Me and my banana – review of the game “My Friend Pedro”

It has been known for a long time that Devolver Digital has a special liking for publishing games, to put it mildly, extraordinary. It is no different with their latest title, My Friend Pedro , which, advertised with the slogan “Blood, bullets, bananas”, immediately seems to be in line with the likes of Hotline Miami or Broforce .

Until there is blood

My Friend Pedrouses a very rudimentary storyline. The main character wakes up in a certain basement. He doesn’t know what he is actually doing there or where the mysterious mask comes from on his face. A moment later, these doubts are dispelled by the title Pedro – a nice, talking banana revealing three basic facts to the protagonist. First: Pedro is a friend and you can trust him completely. Secondly: the hero lost his memory through the fall. Third and most importantly, it would be fun to kill everyone. From that moment on, the player’s task is to traverse various levels and indulge in carefree slaughter. Pedro, on the other hand, will comment on the protagonist’s actions on an ongoing basis, often with a good dose of irony and black humor. This is not the most complex scenario, but you have to admit that there is a lot of fun jokes in the game, and the finale provides a satisfying and absurd twist. In other words, the developers are doing very well in the chosen format.

Humble beginnings

There is a chance that some players will find the concept quite familiar. It is worth knowing that My Friend Pedro is in fact a remake of the browser game from 2014 with the same title. As in the reviewed game, we were controlling the actions of the killer guided by a friendly banana. After a few years, DeadToast Entertainment decided that this project deserves a full-fledged title with a three-dimensional setting, having a chance to reach a wider audience. For developers known so far from browser and mobile games, My Friend Pedro was also supposed to be a ticket to the world of PC and console games. I have to admit that it was hard to get a better debut …

A tasty banana

The gameplay in My Friend Pedro is great. On the surface, it seems to be easy, because we are faced with a simple goal – to get from point A to B, shooting whatever we can, and everything is kept in the 2.5D sidescroller convention . However, thanks to banal assumptions, the creators could focus on refining specific elements at an exceptionally high level. The shooting feeling alone makes a very good impression. There may not be too many available guns, but in return, each of them works slightly differently and has an appropriate recoil.

Even more important than ripping with lead is the hero’s movement. Since the health bar is vulnerable to shortening, the ability to avoid enemy bullets is useful. For this purpose, a whole range of acrobatic movements is provided, including bouncing off the walls in flight. What’s more, when we hold two weapons in our hands at the same time, the game allows you to lock the sight on one of the opponents and shoot in two directions. The bullet time mechanics turns out to be the key . By eliminating enemies as effectively and efficiently as possible, we fill the gauge that allows you to slow down time. That’s when the real fun begins, when, like Neo from the Matrix or any other Max Payne, we can wreak precise destruction without even being scratched. My Friend In the hands of experienced players, Pedro has a chance to become a real bloody dance. I wonder how the speedrunner scene will react to the title .

What’s more, the creators focus on diversity. From time to time, we receive elements that diversify the fun, such as stages on a motorcycle or objects that are susceptible to interaction. We are talking about a skateboard that can be used both for moving and for quick decapitation, or an inconspicuous pan, which, when thrown into the air, allows you to eliminate enemies with ricochets.

Hit with a bit of tar

As unfortunately you know, there is no rose or banana without thorns. There were a few elements in My Friend Pedro that didn’t sound right. Although the game gives you the potential to repeat levels in order to achieve the highest possible results, it also discourages you from doing so. Somewhere in the middle of production there is a section almost entirely based on platform elements. The problem is that the model of the hero’s movement is not adapted to platformers, so these stages require more precision than usual and can be very frustrating.

The final levels also leave something to be desired. To a large extent, they are based on environmental puzzles and are very linear in nature, giving no scope for free elimination, which is so important for the game. Thus, they are much less suitable for breaking records.

Also the visual setting could be better. Although the traversed locations differ significantly from each other, the graphics themselves are aesthetic at best. It is known that the productions of indie games creators often struggle with budget constraints, but the technical imperfections could probably be masked with a more original style. The same goes for music. It just is, and that’s basically all there is to say about it.

Let yourself be tempted

My Friend Pedro is a really successful title. The crazy slaughterhouse catches you to the screen from the very first moments and can deliver a banana on your face. It is a pity that in several places the creators overcooked the title of its charm. Not everyone will probably be satisfied with the short game time as well. My adventure with Pedro lasted less than six hours. So I can advise more frugal players to wait for a slightly larger discount. It is definitely a game worth giving a chance and which a fan of arcade shooters should not miss.