Overview

So, let me start off by saying that I absolutely LOVE finding a good indie game to play. There are many hidden gems that you wouldn’t even know existed until someone told you about them. The Adventure Pals is not only my favourite indie game of the year so far, but my favourite game of the year so far.

Reviewed on Xbox One; Also available on PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch and PC.

Cute giraffe?! A pet rock?! Trees with spectacular moustaches!? What’s not to love?! Seriously, if you’re not in love with this game from watching that trailer then you should probably stop reading now… (please don’t)

Story

A tale of a young boy, Wilton, on a quest to save his father from the very evil Mr B, a maniac who is kidnapping old people and turning them into hotdogs. Delicious. No? All on Wilton’s birthday none the less!

To help save everyone from despicable Mr B you will be required to jump, chop and fly through numerous levels all along the way collecting coins, weapon mods and opening loot chests. That sweet, sweet loot.

Now, it’s not called The Adventure Pals for no reason. We have the adventure, where’s the pals? I’m glad you asked! You have a pet giraffe, Sparkles, from the get go. You ride on his back on the World map and during levels he fits nicely in your backpack. It doesn’t need to make sense. He is adorable! Oh, the best part? He has a helicopter tongue. Awesome. Shortly after, you encounter your next best friend, your pet rock! With the fitting name, Mr Rock! He has arms and legs and a cute little face. He also helps you during levels with things like collecting items and attacking enemies, but only when you unlock those skills by levelling up!

The Adventure Pals has a story that is both bizarre and hilarious and needs to be experienced.

Gameplay

The Adventure Pals is an upbeat platformer/adventure with RPG like features. Levelling up, unlocking skills and completing quests all play a part here. The quests usually consist of collecting enough of a specific item for an individual or collecting 5 rubies to pay someone. You collect a ruby after completing each level. Each level consists of 5 stages full of mainly hack ‘n’ slash combat and figuring out ‘puzzles’ to progress. I use the term puzzle lightly as they don’t prove much of a challenge. They’re not really supposed to. You can go through these levels however you choose.

Whether you’re a rush to the finish line kind of person or the person that has to collect absolutely everything. There’s collectibles too, In the form of cupcakes and stickers to fill a talking sticker book (everything seems to have a face in this game). There’s a cupcake on each of the 5 stages and 1 sticker hidden throughout them, So, 6 in total on each full level! You can ‘trade’ your collected cupcakes in to a fat cat who loves to eat them in exchange for cute costumes for Mr Rock or a new stylish hat for yourself. My character currently has a chicken on his head… so yeah.

There are 5 distinct Worlds to travel across, all with their own unique characters, enemies and backdrops. Everything from beautiful forests to underwater cities. All 5 of these Worlds look stunning by the way.

If you want to experience this phenomenon with a friend, no problem! The Adventure Pals has local co-op for you and a friend to indulge in whenever you please. It’s incredible fun and hilarious playing with someone else.

I had heard that many people encountered glitches during gameplay that altered their experiences with the game and I want to say that I didn’t experience any gameplay issues during my playthrough. I did however have a few issues with certain achievements not unlocking for me which is not good for those achievement hunters out there! This didn’t affect what I thought of the game and I can only assume that these bugs and glitches had been patched before I had started playing.

Graphics & Sound

Mix Adventure Time with Castle Crashers and out pops The Adventure Pals. It’s your favourite cartoon in the form of a game. Or at least, that’s the way I see it. It’s vibrant colours and adorable animation is enough to brighten just about anyone’s day. The detail in this is unbelievable, nothing in the any of the Worlds looks poor or out of place and it all blends into each other nicely. The amount of work that has gone into every little detail here is insane and that’s obvious.

If I had to say anything that I felt lacked in the game it would be the sound. The only reason for this is there seems to be just one main song repeated through the entirety of the game. The tune does change slightly at different levels throughout the game but that original sound is what you will be hearing throughout majority of the game. Don’t get me wrong, its a catchy little tune, but when you have heard it over and over it can get a little dull. That’s it. My only gripe in this entire game and that’s only because I had heard the same song for hours of gameplay. I loved the sounds of it at the start of my adventure.

Summary

The Adventure Pals may not have been a big release but it has now became one of my favourite games I’ve played this year. It’s completely my type of game. Cute characters, funny wording and breath-taking art style. I love it all. It’s a simple game that doesn’t require an expert gamer to master and allows you to purely enjoy the masterpiece you’re pulled into. All whilst being able to share this with someone else using local co-op. It is ram packed with content lasting a lot longer than I had originally thought, usually indie games can be short-lived. Not this one, please play it. I promise you will thoroughly enjoy yourself. This charming platformer needs to be shouted about.