[Review] The Adventure Pals – Nintendo Switch

The Adventure Pals

Reviewed by Kieran

Developer: Massive Monster
Publisher: Armour Games
Category: Platformer, Puzzle, Adventure, RPG
Release Date: 04.03.2018

I knew that I loved this game the moment that Mr. Rock was jamming with his friend Cinnamon.

Sorry, that’s Mr. Roll to you.

This game is an absolute joy to play. Everything from the hilarious story to the abilities provided by the Adventure Pals, the games protagonist, Wilton, his oldest friend Mr. Rock and his newest friend Sparkles. Just so we’re all clear, Mr. Rock is a rock and Sparkles is a Giraffe. Obviously…

The Adventure Pals contained so many laugh out loud moments and in the same vein as some of the better seasons of The Simpsons, multi faceted jokes that appeal to older and younger people alike .

Presentation

The presentation in Adventure Pals is really quite lovely. The best comparison to make would be that it resemble the shows that Cartoon Network were making in the 90s such as Dexter’s Laboratory.

Sound is upbeat and sets you up for adventure, taking a lot of inspiration from a certain Disney pirate franchise. Seriously, don’t let the Disney lawyers hear this soundtrack or we’ll never hear from anybody involved with this game ever again.

Nintendo has always been symbiotic with great platformer adventure games. As such The Adventure Pals feels right at home on Nintendo Switch, and aside from a few frame rate hiccups in particularly frantic moments of the game, runs very nicely indeed. The developer has also made good use of the HD rumble, which is really nice to see from indies. It’s the little touches that make all the difference sometimes.

Story

The plot of the game sees Wilton trying to save his father, who has been Dad-napped by the sinister Mr. B. whose evil intentions seem to be turning people into hotdog men. Yep, that’s honestly how I wanted that sentence to read. He also has a base on the moon, and why not, we would all do the same if we were criminally insane, right? I know that I would.

Gameplay

The Adventure Pals often breaks down the 4^th wall and is very aware of what it is. This all adds to the layers of utter enjoyment that have been built up by the games solid foundations. At heart it’s a platformer, and a very solid one at that. Controls are tight and responsive, combat is intuitive enough to feel fresh, even 10 hours in and the puzzles, whilst not difficult in nature are enjoyable to solve, often involving cats.

The Adventure Pals also has basic RPG elements, namely levelling up which unlocks new abilities. These range from Mr. Rock going out looking for treasure to being able to haggle and barter with shop keeps, ergo allowing for items to be purchased at a more reasonable price.

Once, twice, five times a…. cupcake….

The game is surprisingly sufficient in length. There are a total of 5 worlds to explore, each one completely unique in style and tone. Each individual world has a total of 5 levels, of which each level has 5 sections. The Adventure Pals offers a plethora of collectibles. In each level there are 5 cupcakes to collect, as well as a sticker for the sticker book, obviously, and Ruby which are the main target items in every stage. At the end of every world there is a unique boss fight. These were the absolute highlight of this nutty little adventure, at least in the opinion of this prosaic penman.

Whilst simply finishing the game offers a solid amount of game play, for completionists and players looking for a little more bang for their buck, with all the collectables on offer, there is very generous amount of content available here.

Adventure with pals

As the games title would suggest, The Adventure Pals has a co-op play mode option that allows you and a buddy to share the joy, split some cons and set off to save Dad together. This option performs absolutely solidly and I had a blast playing with my partner, even if she didn’t. (NB she enjoyed the game, just hates playing with me as apparently I’m bossy.)

The Adventure Pals is as charismatic a game as I have played in quite some time. Paired with the enjoyable game play mechanics, the final result is a stunning title that absolutely deserves to be experienced. I simply can not recommend playing this game, instead I demand it. Without wanting to sound like a dictator, if you don’t at least give it a try, in the words of Liam Neeson in that movie that should never have got a sequel, let alone a trilogy, I will look for you, I will find you.. well, you know the rest.

TL:DR

Charming, striking and full of child like imagination, matched with great game play and some really silly moments. Buy it, play it and in a world that at times can be just a little too serious, lighten up, take a load off and relax a little, for a few moments at least.