The Adventure Pals is a fun, if somewhat average, cartoon platformer that boasts decent gameplay and a healthy amount of collectibles for completionists. The gameplay can become repetitive, and the “random” humour is a bit much for my tastes, but overall Adventure Pals is a perfectly alright platformer.
The Adventure Pals
Developer: Armor Games
Price: $14.99
Platforms: PS4 (reviewed), Xbox One, and PC
MonsterVine was provided with a PS4 code for review.
I’m a sucker for platformers and for cartoons, which made The Adventure Pals seem like a no-brainer. Upon first glance, it reminded me of Behemoth titles like Battleblock Theater and Castle Crashers, and while Adventure Pals isn’t quite as fantastic as those titles, Adventure Pals is still a very alright game.
The story of Adventure Pals is pretty loose. It’s your birthday and your grandparents have been kidnapped by the bee-themed villain, Mr. B. Alongside your pet giraffe, Mr. Sparkles, and your anthropomorphic rock friend, Mr. Rock, you set off to rescue your family while battling all sorts of strange and outlandish foes. While a basic story works for platformers, the “random” internet humor gets to be a bit much. While that may simply be my personal taste talking, having a villain proclaim he’s kidnapping people “for REASONS!!!” makes the game already feel dated.
Adventure Pals primarily takes place on an overworld map and throughout various themed stages. Stages are fairly non-linear and full of collectibles with various purposes. While collectible cupcakes can buy you new hats, coins can buy you items and collectible stickers. There’s a decent amount to collect throughout each level, which will provide completionists and trophy hunters with plenty to do. The core gameplay does get old though, as this is a game that is best played in short spurts.
“Jumping between walls and gliding to hidden areas is quite satisfying, especially when you’re exploring stages to find the game’s various collectibles.”
Combat in Adventure Pals is your standard lite hack-and-slash fare. You can get by by mashing the attack button, though items like health potions and projectile bombs give the game a bit more depth. It’s the platforming itself that I found to be the highlight of the experience thanks to how quick and light it is. Jumping between walls and gliding to hidden areas is quite satisfying, especially when you’re exploring stages to find the game’s various collectibles. Defeating enemies nets you experience points, which are used to level you up. Each level-up provides you with new skills to make platforming and fighting more fun, adding an extra feeling of progression to each stage.
Visually, Adventure Pals seems to take influence from Cartoon Network shows like Adventure Time, as well as various webcomics. It’s a simple but effective style that makes the world of Adventure Pals feel fun and goofy while allowing for absurd power-ups like a flying giraffe and sunshine bombs. While I found the environments to be pretty generic (forest area, beach area, graveyard, etc.), the character designs were okay, even if they look fairly similar.
Adventure Pals has a forgettable soundtrack that sets a silly tone without doing much else. The sound effects do the same thing, as they’re nothing to write home about. They’re sufficient, but nothing outstanding.
The Final Word
Adventure Pals is fun in bursts, but is fairly average overall. Platforming is satisfying and there’s plenty to collect, but the random humor and basic/repetitive nature of the game keeps it from being too notable.
MonsterVine Rating: 3 out of 5 – Average
