Adventure Time Explore The Dungeon Review
Adventure Time:
Explore The Dungeon Because I Don’t Know
Playstation 3 (PS3)
Reviewed by Sean Davies
Adventure Time gets its own game, but unlike the animated series, it's a dull and uninspired affair.
Cartoon Network's Adventure Time has exploded this year, becoming a popular animated series with children and adults alike, quickly becoming a household name because of its off-the-wall humour and imaginative story lines. It is understandable why Cartoon Network signed up WayForward to develop a game for Adventure Time, but unfortunately everything that makes the series so good is completely missing from the game.
Adventure Time: Explore The Dungeon Because I Don't Know is a dungeon trawler set in the land of Ooo. The princess needs you to descend into her secret dungeon where she has been putting all the folk who rub her the wrong way and find out how they are escaping. All of the Adventure Time gang are here – Finn, Stanley, Jake, Marceline – all playable and have their own skills to be used as you descend into the dark, prisoner filled levels. For example, Stanley can stretch over gaps and Maceline can fly over low walls which would otherwise block off certain paths to other characters.
The general premise of the game is to enter each level, collect as much stolen treasure as possible, defeating the evil inhabitants as you go and then find the exit stairs to progress ever deeper into the dungeon. The game is almost a top down view with a slight angle in a Diablo style although the camera angle is not changeable which is annoying. On every 10th level there is a boss to defeat or special level type to escape from. At the beginning of the game, there is only a few enemy types like slime tentacles and skeleton warriors that can be easily dispatched but soon the difficulty ramps up as newer and more deadly enemies are introduced as you progress further and further into the dungeon. After each 5 levels you have the opportunity to return to surface and spend your collected treasure on upgrading your character. Any unspent treasure is lost when you re-enter the dungeon which adds an interesting cash management aspect to the game.
With this being an Adventure Time game you would expect it to contain all of the fun and craziness of the series, but unfortunately, all of the charm and wit is totally missing. Apart from a few choice quotes that the characters spot after picking up items or defeating enemies and the weirdness of the sub-weapons (like eggs and a cup and ball toy), you could be forgiven for confusing this with any other dungeon trawler game. Also disappointingly is the fact that the dungeon never really changes visually throughout the game. New features are added, like pools of water which are absent from the first 10 levels, but the walls and the majority of the features look identical throughout.
Adventure Time: Explore The Dungeon Because I Don’t Know feels like a missed opportunity. With a little more development it could have been something that fans and newcomers to Adventure Time could have enjoyed together, but even for the hardcore fan, the small selection of references to the series quickly runs its course and the game play becomes thin and often frustrating.
Positives:
* Adventure Time fans will enjoy the series references
* Uses a tried and tested dungeon trawler formula
* The controls are easy to understand for both children and adults
Negatives:
* Game play quickly becomes repetitive and frustrating
* Dungeons appearance never changes
* Missing a lot of the wit and craziness that makes Adventure Time so popular
Rating: 3/5
Available to buy from Amazon here and all good game stores.
