DeathSpank (the capital S is not a typo) was released on Xbox Live Arcade last week for a mere 1,200 points.  This might seem a lot for an arcade game but this game compared to other arcade games, is huge. The game description quotes 10-12 hours completion which is about right and is longer than many full price games which sometimes barely muster up 6-8 hours.

DeathSpank is an RPG with the usual elements of collecting items, levelling up, fetch quests and mini dungeons.  Your goal of the game is to seek an artifact but in true video game style, your quest for the artifact is blocked by doing many other quests first for weird and wonderful people en route.

The graphics are cute and have a hand drawn 2D effect to them. Scenery look like paper cut outs and it really fits in well with the games design.  I experienced no graphical glitches but there was the odd occasional screen tearing which never was a bother.

To help you along the way if you get stuck, you can collect fortune cookies and these unlock hints if you are lost and not sure what to do. My only criticism of the game is that there are not enough fortune cookies. A number of times the game does not do a great job in guiding you on what you have to do and the clues can be very vague, leaving you to possibly use up your fortune cookies too soon.  There is no hand holding to tell you where you are suppposed to be heading so your only option is to visit the entire map looking for where you are supposed to be going, or to use these fortune cookies.  I would liked to have seen an optional radar for those like me who needed extra assistance in working out what to do.

DeathSpank is an excellent addition to the library of XBox Live Arcade games and is a very good single player experience. For those unable to work alone, there is also local co-op mode as well and you can complete the game side by side with a friend.  Some games are not worth 1,200 points, but this one definitely is worth your money.

EXCELLENT/10