Reviews for Penny Arcade, Volume 1: Attack of the Bacon Robots

The average rating for Penny Arcade, Volume 1: Attack of the Bacon Robots based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2013-06-19 00:00:00 Khairy Osman First of all, a disclaimer: if you do not know that it is, this is most probably not for you. The comics deal with issues of gaming, mostly computer and console. Penny Arcade is very well known in these circles, which means that even if you have a passing interest in the subject you must have heard about them - thus the disclaimer. The biggest problem with the comics - other than required knowledge of the subject - is that it does show its age. The first book talks about games released between 1998 and 2000; by the rate the gaming industry moves, it is practically the age of dinosaurs. Case in point: at one point they praised the early 3-D graphics which by modern standards looks VERY ugly. I played some of the games they reference, and even in my case I do not understand quite a few of the jokes. Fortunately, they have comments for every single comic which is a required read. Unfortunately, some of the comments go along the line, "I really have no idea that this comic is about". Well, neither do I as a reader. I also do not agree with their position on some of the issues in gaming. Still, there are some diamonds in the rough, enough of them to warrant 3-star rating.

Review # 2 was written on 2016-02-08 00:00:00 Jason Bauer To start with, let's talk about who this is for, because that is everything. The Penny Arcade comics are available for free on their site, penny-arcade.com. If you aren't familiar with the strip, or just want to read the old stuff, go there and do so. This book is not for you and there is a good chance you won't be happy with your purchase. This volume is for fans of PA who want a little extra commentary. Jerry, the writer, gives a sentence or two about each strip in this book that covers the first two years of strips, from late 1998 through 2000. Some of these are very basic in the "I have no idea what we were thinking" vein. But others are more interesting. They talk about fan reaction, or how they met someone who was in one of their strips after they made it, or about something they were angry about, which led to the strip in question. None of it is in depth or particularly earth-shaking, but it is interesting if you're looking for that sort of thing.