Editor's note: The Bitmob Game Club begins its second game, Sonny, a Flash-based RPG. I've never heard of it, but considering that it has a skill tree and even allows you to respec, it sounds like this RPG has more depth than a typical Flash game. Read on to find out what Chris, Evan, Travis, and Lance think about the game's first section. -Jason

Welcome to the Bitmob Game Club!

Bitmob Game Club is a community collaboration where the Club picks a (typically free) game, and a group of Bitmobbers play it. After playing a specific section of the game, the contributors write about it, Bitmob style (read: any way they want). We collect all of the stories for each section in one post, allowing the whole community to participate!

Want to join the game club? Shoot an e-mail to: jamesderosa[at]sophistgames[dot]com. Subject: Bitmob Game Club.

When it's time for a new edition, we'll select four people at random to participate. Be sure that you can commit the time and effort it takes before sending the e-mail; otherwise, you get the Darnell Boot-O-Doom!

Remember: Each contributor worked hard playing and writing about the game -- give them feedback!

In this episode of the Bitmob Game Club, the contributors play through Sonny and Sonny 2, a couple of Flash games created by developer Krin for Armor Games.

Want to follow along? Click here to play on Armor Games' website. Don't confuse it with the sequel, and make sure you register an Armor account in order to save your progress. (Don't worry they don't spam your e-mail or anything.)

On with the stories!

Sonny Edition Contributor: Chris Davidson

Chris is a senior electrical engineer from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He's also an amateur stand-up comedian, an alcoholic, and an overall terrible person. He likes to belittle people behind their backs to make himself feel better, and occasionally he'll play a gentleman's game of Frisbee golf. He plays video games all the time and just recently finished Giants: Citizen Kabuto and Secret of Monkey Island Special Edition. He's currently working on Kingdom Hearts 358/2 days because he loves Kingdom Hearts a shitton.

I went into this game with really no idea what to expect, other than that it had RPG elements. When I hear RPG, I picture myself hitting an enemy until it falls over and gives me its delicious experience points. In this regard, Sonny delivers. It's indeed true that if you hit things a lot, they will not only fall over but also give you experience points.

If you're curious about the plot, it's The Bourne Conspiracy. The key differences are that instead of playing as Jason Bourne, you play as Sonny, and instead of killing innocent and poorly trained Swedish police officers, you fight supersoldiers, samurai ghosts, and zombies! I'm pretty sure that the samurai ghosts were ghosts that became samurai, and not samurai that became ghosts. (This data is inconclusive, but I'm way more interested in this than the game's actual plot.)

If you haven't picked up on what's going on yet, then allow me spell it out for you. The plot really doesn't make a whole ton of sense at this point. A blind dude with questionable motives wakes you up, gets himself exploded (if that's even a word), and leaves you stranded on a boat. Luckily for Sonny, another dude gets shot at as well, and apparently that's a fantastic ice breaker. This new partner is way more useful than your previous, useless, handicapped partner with his fucking 8 HP and zero abilities. (Unless you call being a grizzly toned tutorial an ability, which I do.)

The key feature of this game is inarguably the talent tree system. In fact, I would go as far as to say this is an interactive talent-tree simulator designed for another game. The talent tree clearly shows a lot of promise, and it works well most of the time. I did find myself misspending a few of my points, but the game's saving grace is the ability to respec your talents and points five times a day.

It seems like an arbitrary number to choose instead of just allowing unlimited respecs, but it really doesn't matter since I've never used more than two on any given session of play. It's a tiny thing to compliment, but it's the sole reason that I stopped playing Diablo 2, so it's worth bringing up. Not being able to respec sucks a bunch of terrible things that I won't mention here, and more games (especially the mainstream and retail ones) need to figure this shit out before I lose my damn mind and get myself kicked out of another GameStop.

I'm not sure why they call this a strategy-RPG because it's a standard turn-based RPG to the core. It isn't in real time, and you certainly don't move your character around strategically -- or at all. You pick the dude you want to hit, and then you pick the ability you want to hit him with. Luckily, that isn't the whole game, because in a surprise twist, once you've executed this ability on your enemy, he'll then do the same thing to you until one of you die. Fortunately, the music is awesome, so even if you're barely doing anything, the game will try and trick you into feeling like your doing something epic.

The music is truly fantastic and reminds me of Metal Gear Solid for some reason. Unfortunately I became so bored from grinding that I found myself turning off the sound to listen to podcasts instead. It's got voice acting, but it's kind of cheesy. It's hard to tell from the writing if the game wants to be taken seriously or not, but I'm fairly certain at this point that it doesn't.

I may sound like I'm being hard on the game, but I truly am enjoying it. Unfortunately, I really wanted a lot more out of my zero dollars spent. Going back to a still screen hub world over and over, just hopping from battle to battle, really gets tiring. It's got a lot of grinding and very few plot developments, and this really ruins the pace of the game. For a free game, the developers at Armor Games produced something pretty above average, but it constantly feels like it's missing something, and that something is movement.

