DeathSpank: Thongs of Virtue Preview

GameSpot has hooked us up with a hands-on preview of DeathSpank: Thongs of Virtue, Hothead’s downloadable action RPG sequel that’s due out later next month.

What stood out is that instead of wielding an assortment of swords and axes, you now have access to a ton of weapons, ranging from bazookas to ray guns. These new weapons don’t come with unlimited ammo, though, and the ray gun overheats, but they’re incredibly fun to use. For those who have been playing the Xbox Live Arcade title Shank, the chainsaw that the main character uses is also featured in this game, because Hothead Games is friends with the developers at Klei Entertainment. We were told that this time around there is more of a balance between ranged and melee weapons, which is a nice touch, given how hectic things can get onscreen.

The next area we checked out was a town that looked like the Wild West. Apparently the bacon rush didn’t go as well as people had hoped, and now the residents are going a little crazy. We ran into Tina the taco vendor, as well as several new crazy characters that may or may not be very helpful during our quest. Lurking outside town were some ghosts donning cowboy hats. Here is where the new nature grenade–which can destroy multiple ghosts with one explosive–came in handy. There are TNT boxes littered throughout the areas, so use them wisely and carefully to your advantage. Another new weapon that we were shown was the monocle, which allowed DeathSpank to control the minds of the neighboring ghosts and force them to follow along dutifully. Cooperative play is once again included, even though that was not shown in our demo. However, we were told of a new playable character named Steve, a ninja who rides a unicorn while unleashing shurikens and rainbows. He also dual-wields katana blades and sings his own name–a huge step up from Sparkles the wizard, we must say.