I am a huge fan of hack-and-slash, dungeon crawler RPGs, so when Deathspank came out and I saw that it fit the genre nicely, I just had to check it out. Deathspank is a solid game for the PSN…that being said, it would not have held up well if it was a PS3 disc-based game. While the game succeeds in many ways, there are a few factors holding it back from being an extremely epic RPG experience.
You take on control of Deathspank, a hero for hire (who wears a magical purple thong) who sets out to claim a magical artifact, which he believes will make him the strongest hero in the world. Deathspank will explore a somewhat small world that does have a few unique environments, but at the same time is limited in the amount of space given to play in. Like any good hack-and-slash dungeon crawler, Deathspank will dispatch countless hordes of enemies with a wide variety of weapons, armors and magical potions. Up to four weapons can be equipped at a time and are hotkeyed to the controller, and potions and other items can be hotkeyed to the directional pad. As enemies are slain and quests are completed, you will gain xp. When Deathspank levels, he is given a choice of three stats and can raise one of them up a level. For example, at level 2 he may choose to raise his melee damage, ranged damage, or speed at which he moves by 5% (this is just an example, I don’t recall what the exact three choices were at level 2.) Other stats to be raised include amount of money dropped by enemies and the ability to equip weapons and armors that are up to two levels higher than your character.
