What seemed like a long time ago, a demo became available that I just had to try. This game turned out to be The Adventure Pals by Massive Monster. Originally Kickstarted, the game has become more popular since I originally played. Luckily, I get to keep going now with the game’s full release.
Set with a fun animated vibe and funny characters, you start out as a young boy hero that goes around saving family and other old people from various turmoil. For example, he must save his grandfather from being turned into a hot dog. Along the way he meets up with his giraffe friend named Sparkles and a rock named Mr. Rock. The beginning seems a bit slow, probably to introduce players to the mechanics of the game but it eventually catches up later as the story progresses. A good game to compare this to would be the new Kirby.
As an overall platformer with five worlds and plenty of puzzles to power through, the levels seemed a bit easy in the beginning but they progressively got hard as time went on. This doesn’t mean the game is insanely hard like other platformers we have seen in the past but it may feel slower to a more experienced player. I particularly disliked the exploding blocks slowing me down but the jump boosting toasters are super helpful. Now with the co-op feature, friends can work together too to battle bosses and use the new features Massive Monster has added such as buffs and the ability to upgrade Mr. Rock so that he will work for you during battle but players get to choose one of three paths they want to take with that.
Adventure Pals feels like there could be a lot more to it in an expanded universe or story type of way. Even though the 2D platformer is filled with side paths that lead to cupcakes and stickers, there just seems like something is missing. A plus however, is that the characters have funny dialogue and the story is random and funny to keep us interested. I feel like this game is a bit too short but for younger gamers the pacing, story and mechanics are all right where they should be.
I wouldn’t let this game pass you by. For anyone even remotely interested in Adventure Pals, I think they should go for it. The game is cute and funny and still challenging in its own right. With the co-op ability too, Adventure Pals could be a fun way to kick back and have some fun family time too!
The Adventure Pals is available now on PS4, Xbox, Switch and PC
