Despite covering a plethora of games on an almost daily basis, I try to stay away from previews and impressions. While gameplay videos and info leak through whenever I have to update folks on the happenings of new games, I like to think I go into every new title as fresh as can be. This may be why Adventure Time Explore the Dungeon Because I Don’t Know! turned out to be a massive surprise to me.
Adventure Time is one of my favorite cartoons of all time. And I’m a guy that enjoys his cartoons. Granted, I also adore Regular Show and I still found Mordecai and Rigby in 8-Bit Land less than palatable. Still, I figured I’d make that known before I continued.
ETDBIDK is exactly what it claims to be: a dungeon crawler. You play as a bevy of Adventure Time favorites such as Finn, Jake, Marceline, and even Lumpy Space Princess descending lower and lower into the dungeons below Princess Bubblegum’s castle. Why? Well, we just don’t know.
Within five minutes of playing the dungeon crawler (heck, it’s in the title) I was pleasantly surprised. It felt like I was playing Gauntlet again. Remember that Gauntlet game Midway was developing for the Nintendo DS that was stuck in development hell and then ultimately canceled? I don’t think it would be too bold to suggest it may have fleshed out like ETDBIDK.
Each character has different properties, strengths, weaknesses, and the like: just like in Gauntlet. Wizards, Knights, Warriors and Archers will find counterparts in the characters in ETBIDK. There are eight in all that you unlock as you progress deeper and deeper into the dungeons.
Despite have a bevy of characters to choose from, I found some nearly unusable due to their limited abilities. Or worse: their speed. The main problem this game suffers from is the speed in which your character walks. You gain the ability to go faster as you progress (through the use of disposable “tokens”) but levels before the ability is available are a downright chore.
Even as you descend, there’s very little variety in the levels. Sure, the designs are a tad different, but it’s nothing too drastic. Enemies and obstacles are more or less the same.
The most annoying thing with the game is the loading times. Why does a game as lo-fi as this have loading times? I’m actually asking because I am genuinely curious/baffled.
Still, there is plenty of in game lore that fans will adore. The saving grace is the retro styled but voice acted cut scenes. It reminds me of the cut aways from Genesis games like Beavis and Butthead, only with the voice acting from the show. The cutscenes strung together even make up their own episode with a pretty massive reveal that will be canon.
The game is cheaper than most 3DS titles, much like it’s sister game Mordecai and Rigby in 8-Bit Land. And while ETBIDK is far better than 8-Bit Land, it’s still hard for me to recommend to anyone who isn’t a die hard Adventure Time fans. 3/5
Buy: Adventure Time Beemo Edition, AT DVD/Blu-Ray