Friday, December 5, 2014

Adventure Time: The Secret of the Nameless Kingdom Review Oh, This Is Zelda...Or Is It Kaine?


Adventure Time: The Secret of the Nameless Kingdom
On Nintendo 3DS, PlayStation Vita, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows

Let's play Legend of Zelda The Secret of the Nameless Kingdom, the new game of Adventure Time that takes the old-school play of the dungeon crawler adventure game with story elements and uses the characters from Adventure Time. Coming from the the fine folks over at WayForward and the new publisher Little Orbit, because the infrastructure of WB Games is just like DC Comics, it doesn't handle anything internally.

This is a Zelda clone, flat-out this is the Legend of Zelda series redone with Adventure Time. Not generally a bad thing, but I would have just enjoyed a pure RPG, not an action adventure RPG. Link Finn is on another adventure and you'll have to solve puzzles with certain weapons and items, find secrets to hidden areas after getting new items and slap people with you Jake pimp hand. Sorry for all the Legend of Zelda jokes, it's just so easy-hey, the game wouldn't be made fun of if it was charming on it's own.

Starting the game and past some telekinesis jokes, thanks Jake, you'll have your grass blade and Jake shield, there is a toy accessory in real life. "Monsters are just pick-ups I haven't collected yet, " says are hero Finn. The writing of the game fits in with the Adventure Time series perfectly and new characters like Pillow Mint Butler-I love Pillow Mint Butler-entertain for their brief explanations. 

The story starts you off in a place with no name, the Nameless Kingdom, a kingdom with three princesses which you have to find, so one may rule the land. That's means three temples to visit and a lot of repetitive enemies to kill. Don't take them lightly, you'll have to remember their " patterns of engagement" to kill them. You might use Jake's mighty hand to knock them about for a bit. Jake isn't by your side in this game. No, he's not grafted to your body. He's in your pocket and he'll help you out with his Jake hand to turn switches and grab bomb enemies, how nice of him.

Though it's repetitive Finn's sword slash and use of the Jake shield feel natural for the enemies you fight and the killing of untold grass. You'll be getting more abilities as you cover more ground and figure out how to unlock other areas, but it is a pain. Zelda fans may enjoy it more than me.

I myself don't like the Zelda series all too much. One reason is the exploration without much or no explanation. That means a lot of the time I didn't know where to go or what to do. Oh, there's Starchy in the graveyard, should I race him. Darn, I wasted thirty of my money. How do I unlock this part of the temple? Back-tracking (imagine me whining). Even as a vet of old-school titles I found the game very hard and it's puzzles somewhat complicated. A pen and paper to write down clues or maybe a tablet to take down notes is a good choice to have when playing this title.

Some elements of the game are lacking. Finn sometimes saunters up stairs and doorways with bad animation. There's real voice cast from the show and then there's poor attempts at it. Mr. Pig and Tree Trunks voice actors don't do a very good job of impersonating the real voice actors.

You could be vocal that the game doesn't take on any elements of graphics of today. WayForward hasn't taken that path. It likes the old-school feel.

WayForward needs to move forward by letting someone else try and make an Adventure Time game and not just parody classic Nintendo titles.The game failed to entertain me on numerous levels. I could watch the game as a special episode of the show. Playing it on the other hand was a downer. The sprites are well-rendered, the concept is just another miss and after the painful to play."Adventure Time: Explore the Dungeon Because I DON'T KNOW!", I can't see WayForward making anything better. I can't recommend this for young Adventure Time fans unless they get a guide book. Listen, it's dangerous to make a clone, take the time to make something new that uses classics, not games that downright are them. You're not a Ben Reilly clone of Spider-Man your like
Kaine Parker, a failed experiment clone. Get out of here extensively long named Adventure Time game, I assume is named that long because Pen Ward finds it funny.

Reviewer was given 360 copy by publisher for review purposes