I really would've loved to move around a bit in this game. I never felt that I was doing enough shit that deserved my full attention, and although the talent tree, music, animation, and basic combat are all phenomenal and well executed, it still feels like I'm only playing two-thirds of a real game. Luckily

For me I need something to zone out to while I listen to podcasts, and fucking around with the talent trees for a bit should be able to scratch that particular itch. I'm looking forward to finishing Sonny and trying out the sequel.

Sonny Edition Contributor: Evan Killham

Evan's a little disappointed that he can't blame any difficulty he had with Sonny on controls, but it's OK since he's actually doing fine with it so far. It's a good thing he has a high tolerance for zombies, though, because otherwise this game would pretty much expend said tolerance. He is currently playing Uncharted 2.

For the second Game Club in a row, the story starts with our hero waking up with no memory of who he is or how he got there. These are not the only questions the game's intro elicits. Who is this blind guy with the power to raise the dead? Why is there a piece of a car's exhaust system sitting around, and what makes it such an effective weapon?

I'm really enjoying the gameplay, and that's coming from someone who's never played a turn-based RPG in his life (unless we can count Magic Pengel, and few reasonable people would). Sure, it's pretty simplified, but it seems like it's got enough options to present an experience accessible to most players. That's assuming, of course, that they're not turned off by all the elemental zombies and samurai ghosts.

Anyway, plotwise, Sonny wakes up, and then he and Louis fight their way across the deck of what has to be the longest ship in human history (the background scale seemed a bit off). Then Louis dies and gives Sonny a tape that he claims will explain everything. Unfortunately, I played this section not long after I'd watched the first five Saw movies, so this was a bit of unintentional comedy.

Eventually, Sonny vanquishes the ZPCI team sent to eliminate "witnesses" (also, Zombie Pest Control, Inc.? I love this game), and then he goes on to kill everything on the adjacent beach. He's got no particular reason for this; he's just biding his time, apparently.

It doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but it's pretty fun.

Sonny Edition Contributor: Travis McReynolds

Travis works in television distribution and lives in Atlanta, GA. He really likes you, too, but wants to know where this is going, you know, long term. He’s currently playing through Uncharted 2 and Chrono Trigger (for the first time, believe it or not).

I’m an old-school JRPG purist at heart. Maybe I got scolded one too many times as a child for not taking turns, but for as long as I can remember I’ve been a Final Fantasy/Square fanatic. If you’re like RPGs, too, do yourself a favor: play through Sonny with us. It’s free, it’s Flash-based (so it’ll play on damn near anything), and it’s an RPG with a surprisingly engaging battle system. Even if you’re not an RPG fan, I still recommend at least giving it a go if for no other reason than to see what's possible in a browser-based Flash game.

See, there are plenty of positives about the Sonny experience -- and just as many negatives -- but I always find myself tempering these statements by reminding myself that it's a Flash game. It's kind of like when you see a crappy drawing of a dog on someone’s fridge; it sucks, but when they tell you a 3-year-old made it becomes impressive. All the Flash games I’d played prior to Sonny were poorly made clones of old arcade classics. Also, most of them were at Homestar Runner, so they weren’t funny, either.

The voice acting and music are good by most standards, and the graphics are tight enough on the highest settings that I wouldn’t be surprised to see something like this on an Xbox Live Arcade or PSN Store. These are good things, but it’s when I consider that they’ve been incorporated into a Flash game that I see them as great things.

The same works for the negative, too. The story thus far is unintelligible, and the pacing is off-putting, but it’s still really good for a Flash game. You’ve also got to bear in mind that the whole thing was made by just a few guys, most likely in their spare time. The point is, for the venue and the asking price, I’m willing to forgive quite a lot.

Before I go any further, here’s a warning for those that heeded my first paragraph’s advice: spoilers ahead. In fact, I’m so bereft of creativity that I’m planning on paraphrasing the plot of the first two chapters, so go play prior to reading the rest of my take. You won’t be missing anything here; I’m more or less a poor man’s Mike Minotti without the fancy art department.

The game begins with a refreshing plot twist; you’ve got amnesia. I’d make a joke here, but every conceivable joke written about amnesia in video games has been made and become probably cliché itself. Moving along, you’re stranded on a boat with a blind man, you’re the only zombie out of several on the boat that can talk, and you’re shirtless. Suffice it to say that Carnival Cruises have really fucked up this time. After getting some helpful hints (read: tutorial) from the blind guy, you get to stomp through some of your fellow Norwalk virus survivors in an attempt to get off the boat.

Combat is a familiar turn-based affair, which, at this point, is almost like the comfort food of video games. Command choices are presented in-game via a fun little wheel of beach balls that you can customize based on your character type. Because I’ve gone with the physical based "destroyer" class, I’ve only ever needed one option: Smash.

