Holy Invasion of Privacy, Badman! What Did I Do to Deserve This? Review: That Title is Long Enough!

Written by Nat X7 | October 27, 2009

Holy Invasion of Privacy, Badman

Ant farms are boring. When I was a kid, my friend begged his parents to get him one for months. Eventually, they caved, and I raced over to his house to experience the feeling of playing God to a bunch of insects trapped in maze. 15 minutes later, we decided we could have more fun by watching the latest episode of Walker: Texas Ranger. At first glance, “Holy Invasion of Privacy, Badman! What Did I Do to Deserve This?” is a lot like an anthill. You’ll dig tunnels beneath ground, micromanaging units, in hopes of creating the perfect ecosystem, but unlike an anthill, “Badman” has tons to offer, and anyone willing to try this experimental take on the creation/sim genre may never look at ant farms the same way again.

“Badman” has you playing the role of a God, giving orders to your second-in-command, a demon known as the Overlord. Your ultimate goal is to create a sprawling ecosystem, spawning slimes, lizardmen and dragons along the way, all in hopes of thwarting the plans of any heroes who may venture into your dungeon. Creating that ecosystem is no small order, however, as “Badman” has a rather deep rule set in order to create your perfect army. You’ll control a small pickaxe icon throughout the game, digging random squares of earth that will spawn your most basic minion – slimemosses. In turn, slimes will add nutrients to the ground they touch, creating stronger blocks of earth that can eventually lead to creating more powerful monsters. Buyer beware, “Badman” demands a thorough understanding of its minion food chain in order to succeed on the more difficult levels. Luckily, there are more then enough tutorials and challenges to help you learn the nuances of the game.

In fact, the challenges and training levels are the bulk of the game. While there is a story mode, you’ll only get one crack at it each play through, as the game is over once your army is overrun and the Overlord is taken. Not being able to continue is somewhat of a bummer, but it does force you to take advantage of the game’s 40 training and challenge modes, and there’s more than enough there to make “Badman” a worthy $10 dollar investment.

While the learning curve can be brutal at times, it’s all made easier by “Badman”’s carefree, humor-infused presentation. The Overlord speaks a form of gibberish that sounds like a gremlin on speed. All the written dialogue present in the game is filled with intelligent wit and humor, and you’ll find yourself laughing out loud more then a few times at what the Overlord may, surprisingly, say at times. The look and sound of the game is a tip-of-the-hat to the 8-bit era. The Overlord and your minions (as well as the heroes) all resemble miniscule Nintendo-era sprites, and it’s a nice homage to the 8-bit, RPG era. The music follows suit and fits in great with the overall presentation of the game.

For $10, you could do a hell of a lot worse than “Holy Invasion of Privacy, Badman! What Did I Do to Deserve This?.” If you’re not a fan of the creation/sim genre, and hated games like “SimCity” as a youth, stay away from this one. But, for those looking for a challenging simulation with intelligent humor to boot, “Badman” is a must own. The game is difficult and demands that you understand every step involved with building a dominant ecosystem, but with enough practice, you’ll be slaying heroes with ease. Someday, if I ever have kids, I still won’t buy them an ant farm, but when they get old enough, I’ll have them try “Badman.” If they walk away from that to go watch Walker: Texas Ranger, then I’ll start to worry.

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