What Did I Do to Deserve This, My Lord!? – PSP – Preview

From the title to the screenshots to the game
itself, Holy Invasion of Privacy, Badman!: What Did I do to Deserve This? was
designed to catch you off guard. It looks like a new version of Dig-Dug, sounds
like a reference to a certain DC comic, and plays like a strategy game with
unconventional rules. The environments are comprised of nothing more than a
series of bricks, and instead of leading a team or individual units, you control
a pick that is used to dig through the bricks. The pick is controlled like a
cursor; use the thumb pad to move it around the level and tap the square button
to remove one brick.

Unless the final version is a drastically
different experience, you won’t have any control over the units, which are made
of green blobs (called Slimemoss) and something that looks like a caterpillar (Omnom
and Omnom Flies). No matter what happens, it seems they can only thrive at the
hands of your expert digging.

This is just the beginning of Holy Invasion of
Privacy, Badman!’s weirdness. At the start of each level, you’ll be tasked with
digging through the environment to prepare for an impending attack. Only the
existing path of bricks can be dug through, preventing players from picking a
random spot to begin their dig. Now you could go on a digging rampage and clear
out the level. But the developers applied a restriction there as well in the
form of a dig limit. Each brick counts as one dig action.

No matter how anxious you may get, it’s important
to dig conservatively. Slimemoss, an essential part of your army, will only form
after digging through bricks covered in moss. In fact, every green brick is
equal to one Slimemoss; every white brick is equal to one Omnom. Omnoms love to
eat Slimemosses. When they do, they gain the necessary “nutrients” (the game’s
word) to form a cocoon. You could dig the cocoon and stop it from growing any
further, but that would be a mistake. Instead, let it evolve and it will turn
into an Omnom Fly, strengthening your army even further.

Within a minute or two of starting a level, the
game will announce that an enemy is approaching. You’re the bad guy (or should I
say Badman?) in this adventure, known as the God of Destruction, and you’re in
charge of protecting the Overlord, who is responsible for your summoning. The
Overlord typically appears on screen as a pixelated vampire-looking man who
provides tips in the tutorial and a paragraph or two of snarky remarks. When a
hero is about to infiltrate your world, the Overlord appears as a tiny character
that isn’t much bigger than the bricks you’ve been digging through. You must now
decide where the Overlord should be placed, knowing that the wrong location
could put him in danger. After he’s in place, the game continues as normal. You
keep on digging, and the units keep controlling and evolving by themselves.

It’s unclear how big a part the story will play
in the final version, but the game is already filled with subtle humor. The
description for Shota, one of the heroes (and one of your enemies), reads like a
subtle parody of your favorite RPG:

“Everyone he meets seems to love him. They enjoy
hugging him and touching him and asking him to pose while they draw pictures
that they never let him see. Some even try to bring them back to their houses,
but he’s just too busy avenging his father’s murder for things like that.”

Another description for Shota sounds scarily
similar how we tackle RPGs. “He’s decked himself out in sweet gear, he’s picked
up a party member, and he’s created a backup save file. The competition is
stiff, but he’s prepared to go all night if he has to.”

Holy Invasion of Privacy, Badman! might be the
strangest game ever made for the PSP, possibly for any system. It’s unlike any
other strategy game out there, which is very intriguing – even if you don’t like
the weird elements or mocking humor. If you do like the humor, that makes this
unlikely game all the more unstoppable. Look for a demo to hit PSN in the coming
weeks, and stay with GameZone for the latest invasions of the Overlord’s
privacy.