Cyanide and Happiness - Freakpocalypse Review
Not So Freaky
Developed by: Explosm & Skeleton Crew Studio
Available on: PC & Switch
Materials & Methods
Reviewed on the Nintendo Switch
DISCLAIMER- Review code provided for review purposes
Introduction
Cyanide & Happiness has felt like an internet staple since its launch all the way back in 2005. From the dark and twisted minds of Kris Wilson, Rob Blendyker, Dave McElfatrick, and Matt Melvin, comics were regularly released on their website. I frequented the website almost daily, particularly because their dark and unexpected humor was hilarious, as I was making my way through middle and high school. There was something about the layout, the way the team took serious or dark situations and gave them an edgy comedic twist, that showed me that humor could be found in any situation. It in a way shaped part of who I am today. However, like many things that I loved dearly from my childhood, I grew out of it. That didn’t stop this internet team’s continued growth.
In 2006, the team launched a weekly short that embraced their humor. To this date, they’ve pumped out near-daily comics and weekly shorts that fleshed out a world where the unexpected happened regularly and whatever could go wrong, did. I missed this boat, but you’d have to be intentionally looking in any other direction to not recognize Explosm’s explosive growth. Even now, their influence can be seen throughout the internet. To this date, the team continues to come up with crazy ideas using their insane universe that really works, like board games and card games. The Explosm team decided they wanted to get into the video game market and launched a Kickstarter campaign. Several years after its original slated release, Cyanide & Happiness’s first video game is out, now a trilogy of games. Did Explosm’s foray into the video game market work? Let’s delve into the nitty-gritty and find out.
Results & Findings
Let’s start with the story. The best way I can describe it is the team felt like they were trying to capture the same spark South Park: The Stick of Truth held on tight to but with its own property. Did it work though? Did the teams hit the same vein as South Park? No. Why is that though? To me, the biggest issue is that the main playable character isn’t a persona of me that I got to explore the world with. Cooper “Coop” McCarthy, the most unpopular student at his high school, is a brand new character whose shoes were made for us to walk around in. Coop’s biggest hopes throughout the whole game are to 1. avoid the bullies who will stop at nothing to pummel him, 2. get a date to prom, and 3. try not to be the weird kid by graduation. Coop also lives with his grandmother who bullies him. I had a hard time relating to Coop though because of all of his misery, but more importantly, Coop isn’t an established character. If the game starred a more well-known C&H character as its lead then maybe I would’ve been drawn more to the story being told. Moreso, if Coop was just a vessel for me to interact with the whole Cyanide & Happiness world, then that would be an even greater experience. That was the draw of The Stick of Truth and The Fractured But Whole South Park games after all. I got to create my own South Park character who for all intents and purposes was ME that allowed ME to live in that world. That’s not the case here.
There were several characters that were cool to run into, like Shark Dad. But again, they weren’t interacting with me, they were interacting with Coop. I just chose one of the several voice lines for Coop to say. There are crazy characters Coop interacts with, like a surprisingly kinky teacher, but they just feel like they’re plopped into the world for “cameos” or to fill a quick void in casting. Additionally, Coop interacts with them the way HE would, and that way is not something that feels interesting when compared to the rest of the world. Plus once most characters you interact with are done with their quest or run out of their voice lines, that’s it. They never make an appearance again in this first part. This is just really weird for how many characters there are that aren’t even for any use. It’s filler for a world where you NEED to talk to everyone and expend every option to solve puzzles. Many of the characters you meet could reappear in the next two installments, but for being a standalone release it just feels really odd with the one-and-done nature of what appeared at first glance to be staples.
As for the main story, it’s nothing too interest for a world where craziness happens often. Plus, it only takes an hour and a half to complete which feels VERY short. On top of that, there are a couple of side quests that don’t feel like they add much beyond just giving Coop an outfit change. It’s a nice touch to extend the game, yet they don’t really add anything of substance. It’d be nice if the outfits actually changed how Coop interacted with people. The whole main story just feels like busywork too. Doing menial fetch quests that don’t really add any character growth to a character that we are just now meeting. The only excitement happens right at the end of the game when stuff officially hits the fan out of nowhere. However, right when Freakpocalypse feels like it’s getting exciting, it ends. When thinking about it overall, too, feels like a common theme of the game. in the prologue, you’re playing through a fantasy of Coop’s, one where he is a superhero’s sidekick. When that part is also just getting good, the prologue ends and then you’re living Coop’s very average life. That’s not exciting, that’s just dull. That last bit, the dullness, doesn’t just end with the story either.
