Racing back onto the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, the sequel to the recently released DeathSpank hit the downloadable queue at the end of the September. DeathSpank: Thongs of Virtue picks up where the last title left off and sends the ridiculous hero back out into all new worlds to battle evil. I really enjoyed the original and ended up playing it long after the review period, mostly to gain achievements and play through all the side missions. The presentation of Thongs is just as hilarious and the Ron Gilbert jokes flow freely throughout the entire game. The narrative revolves around the destruction of the the six Thongs of Virtue, evil-filled underpants that corrupt the people wearing them; everyone from nuns to Santa Claus.



The core gameplay is relatively unchanged from the first game. You have the ability to equip up to 4 weapons and modify your weapons to gain a bit of power. Fighting off the legions of baddies increases your experience and allows DeathSpank to increase his stats along the way. You are still searching the levels for the numerous weapons in treasure chests and you can call in the help of Sparkles the wizard in co-op play if you really need help.

One thing that has been improved is the sheer amount of ranged weapons in the game, namely the explosive ones. You have grenades, bazookas, revolvers, flamethrowers, machine guns and a variety of other powerful weapons to take out enemies at a distance. The crossbow from the first game isn’t as effective compared to the new range of weaponry. Another interesting addition is a new co-op character, Steve the Unicorn riding ninja. He’s a more entertaining character than Sparkles and makes for a better time in co-op; although it’s still a one-sided affair for DeathSpank most of the time.



Hothead also ramped up the number of pop culture references, almost rivaling Conker at times. If you are watching carefully, you will catch references to Lord of the Rings, Office Space, Twilight, Aliens and many other movies. The narrative is more involving as well as HotHead did a better job of story pacing in Thongs of Virtue. The achievement set is a bit more involving this time around. Getting the achievements for finding all 44 outhouses or killing 3000 enemies take a bit of time to knock out.

Graphics

• The new world that HotHead has created is equally as gorgeous as the first title and contains a large amount of new artwork. There’s a large variety of level designs including everything from Jungle, Battlefields and the Old West cartoonishly animated for your viewing pleasure. Character models are just as good as the first title as well. Unfortunately, Thongs has slightly more noticeable framerate issues, mostly toward the final levels. It can get fairly distracting during the last few missions.

Audio

• Once again, the voice work is absolutely stellar and screams of a high-quality Saturday morning cartoon in the early 90s. You are going to continues to be impressed by the cast and their work at bringing the insanity of DeathSpank’s world to life. The sound effect work is pretty much identical to the last game and the music feels slightly mellower this time, with a heavier jazz influence on most of the tracks.

Conclusion

When it comes to video game sequels, gamers often have a preconceived notion that there needs to be an evolution of improvements to the core gameplay when it’s released. While Thongs of Virtue is definitely a sequel to the original, consider it more of an episodic release than a full-fledged follow-up to the recently released original. Fans of the original are going to find this game right up their alley and critics of the first game aren’t going to find as much enjoyment as it’s nearly identical in design. You are looking at another 8 to 10 hours of gameplay in Thongs of Virtue (more if you complete all the side quests), so don’t hesitate to download it today if you are excited to find out what happens to our fledging hero.

Discuss This Game on Our Official VGT Forum