Thongs of Virtue is the sequel to the recently released downloadable title, Deathspank. And when I say “recently released” I’m not exaggerating—Deathspank was literally released only months prior to its sequel, developed concurrently with its predecessor. Weird, right? But that’s Thong of Virtue’s most predominant flaw: it feels too similar and was released too soon to the original game. I had fun time with the original Deathspank, so I had decided to purchase the sequel right away. Little did I know that the longer adventure and long-winded story would take away from the overall enjoyment rather than feel like a significant improvement.
Deathspank: Thongs of Virtue takes place directly after the events of the original game. Protagonist Deathspank has just slain antagonist Lord Von Prong and obtained his highly coveted thong. But the ending was incredibly bizarre. Avoiding possible spoilers, Thongs of Virtue clears all of smoke with the continuation of Deathspank’s journey but isn’t any less ridiculous. Spread throughout the world are 7 thongs of power, all of which have a theme like Santa Claus’ thong of generosity. Your journey is to collect of the remaining thongs to put an end to their reign of terror.
It’s, well, a pretty ridiculous storyline, one that won’t come as a surprise to anyone that’s played the original game. The adolescent series is all about humorous undertones and hilarious, self-aware dialog trees which Thongs of Virtue does considerably more amusingly. The dialog, spoken and unspoken, is well-written plus the voice acting is believable and mostly pretty good.
But gameplay-wise, Thongs of Virtue will feel scarily similar to the original game; every weapon, close or long ranged, are still equipped to the face buttons and can be used for combos, boosting your “justice meter” for power attacks. The RPG elements work the same way too as you level up while you progress through the overabundance of quests you could potentially tackle.
It doesn’t feel much different, almost as if the game is downloadable content rather than a new game. Your healing items and potions will be equipped to the d-pad for easy use, too. It’s a sequel in the truest meaning of the word. Some people will find that the similarities are nothing to scoff at, which by all means is understandable. It’s just that Deathspank’s framework becomes stale even after 4 or 5 hours, and considering Thongs of Virtue is easily 50% longer than the original it can become longwinded.
I never liked TOV’s setting, either. The World War II-style, military inspired landscape feels almost too ridiculous for its own well-being. All of the generic enemy types like the ‘Orques’ now have military weaponry from assault rifles to pistols. It’s not like Deathspank was ever supposed to make sense, but guns? Really? I never found it amusing. The World War II-esque battlefield locals never clicked with me, either. It felt like Hothead was pushing it too hard to make it as ludicrous as possible, including the North Pole as well as a Western desert.
The only other major difference I could come to grips with is TOV’s difficulty level, and how its a definite step-up from the original. There was, maybe, 2 or 3 times I died in the original game but I had a much more difficult journey with TOV. The bosses felt tougher, the enemies felt more aware of your presents, and the amount of healing items and the time it takes to use them felt more scarce and shorter, respectively. MAJOR WARNING (potential spoilers): There is a game-breaking bug that can ruin your experience near the end of the game. Note to read about it just before you get to the North Pole.
It’s really hard to express all of the changes there has been to successor of one of my favorite Xbox Live Arcade/PlayStation Network games because, well, there’s not much differentiating the two from one-another. TOV has some hooks here and there that are a bit different from the original game—like guns and environments—but everything else from the visuals to the audio is widely the same. If you liked the original Deathspank and wouldn’t mind delving back into the universe for some more, humorous ass-kicking then you should probably pick up Thongs of Virtue. It’s a predicament for others though, as the story progresses from the original title but is a technically superior overall game that I would suggest if not for the setting and story. It’s bigger, longer, and potentially harder, but it’s definitely not the Deathspank I would suggest.
