Wednesday, 07 August 2019 05:00

Chook & Sosig: Walk the Plank Review

Written by

Chook and Sosig: Walk the Plank offers up a new adventure in the series of point-and-click games. Developed by Tooki Palooki and published by Armor Games, this entry lets players sit down with the titular pair and their friends for a night of D&D style gaming. What they see only on paper however, you will see brought to life in the hand drawn aesthetics of their fantasy world.

When starting up the game, you’ll feel instantly at home and welcomed by the characters, regardless of if you’re familiar with the series or not. I personally hadn’t played the previous entries, yet I instantly understood each of the characters as I met them. This allows you to feel like part of the gang while helping them play their table-top adventure. You’re in on their jokes, which are frequently made between story moments by flashing back to the bar where the group plays.

PUZZLING CHOICES

As is the custom in point-and-click titles, most of the action in the game is driven through puzzle solving. In order to progress, you’ll have to help other characters, bring them different items, and connect with them in unique ways. The puzzles in Chook and Sosig range from very simple to somewhat difficult. I was never unsure of what I had to do, but was often surprised by the path the puzzle led me on to do it. Unlike other games in the genre, some items are left available to the player after they’ve served their story use, allowing for some fun alternative uses. This also adds to the difficulty, as you can never be quite sure you’re really done with that item.

Where this particular title really sets itself apart however, is the multiple endings that you can choose to reach. There are two possible endings to find. While it would be interesting to see even more, going back to find even one alternative ending provided good replay value. From early on in your pirate adventure, you are told there is great treasure to be found. But also that the Sea Goddess hides somewhere within the game. Choosing which path to pursue can be difficult as well, as you don’t know which items are used in which path. Altogether, the divergent endings added a new layer to the gameplay not present in most other point-and-click titles.

TALKING ABOUT TALKING

The dialogue in Chook and Sosig offers a lot to love, but potentially a lot drive you away as well. The humor in the game is very good, prompting you to talk to each character and interact with each object you can. A good portion of the humor comes from the character interactions. Different characters play different roles in their tabletop game, so they appear differently in your game as well. Seeing the same character pop up many different times, sometimes with different personalities, adds a nice comedic point to the game. Overall, the humor was perhaps a bit simple, but never failed to get a small laugh out of me.

But as much as the dialogue pushes the game forward, there are a few errors that push it back. In my playthrough, I noticed multiple times where grammar was used incorrectly, or extra words made it into the game where they weren’t needed. These instances left me confused for a moment as I tried to piece together what the intended dialogue was supposed to be.

In addition to the errors in grammar, the dialogue was sometimes confusingly adult. The art style and child friendly premise are contrasted by frequent references to bars, both where the characters play their game, as well as one within it. This could be overlooked, but as there are specific drink names, and even a cocktail list, it bears mentioning. There is also one instance of a character swearing. These things don’t necessarily rule the game out as being child friendly, but they do provide potential issues to parents that just don’t need to be there. There is no adult humor though, which leads me to question what the game’s intended age group is.

6

The Verdict: Good

Chook and Sosig: Walk the Plank was a thoroughly enjoyable experience, despite not doing much to break the mold.  A few mistakes in grammar and some questionable themes aside, the game is fun, although it doesn’t present anything point-and-click games haven’t presented before. I give the game a six out of ten for its charming humor and enticing adventures.

See About Us to learn how we score

Read 2061 times
Justin Skiles

Justin is a graduate of the Savannah College of Art and Design, where he studied Game Design and Creative Writing. He hopes to use his background to lend unique story elements to video games. In his free time, he lends his talents to OPN, and pursues personal projects related to both writing and game development. If you'd like, you can follow these projects at skilesjustin01.wixsite.com/portfolio. Justin is grateful for your time, and hopes that his work has been helpful to you.

Media