I'm gonna have a difficult time explaining this game. Hahaha. BACKGROUND: I caught a bit of this game on a stream once and thought it was hilarious. I felt like trying it since it was on Game Pass PC anyway. PLOT: You're a masked man who's woken up in a butcher shop. You are urged by Pedro, your "friend" (and a sentient banana for some reason), to kill the shop owner (as he is an arms dealer). What happens next is an incredibly strange journey to take out the biggest criminals in the city. As evidenced by the fact that your main companion is a floating banana that talks, this plot is all kinds of absurd. I lost count at the times I went "this makes no fucking sense" at something that happens. But it's all in good fun (well, mostly), and there are plenty of funny moments and dialogue throughout the short story. PRESENTATION: My Friend Pedro's visuals have a slightly realistic look to them, but it's not at all trying to be real. There's still an evident cartoony feel to everything despite the real-ish aesthetic. The music has that action movie feel to it, which is quite appropriate given the gameplay. In a way, it also doesn't fit, because the soundtrack's badass vibe clashes with the complete ridiculous bullshit that happens in the game. I found that dissonance quite amusing. GAMEPLAY: My Friend Pedro is a 2D platformer, but its action is more of a shooter. You go through the side-scrolling levels while blasting enemies in the face with your gun (which has 360 aiming). There are only a handful of levels, and the entire game can be beaten in around 3-4 hours, but the nonsense you can get away with in the levels makes it an entertaining 3-4 hours. In terms of movement, you can roll through tiny gaps, wall jump, and swing/climb across ropes. There's not a lot of depth here, and strict platforming sections are mostly rare, but that's fine given most of the focus is on the combat. While you can get by simply walking across the levels and shooting whoever you come across, the game encourages you to get super stylish with it. For example, you can shoot people while doing mad flips in midair, pick 'em off while wall jumping, or even gun down an entire room of thugs while zipping down a zipline. The game gives you plenty of room to be as flashy as possible, and the score system further encourages it by giving point bonuses for cool kills. In addition, you also have the ability to dodge bullets, slow down time (allowing you to plan out what you're doing in the moment, as well as makes you feel like you're in the goddamn Matrix), and kick motherfuckers in the dick (which is your only melee option). All these elements do a lot to make the action absolutely fucking bonkers, and I found myself using them even if I didn't have to just because it felt satisfying. The level elements also help make the action extra ridiculous. You can smash through windows for a dramatic entrance, drop barrels on unsuspecting bastards, blow up explosive gas canisters, kick basketballs into people's faces, ricochet your bullets against specific areas... hell, you can even ride a skateboard. Every time one of these mechanics would show up, I would go out of my way to use them to kill enemies, and every success would put a stupid grin on my face. There are also level mechanics that make the platforming challenging, like various hazards, switches, breakable boxes, homing mines, and more. On their own, they won't be too troublesome, but it does get tricky when there are enemies everywhere. You have access to a small assortment of weapons, from a pistol, an SMG, a shotgun, an assault rifle (that also has a grenade launcher), and a sniper rifle. Everything apart from the pistol has limited ammo, which can be refilled by getting ammo drops from enemies. For some of the weapons, there are dual wield options, and those will allow you to split your aim and shoot two targets at once. It certainly feels awesome to use this mechanic and simultaneously pick off two enemies. Enemies have access to pretty much the same arsenal as you, so the challenge isn't so much in learning patterns as it is managing their numbers well. If you get surrounded, you're pretty much screwed. The game is somewhat lenient in this respect, as there's health regen (to a certain point), occasional health drops, and generous checkpoints should you die. There are certain sections (usually during boss fights) when the game switches things up and puts together elaborate set pieces you have to fight through. There's one where you're on a motorcycle shooting down pursuers, and another where you're falling from a skyscraper and shooting everyone around you. Every time these sequences would come up, I'd just be rendered speechless by the complete absurdity of it. These sections aren't the most challenging, but holy shit are they entertaining. Every level has a letter grade ranking system, starting from C to S. Things like your score, time, and other bonuses determine your grade. There's no point in grinding for the highest rank unless you want the achievements or want to be at the top of the leaderboards. The game also has a fun option where you can save a highlight of your gameplay as a GIF and post it to social media. I'll share some examples below. You can also explore the levels to find game modifiers, which allow you to mess with the game's rules (like making the time slowing mechanic unlimited, or altering things like the speed of your bullets), and difficulty settings for the levels if you wish to tackle the game on harder difficulties. Other than that, however, there isn't really a lot to do after beating the campaign. VERDICT: My Friend Pedro may be a short game, but it makes those couple of hours a hilarious blast by providing super stylish gunplay and a nonsensical (in a fun way) plot. Pulling off all sorts of ludicrous trick shots is incredibly satisfying, and the stupid story made me laugh more than a few times. I enjoyed this game a lot, in the same way I enjoy stuff like pro wrestling: yeah, it's fucking stupid, but I love it. If you're looking for a silly time, this is a game worth getting. I should note that I also streamed my playthrough of this to some friends on Discord. They also found it hilarious, which is probably a good sign. Buy the game on Steam: My Friend Pedro on Steam (steampowered.com) POSTSCRIPT: As promised, here are some GIFs of my gameplay. - end -
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June 2024
Derryck
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