MISSION COMPLETE

Debriefing: Here is another one that you didn't see on my initial list. This one is a little odd anyway, as it's not one single game, but rather a collection of episodes. Earlier today I finished the final episode of Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People. There were five games in total, all released back in 2008 for WiiWare and PC. I actually had played Episode 1 when it first came out, and the PC version of Episode 5 when it was available as a (limited time only) free download last year, but I never got around to Episodes 2-4 until recently. Well now I'm done with all five, and let me say I am mostly satisfied.

Looking at the series as a whole, it's a solid experience. Each game has a stand-alone story, and the all are well-written and really funny. In the first game, "Homestar Ruiner," Strong Bad needs to find a way to get Homestar and Marzipan back together (after he in fact was responsible for their breakup) when the dejected Homestar moves into Strong Bad's house. "Then in Strong Badia The Free," Strong Bad launches a campaign to usurp the King of Town from his throne, after an unjust email tax is levied against our hero. (Note: This just might have been the funniest of the five.) Then in "The Baddest of the Bands," Strong Bad hatches an overly complex plan to raise the funds he needs in order to get his video game machine fixed: convince all of his friends to start up bands, sign them up for a battle of the bands, and then win said battle of the bands! The fourth episode is the long-awaited movie sequel Strong Bad has long promised his legions of fans: "Dangeresque 3: The Criminal Projective." It is a low-budget film noir in which Strong Bad needs to recover Cutesy Button's secret formula, so that she can save the rain forest...but who is the real villain behind the plot to destroy the sun? And the grand finale of the series is "8-Bit is Enough," in which Free Country USA becomes intertwined with all of Strong Bad's favorite video games. You better look out when Trogdor is on the loose!

In the likely event that you have no idea what I'm even talking about, these games are point-and-click adventures starring the characters of the Homestar Runner universe. If you're not already familiar with that website, you probably won't be too interested in these games, but I really do recommend them to established fans.

When we last saw our heroes: I'm going in a totally new direction now. The new plan is to tackle Jet Force Gemini again for the first time in forever. That's right, I'm finally going to face Mizar once more. In case you are not familiar with this game, let me lay it out for you exactly how much I went through when I first played this game about a decade ago. As you play through the rather lengthy campaign travelling across multiple worlds as three different characters on different missions, you finally get all three heroes to what you think is the final showdown. But lo and behold, just when you think Mizar is defeated, he sprouts some wings and takes off through space bound for Earth! Now you need a state-of-the-art spaceship to chase him down. Those fuzzy little allies of yours, the Tribals, have one you can use...if you can repair it. Hope you were looking for the spare parts that were randomly hidden in each of the levels you already played! And oh yeah, the Tribals already have the final piece in their possession...but they won't give it to you unless you rescue EACH AND EVERY ONE of their kidnapped people, who again, where being held prisoner in all those levels you played. Time to backtrack and play pretty much the entire first half of the game AGAIN! Once you do that, you still have to fight your way to Mizar on his asteroid and fight him again. And that's where I finally had to throw down my controller in frustration, because I quite simply could not squash that giant bug.

But with all the time spent on that game, it's high time that I turned my attention once more to destroying that evil arachnid and saving the universe. Let's hope I haven't lost a step with the N64 controller...

Here we go!