Jonny RPG is a great action/RPG hybrid from the UK. Jonathan Smeby, its developer, used a tool that was popular in the early noughties to flesh out a phantasy with lots of autobiographical references. You start, as you would, in Jonny's own room where the game's weirdness and in-part hilarious humor already start to become apparent. In your adventures you will visit many locations, real and imagined, of importance to Jonny. The game calls itself an RPG but there's more or less zero grounds for giving it that particular tag. Its gameplay is exploratory (in a vague usage of the word) and arcadey. You have your basic knuckle hurl and will come upon health items and temporary power-ups for the numerous (but not too numerous) fights. The game has pretty good pacing: just as you started to get frustrated with the mostly well-implemented action sequences, you'll be treated with one of those "now for something completely different" moments. Amongst all the other dialogue and items of interest, there's a load of shout-outs to the author's friends that won't mean anything to the casual player but talking to people is, happily, completely optional as far as I can remember. There's a whole area whose only purpose is to deliver these acknowledgements in a pub named after the engine the game is coded in, so know that you can just skip the location once you've reached it. Of the two difficulties initially available I took the harder (but of course!) and got through in about 5 hours. Finishing it [on hard] unlocks a final difficulty which I almost missed. Some random extras are also included in the "director's cut" edition of this random, random game. Random in the best sense! Two thumbs up! Reviewed by: Underdogs |