Adventure Time: Hey Ice King! Why’d You Steal Our Garbage?!! Review

Posted By Robert H. about 5 months, 1 week ago

Adventure Time: Hey Ice King! Why’d You Steal Our Garbage?!! Review

As I said in a certain review written just a few weeks ago, licensed games do not have the best reputation in the gaming world. A fairly large majority of such games are made with so little effort or thought that they end up as either completely boring slogs or terrible messes. Still, every game is its own beast and has every opportunity to be good, regardless of origins. With that, and my lack of knowledge of the subject matter taken into consideration, I went into Adventure Time: Hey Ice King! Why’d You Steal Our Garbage?!! hoping to find something inspired within its conspicuously colorful world. To my general surprise, I did indeed find such design there. In fact, I can easily say that this particular game is one of the better licensed games I’ve played within the last few years.

The story, while basic and simple, fits very well for the ridiculous world that Adventure Time takes place in. Protagonists Finn and Jake wake up one day and find the villainous Ice King stealing their garbage. On principle, they can’t let something like that happen without consequence, so they naturally decide to go kick Ice King’s butt. This takes them on an adventure across the Land of Ooo, meeting many recognizable characters, solving troubles where they crop up, and traversing dungeons to “save” the Garbage Princesses that the Ice King has been setting up for them. As that description makes plainly obvious, the entire situation is extremely silly, but it’s also entertaining to watch and provides more than enough reason to go through the different kingdoms.

As Finn and Jake travel across the various areas present in the game, the art style really makes the game seem like an extension of the show itself. While the graphics can’t quite measure up to the show based on technical limitations, the style still feels more than similar enough to make the world feel alive. The backgrounds are extremely diverse and colorful, making most areas interesting to see for the first time, in addition to seeing how the familiar locations translated to game format. The character animation fares much the same, with smooth movements that makes every character feel alive. All the aspects of the visual flair really come together, no doubt thanks to the collaboration of many talented animators, including the people behind the Scott Pilgrim game and a fair amount of the 2D Kirby entries. That talent shows through clear as day and presents a very fun world to explore.

Party God is a combination of Courage Wolf, Insanity Wolf, and Scumbag Steve’s hat. I approve of this.

The excitement of exploration also comes from finding the next colorful characters to talk to. This is, to put it simply, a very well-written game. Due to TV series writer Pendleton Ward serving as both a creative consultant and writer for the game, the writing for the game is up to the quality seen in the actual show. From the few episodes I have seen, characters seem to act just as they would in the show and much of the dialog is at the very least entertaining. In fact, a fair amount of lines carried enough strange humor that they elicited a chuckle or laugh out of me. To be completely honest, the stream of odd situations and interactions is what kept me playing the game, as the actual gameplay doesn’t quite measure up to the situational setup.

To make it clear, there’s not too much wrong with the gameplay in and of itself. It plays very similarly to Zelda II, with a large overworld that leads into many different side-scrolling towns, areas, and dungeons, complete with small RPG elements. In fact, to make it even more analogous, as you travel the overworld, monster symbols even appear that will take you to a small area where you have to defeat all enemies to get away. The combat and abilities as you go through the side-scrolling sections are simple to understand and, as you progress, you get more abilities that allow Finn and Jake to progress further through the Land of Ooo alongside upgrades to strength, health, and speed. However, the gameplay is disappointingly standard, as that description would imply. I didn’t really get annoyed as I traversed the different lands, but I didn’t particularly have fun either. I came to see them more as interludes between the more entertaining character interactions.

The inventory and item systems are similarly normal. As you travel across the side-scrolling stages, you can come across numerous items, including power-ups to increase various abilities and many food items used for healing. Condiments can also be found to make the food items heal even more. Sadly, nothing is really done with the concept and the items are altogether unnecessary, as the game is easy enough already. I never carried more than a full-stocked inventory of healing items and ate some whenever I happened to get low, basically making the game a walk in the park. In addition, the “puzzles” included amount to nothing more than constant fetch quests to actually unlock the way to the dungeons that get tiresome rather quickly.

Finn, use Fire Spin! Wait, wrong series.

Of course, that’s not to say that the gameplay is entirely disappointing. If there is one good spot in that particular category, it’s the bosses. More or less, every one presents an interesting fight that differs from all the others enough to make it feel unique. One boss will be a mob of 100 one-hit point penguins and the next will be a transforming monster that attacks with music just as much as it attacks with its claws. I did have fun playing through each of these encounters and I consider them, alongside the funny set-pieces, to be the highlight of the actual adventure.

Finally, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the surprisingly awesome soundtrack composed by Jake Kaufman. I admit that I haven’t heard the man’s work before, but the soundtrack on display here sure makes me want to search it out. The music for each area always fits perfectly and a fair amount of the tracks are as bouncy and happy as they should be considering the world space. On the opposite side however, there are some tracks that, while still great and appropriate for their situations, don’t fit that outer look at all to tie in with the darker side of Adventure Time. It all works together very well and there are more than a few songs I’m particularly fond of, such as the Cloud Kingdom theme and Marceline’s Theme. I have to say that the music is probably the best part of the game.

However, as much as I like the personality, graphical design, and sound design of the game, those aspects can’t overcome its gameplay issues and short length. I beat this game in about four and a half hours and although a New Game+ mode is unlocked with tougher bosses, it’s not enough to really extend the playtime beyond game completion. Still, despite the major issues with the actual gameplay, I didn’t mind playing through this game and that’s more than I can say for most of the licensed games I’ve had the displeasure of playing.

Adventure Time: Hey Ice King? Why’d You Steal Our Garbage?!! manages to convey the feel of the show about as well as it possibly could be done and that is a major positive for a game based on an existing property. If you like Adventure Time, I’m sure you’ll find entertainment in all the clever references and similar style the game exudes. Even if you don’t know about or don’t like Adventure Time, you might want to give it a chance anyway, if for no other reason than to see a pretty good licensed game and laugh at some ridiculous situations. I know my interest in the show has definitely been peaked enough to check it out on my own time, so I guess the game succeeded in its purpose. It’s not the best game I’ve played by a long shot, but I definitely respect the creators for putting forth effort in their endeavor.

A review copy of this game was provided by the publisher for this review. The game was played to completion in about 4 hours and 30 minutes.

Adventure Time: Hey Ice King! Why'd You Steal Our Garbage?!! Review

By Robert H.

What's this? A licensed game that's... pretty good?!