Adventure Time is a popular children’s TV series on Cartoon Network channel. As a spin off, Namco Bandai have decided to bring out this latest Adventure Time title in the hope that it gets just as much attention and success as the series. Was Adventure Time: Explore the Dungeon Because I DON’T KNOW a worth companion for the television series kids have come to love? Read on to find out!
Game: Adventure Time: Explore The Dungeon Because I DON’T KNOW
Developer: WayForward
Publisher: D3 Publisher
Reviewed on:
STORY
There is a completely new story to take on this Adventure Time game and to be quite honest, you only have to read the full game title to understand what the story is about. Players take on the role as multiple characters from the television series which include Finn, Jake, Marceline, Ice King, and more. It starts in the Land of Ooo as players help Princess Bubblegum save the Candy Kingdom by exploring the mysteries surrounding a massive Secret Royal Dungeon as it seems multiple prisoners have escaped. It is up to you (with up to three friends) in order to save the kingdom and bring these criminals to justice and back to where they belong, in Prison. It’s a typical children’s story really and one that they should enjoy but those looking for anything a bit deeper won’t really enjoy this too much.
GRAPHICS
Graphically, if you like the look of the old Retro titles, then you will instantly feel at home with this. It’s great to see developers still paying respect to retro era, and this is another example of just that. It’s for kids too, so graphically they don’t really require much. Characters are all built up with little pixel images but work quite well in the game. There are 100 floors to explore in the dungeon so you can expect some variety in terms of how they look.
SOUND
The developers have gotten the actual cast voices to accompany the characters in the game but I couldn’t help feeling it was out of place. Some of the lines are quite quirky and kids will love it, but for me who pays a bit more attention to it, I couldn’t help but feel that for the most part, it sounded like it had been took straight from the series on TV, without having actually got the actors/actresses in to do some voice work. I did expect more in the sound department, with it feeling quite flat for the most part.
GAMEPLAY
Repetitive, that’s the best way to sum up Adventure Time: Explore the Dungeon Because I DON’T KNOW. The Square Button and R1 button are your friends, and basically the only buttons you need to have at your disposal. For 100 floors, it follows the same trend… Hit a few enemies, collect a few tokens, collect a key to open the gate to the stairs, next floor. That’s about it. It seems the team had tried to give an RPG look, but failed to give it any substance really. You collect Treasure’s in which you can spend in the main hub in order to improve your abilities, however any you fail to spend are collected as ‘Taxes’, so there’s not really much point in saving them up for future use. You can also use a special ability, which is required by filling up a special gauge meter. Once that is full, you can press the circle button in order to give out this ‘devastating’ attack.
I use the word devastating quite lightly as it kills just a couple of enemies, don’t expect it to thrash the boss in one go. Speaking of bosses, there is one for every 10 floors that you pass. Again, there isn’t really much variety when it comes to the bosses apart from one you meet at the 20th floor where you have to run away from a stampede of people in order to be successful. You can change your character throughout the game. For example, there are certain characters which can float over the gaps in each floor, letting you collect that extra few treasures or tokens. Try that with the other characters and you will find yourself loving a chunk of your life.
LONGEVITY
Unfortunately, this Adventure Time title feels nothing more than a grid. 100 levels, basically not differing much froom each other, with a boss on the end of each 10th floor. Depending on if your a collector or not, each floor can be completed very quickly indeed, with the bosses not really giving out much difficulty. Children of a younger audience will of course enjoy this a lot more and spend a considerable amount more time on it, especially with the co-op features available where they, and up to three friends can explore the dungeon together.
VERDICT
Adventure Time: Explore the Dungeon Because I DON’T KNOW plays and feels like a game you could download on your smartphone. Not a particularly good one either. It’s a game designed purely for children, that’s where the audience really lies. However, there are many better titles out there right now that cater for the exact same audience, making this really difficult to recommend. One can only hope WayForward take a look at this and decide to go a different direction in the future.
