whack at an enemy until they die, then eat some food or take a health potion to heal up. The adventure-like usage of quest items (use item on object) adds a little bit of depth to the game, but it still falls a little short and feels slightly tacked on. It's isn't used very often.

Despite being a relatively shallow game, DeathSpank has some very good writing. While some bits are hit and miss (like anything involving excrement), others are absolutely stellar. For example, the ending of one of the three main quests is hilarious, as is Eubrick's accounts of previous battles. One of the puzzles in the late game is also absolutely stellar, requiring you to actually piece together the solution through investigating and talking to NPCs. While you may find yourself groaning in protest at some of the more kidlike quests involving farts and poop, you'll definitely get a kick out of the more subtle and self-referential humor in the game. It's not up to Tim Schafer standards (which is surprising, given the common origin between him and Ron Gilbert, DeathSpank's designer), but it's funny and worth seeing.

All of these things apply to both versions, so it's time to examine how the PC version looks. As with Shank, the PC's controls are clunky and unwieldy. However, DeathSpank has usable controls instead of completely impossible ones. However, if you want to play cooperatively, you have to have a controller, as the game does not support multiple keyboards and mice. Since the game plays better with a controller anyway, you may as well just plug in two and go at it. The co-op mode is fun, but ultimately unrewarding to the second player. They play a wizard who gets no progression whatsoever, as they are instead relegated to fireball and cure duties. There is a little replayability in the game with the addition of achievements, but you can get all of the achievements on your first run through the game, if you wish.

DeathSpank may be a well-written game, but it fails to deliver on what could have been a very promising gameplay experience. The actual combat is very simplistic, the co-op player is not given the full game experience, and many of the jokes are hit-and-miss. With this in mind, we suggest waiting for a price drop. It's unlikely that there will be any patches to add content to the game, and it is relatively short if you know what you are doing. The time spent in-game balloons if you bother to go for 100% completion (including all achievements), but that's an incredibly tedious task that involves doing the same quest about 40 times (with a different skin each time). Here's hoping that the sequel improves upon the formula greatly.