Seriously, if I were to write a strategy guide for the first two chapters, it would read, “Get Smash. Use only Smash. Wait for some sort of resistance from the enemies. Keep waiting”.

Just prior to getting off the boat you, fight off some zombie hunting soldiers that somehow manage to kill the defenseless blind man that the other enemies have been ignoring thus far. How tragic. Also, before breathing his last breath, your buddy hands you a cassette tape and declines further comment on your amnesia situation. Since the game isn’t set in 1991, the plot is set for you to wander the country seeking out the last working tapedeck on the planet. Maybe try Goodwill?

And this is where the game loses me. You escape the boat and begin the second chapter on a haunted beach full of ghost samurai. Picking up on a theme here? Me neither.

Like I said before, the pacing of the battles is off. You’ll push over some loner pansy in one battle then face off against three dudes with working weapons the next. I’ve yet to be challenged by the game (another one of my gripes), but I’d still prefer some consistency. You do have the option of level grinding with "training fights," but they’re just as easy as the story progression battles and apply the additional disservice of making future fights even easier.

Also on the beach, you pick up your first party member. The game gives you precious little by way of story, but from what I can gather, Veradux is a fellow talking zombie and a former member of the ZPCI , the zombie hunters from the boat. (ZPCI stands for “If-you-wanted-me-to-remember-your-acronym-you-should-include-it-somewhere-other-than-the-inventory-screen.”)

He’s also devoted to cosplaying as an ambulance. I know you can change his equipment to make him look different, but when Veradux joins your party, it’s like four of his buddies had already planned to go as the Ghostbusters on Halloween, and he got stuck dressing as Ecto-1. And most likely acting as the designated driver. It sucks to be Veradux.

Being the XP whore that I am in absolutely every game, I took Sonny up on its Training Fight option and got to grinding in between dodging spreadsheets at the office. By the time I actually fought the final boss of the beach level, I had maxed out the level of my Smash attack to ludicrous and had even begun leveling up the passive Regeneration ability that has you regain health and focus (magic) after every turn.

In short, I had become an unkillable beast for this level of the game. My EMT buddy and I defeated the beach boss handily and even went back to destroy him a couple more times to pick up all of his armor.

So that’s where I leave it for our first post. I’m really looking forward to the rest of the game; even with my complaints, I still see Sonny as an exceptional Flash game and, therefore, a fantastic alternative to work. I hope the game ups the ante in the next chapter and gives me a real challenge, but I’m even more hopeful I get some sort of clue as to what the hell is going on.

Sonny Edition Contributor: Lance Darnell

Lance spends his time watching three things: the skies, the Mobfeed, and Twitter. He's currently playing Fallout 3.

My first foray into the game called Sonny had me feeling many different things. I would like to share what I felt with you:

Anticipation: In the opening of the game, I'm brought back to life by some blind guy named Louis. He tells me to arm myself, so I pick up a pipe and am ready to rock!

Confusion: I'm attacking some guy who bears a club. Louis does not help; he merely tells me what to do. Louis is blind, so I guess it's better that he does not partake in the fighting. But if he's blind, how does he know so much? Is he like one of those old blind prophets? And how did he bring me back from the dead?

Happiness: After a few fights, I'm able to level up my character. I can add a skill to the skill tree and boost my vitality, strength, magic or speed. I like leveling up. It reminds me of Fallout 3, and that makes me happy.

Impatience: Louis tells me that we have to make it off the boat, and so I fight about four or five rounds of these fodder enemies before I finally reach the boss of the first Zone.

Sadness: The boss of the first Zone kills Louis. I was always told not to hit people with glasses, so hitting someone who's completely blind is really, really bad. Louis is also my only hope of figuring out what in the hell is going on, so I'm filled with sadness.

Hope: After beating the boss of the first Zone, I arrive on a beach. The boat's still burning in the background, and a headless fisherman's now my only company. This does not sound too exciting, but after the boat, I'm hoping that things pick up.

Disappointment: Things do not get better. I am facing off against a samurai, but no matter how hard I try, he continues to beat me. I try remapping my skill tree several times but still cannot get by this samurai!

Rage: After losing to the same samurai for the sixth time, I fall into a fit of rage. Everything goes red, and I don't remember what happened next, but judging by the piece of paper with a court date on it, I am sure I will find out.

Diligence: With the rage out of me, I try to beat this samurai yet again. I upgrade my skill tree to include regeneration and wound, I buy new equipment from the item shop, and I ready myself for the battle of the century. The cocky samurai looks cool and confident. The battle commences.

Murderous: The samurai beats me again with a strike that takes off one third of my life bar. I stand up, point at the screen, and proceed to go into a rant of every swear word I could think of. Some of the words and combinations of words that come out are pretty creative. I would write them down, but I think you can imagine for yourselves.

So there you have it. I did not even make it past the second Zone. That samurai finished me off seven times before I flew into my swearing song. I now have to look forward to facing him again before I can get into the third Zone for next week’s Game Club.