It’s not too often that we come across a game that takes the conventional side-scrolling action experience, and adds a bit of flavor to create new experiences. My Friend Pedro made noise last year when it was announced and since then, fans in the gaming industry were hungry to get their hands on the title and start doing acrobatic theatrical feats with the main character. And let’s not forget there’s also a sentient banana who acts as your guide through this world full of crime. If any of you were fans of the early Max Payne titles that introduced the gaming world to slow-motion bullet time and a large handful of non-stop action at every corner, My Friend Pedro is the title that pays tribute to all of that in its own fantastic way.

While My Friend Pedro isn’t a long game, it’s certainly one that will entice you to come back for more in order to master your pirouette-styled attacks and take out the corrupt underground syndicate that’s trying to poison society. With well designed environments, over-the-top action and a plethora of challenges to overcome along the way, My Friend Pedro speaks to those who love to kick ass and have fun doing it. Leap off of tall buildings while doing “360 no scope” kills while dodging every bullet that comes your way, leaving the scene like it was just another day in the office. What comes off as a comedic title really does demonstrate a lot of technical prowess in terms of its overall delivery when it comes to gameplay, taking a simple concept and morphing it into a truly electrifying experience for players.

What makes My Friend Pedro stand out visually lies in its ability to turn seemingly normal moments into wild and crazy ones, only with its slow-motion theatrics and well-designed environments. Everything runs at a smooth framerate, and even when bullets are ricocheting off of the walls and enemies fly in all different directions, visually the game doesn’t stutter. This is a huge plus because developer Deadtoast took the initiative to ensure that fans received a title that wasn’t just cool to look at, but one that performed seamlessly in the midst of all the frantic action taking place.

While My Friend Pedro does deliver in terms of its gameplay and visual aesthetics, in the sound department it’s nothing really to write home about. The gunshot sounds don’t really give off a very realistic feel and to be honest, it’s probably something to expect since My Friend Pedro’s goal isn’t to play the role of a realistic shooter experience. Be that as it may, we feel a lot more effort could’ve been done to ensure that at least enemy screams sounded a bit more human and that the overall soundtrack provided a little bit more girth during very impactful moments.

This is definitely where My Friend Pedro shines the most and rightfully so. The game immediately throws you into the heat of battle, giving you a quick tutorial about how to utilize all of the mechanics, and using it to your advantage when necessary. Its very simple and easy-to-grasp approach is what makes jumping in to play such a blast because there’s less attention placed on complexity, and more on just sheer enjoyment. The sentient banana that follows you around acts both as the sidekick but also as the comedic breath of fresh air, since it provides the dialogue moving forward while you’re destroying everything in your way. While Pedro is the main lead, the banana plays such a major role and is what provides substance to the experience.

Everything is stylishly presented while performing cool acrobatics ,and everything moves by so quickly that sometimes you need to slow down a bit just to embrace the smaller details. Just the subtle things is quite enchanting, like seeing Pedro pirouette in a matrix-like manner, zooming down a zip line while dodging bullets. In addition to that, seeing how enemies respond to your actions adds a little more depth to it all.

On the surface, My Friend Pedro is a very appealing action title, but there’s a lot of beauty and grace that you may overlook once the insanity unfolds. Watching an enemy shriek out of panic and run to call his goons is a comical affair, but watching them cower behind a box is like well-timed scripting in an action movie.

This is by no means done in a perfect manner as some enemies do behave in a caveman-like manner, simply standing there and acting as a voluntary meat-shield for your bullets. The AI at times can be brutally annoying just as they also can be quite challenging once the light bulb turns on, and it becomes more apparent in the harder difficulties. We’d recommend playing on the harder difficulty to really get a kick out of the game, especially because that’s when it really becomes less of a run-and-gun affair and more of a tactical endeavor that will require all of your attention.

Are you going bananas for My Friend Pedro? Maybe the joke is already a bit worn at this point, but we certainly hope so because it’s totally worth the purchase as it will give you hours of fun gameplay. There wasn’t one moment where we ever thought the game felt boring or out of place, and playing on the harder difficulty made the effort of winning that much more gratifying. With the game officially out now, we highly recommend you folks grab this title and show the underground world who’s boss!

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