For eight years now, the Chapman brothers have been working on their online flash cartoon Homestar Runner. With a wacky cast of characters and unique sense of humour, it has been successful enough to make the transition into a video game. Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People is developed by Telltale Games, to be released episodically on the PC and through Wii Ware.

The first episode – Homestar Ruiner places the player into the shoes of Strong Bad, who is not exactly a nice guy or hero type. Strong Bad is a self absorbed, impatient protagonist with a chip on his solider and an appetite for revenge.

As with many great endeavours in the world, Homestar Ruiner begins with an email. Spurred into motivation to settle his rivalry with Homestar Runner, it is evident right from the start that Strong Bad's task in this game is to... well... ruin Homestar Runner.

If you're not familiar with all the setting and characters, it is certainly helpful to spend some time on Homestar Runner website, and watch a few of the online cartoons to assist in becoming familiar with the characters. Chances are, if you're entertained by them, you'll be entertained by the game.

However, if you're reading this review, you are probably familiar with the individual characters or at the very least, the Homestar Universe. For those that aren't, the included tutorial gives an introduction to a few of the mostly shallow characters in the Homestar world.

Finding Homestar Runner at the athletics track, the player guides Strong Bad through a series of events in an effort to win The Race to End the Race, and the highly coveted trophy of Ultimate Destiny. The plot of Homestar Ruiner is tame and superficial, with little depth and subtext involved, much like the online cartoons. While it appears funny at first, characters and jokes quickly become dry and lifeless.

Homestar Ruiner is an adventure game through and through, with game play thankfully void of pixel hunting, it sports a visual style almost identical to that of the online cartoon. (Albeit rendered in 3D) The humour of the Chapman brothers successfully translates into the game. While at times the jokes are truly banal and cheesy, they are sometimes very clever and good for a laugh, but, to me; it wasn't as funny as some of the material featured in the online cartoons.

Not really taking itself seriously, Homestar Ruiner is filled with subtle references to other video games. Such references include homages to the Metal Gear Solid series, a plethora of platformers, and one of the most ubiquitous objects ever to appear in the video game – randomly placed cardboard boxes which resemble crates. At least they're not exploding crates.

While Homestar Ruiner is sure to satisfy fans of the online cartoon, as an adventure game, it doesn't present much of a challenge at all. The episode can be easily completed in three or four hours, with little replay value apparent. Like most adventure games, you get to a point where you're left clueless enough to resort to blind logic, resulting in a clicking frenzy where every object in your inventory is fruitlessly introduced to everything that you can interact with in the game world. This does not make for riveting game play. Instead, it leaves you with a bitter taste in your mouth, meditating in puzzlement at the obscure logic.

Comic relief is found at times with the hedge trimmer - "Shearly you jest?!", though unfortunately there is no option to simply terrify a character into submission in order to end your torment. While I'm sure that would evoke a smile from Strong Bad himself, it appears that our brief acquaintance may result in less dramatic outcomes.

Having said that, after reviewing [review=228]Dracula: Origin[/news] earlier this year (which was one of the most difficult games I've ever played), Homestar Ruiner is refreshing, but obviously not a mature title. It would be most appropriate for the little ones, but even still, doesn't offer something that would really enrapture them for any prolonged period of time.

My commiserations here are that it is a very simple adventure game with a large name behind it. It stays true to the source material, and is at best a barely acceptable entry into the video game market place for the Homestar Runner universe, and is by no means ground breaking.

It is sure to provide a momentary, light hearted distraction to casual gamers and fans of the series, however boring and unchallenging the actual game play is. While Telltale Games have done well with the Sam and Max series, accompanied with a brief revival of the adventure genre, Homestar Ruiner is not on par with their previous work.