After starting to review games, I’ve played several Point and Click adventure games that found their own ways to work on consoles. Freakpocalypse isn’t one of them. Freakpocalypse on the Switch feels like it was just ported as an afterthought to appease a Kickstarter goal. There is no uniformity with how the cursor moves. At one moment, the cursor could just be in the vicinity of an object to interact with it. Other times you need pinpoint accuracy that you just don’t get with a controller stick, especially a joycon. I played the game mostly in handheld mode and the most egregious thing I noticed… there are no touch controls. Freakpocalypse would’ve been VASTLY improved if there was a choice to use touch controls when playing it in Handheld mode. But since there isn’t, I found myself getting aggravated when trying to interact with the most menial object while trying to progress. There are sensitivity controls sliders, but by lowering them the cursor moves much more sluggishly than it already does. It’s the fine point controls, the slight twitches of the sticks that send the cursor flying either too much or not enough that makes it so aggravating. This is especially the case when you’re centimeters away from the object you need to interact with, and just tapping the stick pushes the cursor one-centimeter closer but on the other side of the object.
The biggest appealing factor of point-and-click adventures, to me, is how they slowly build on themselves throughout the playtime of the game. You pick up some items that end up having odd uses, getting those “Aha” moments, building up to one final puzzle with items collected throughout the game to finally be used or using knowledge of the rules of the world to find the last solution to the game. Freakpocalyse doesn’t have this, at. all. There is no “building block” feeling anywhere. When you finish an area, there isn’t some item you get that will benefit you later. I did not like this clear divide between areas at all, because to me what makes a point-and-click adventure fun is how the world slowly grows; that everything is usable and adds to the big picture. The introduction of side quests feels like an alternate way to flesh out the world more, but they just don’t add to the big picture.
Finally, another part that I enjoy about point-and-click adventures is how they each set their own rules for how the game operates and how puzzles should be solved. Freakpocalypse for 90% of the game defines the rules simply as, “grounded”. You need to lift a desk? Find some rope and a pulley system. Need to get a special marker from a black market marker seller? Well, the dealer asks you to go to the nurse’s office for some medicine. It’s very straightforward. But they throw twists in at random moments for the most menial of puzzles. The rules were set that the puzzle solutions tend to be a solution I’d think of in real life (not saying I helped out any kid trying to sniff markers when I was in school). But at one particular moment, Coop needs to fix some wires that are exposed. I thought I’d have to go to the garage, get some electrical tape, and fix the wires. That sounds like the solution, right? WRONG. I needed to get a fruit roll-up to fix the wire. I had to look up a guide because I felt so lost for this solution to find out it was that outrageous and a clear delineation from the rules of the game. That just took any wind left out of my sails.
Even the controls in the menus feel poorly implemented without any uniformity. Take the journal, which serves as the main menu. This is controlled by the left stick. Any movement of the left stick sends your selection flying up or down. Even a flick will send your selection up or down by three to four options. It’s just so oddly frustrating. Thankfully, you can use the d-pad to navigate so this isn’t the worst issue. But it establishes that you navigate the menu using the left stick/d-pad. Opening the inventory though, I expected to use the left stick to select anything. NOPE. it uses the right stick to navigate and isn’t just a quick-select. You need to move the cursor around to pick up items. It’s just such a clunky design that doesn’t feel like there was much thought into how this game operates on a console.
Overall, this whole package feels so incomplete and incompatible with consoles. It’s only available on the Switch, but I feel bad for anyone who kickstarted it and picked a Switch code. There are two more entries coming for Freakpocalypse, and they better take all the time they need. In its current state, I don’t even care what happens to Coop and the rest of the town because of just how unenjoyable part 1 was. With how abruptly the game ends, the developers better not be charging for the other two parts either.
Discussion
Cyanide and Happiness - Freakpocalypse needs a lot of work if it wants to keep releasing entries on a console. For being a game about a well-known dark comedy property, it succeeds in bringing Explosm’s world to life, but even then it feels like it misses the mark. Cyanide and Happiness is most well known for its short-form skits and even quicker comic strips. That doesn’t feel like it translates well to a longer form of entertainment, like a video game. This could be in due part to it being an abruptly ending part one of a trilogy. As for being a point-and-click adventure, let alone a video game, there are many, many issues. With overtly clunky controls that feel like they do not belong on a console, let alone a Switch, Freakpocalypse is just begging for more time to cook before being published. The only current draw is you may get a couple of chuckles if you’re already a C&H fan.
