His Adventure
Developer: Pezzini Games
Seller: Olivier Pezzini-Picart
Genre: Puzzle/Platformer
Platform: iPhone
Release:11/8/2011
Price: $0.99 (BUY NOW!)
Although it is HIS adventure, YOU do all the work. Geez!
Overview
His Adventure is a unique and adorable title developed for iOS devices that takes a ‘less-is-more’ approach to gaming. It’s simple yet effective, highly addictive and highly challenging which really takes you back to the retro days of gaming. If spanning over 70 levels with 216 stars to collect for only 99 cents isn’t enough to impress you, Im sure the fact it was developed by a 17 year old will, and also make you re-think what you’ve accomplished in your life, much like it did with me!
This is yet another OHS announcement brought to you by Pezzini Games.
Gameplay
In His Adventure you play as a cute little drawing known as ‘Him’ that you have to escort on his way back home through a variety of complex mazes, avoiding obstacles along the way. He moves by himself, constantly in a straight line and reverses direction upon hitting a wall. Your job is to move a simple platform underneath his feet with your finger and get him to the exit of each level, of which there are over 70 throughout 4 separate worlds. For 100% completion though, you’ll have to collect all 3 stars in each level, which is a lot harder than it sounds, as failing to complete a level means you’ll have to get them all over again. There is some really great level design that is very challenging and often frustrating, but succeeding in completing a level just makes it much more rewarding. His Adventure gets really difficult, really fast and may turn off some gamers, but for the hardcore platformers and puzzlers, this will be a really nice treat. Unfortunately there is no help feature which would’ve been nice, as a guide or a help option for completing some of the harder levels really would benefit some players. Sadly, the difficulty isn’t the only frustrating thing about His Adventure, as controls can be a little clumsy. Sometimes the platform will not appear where you want it too, often it will appear above your finger which can occasionally be confusing. Also you can’t touch the protagonists’ head, as it will kill him which is an odd choice, as his head is quite large and its easy to do accidentally which can be frustrating. Also, for such a small game there is a surprisingly and annoyingly long load time for such a simple game in-between levels and even when pressing pause. It’s only a few seconds and isn’t really that big of a deal, but is noticeable and slightly. However, His Adventure still remains highly addictive, and all these mishaps are easily ignored and keeps you coming back for more. A lot more.
Ok, who left their gigantic buzzsaw of death lying around?!
Graphics and Audio
Much like the game play, His Adventure goes for a simplistic, ‘less-is-more’ approach when it comes to graphics. The worlds in which you travel are simply lined pages of a notebook with the protagonist and his environments hand-drawn in black, so it really feels like your looking at some kids random scribbles and doodles that are just coming to life out of the page. Stars are shaded with gaps in the colouring to really give that scribbled appearance, and the animation is nice and smooth.The character design of ‘Him’ is simply adorable, with anime-inspired arched eyes to express his joy of winning a level with a chibi-styled body type with a huge head and small body that looks really cute. Upon his death, he’ll disintegrate in a fashion very reminiscent of something you’d expect to see happen in a Road Runner cartoon. Simply put, His Adventure looks simply adorable. The audio of His Adventure goes hand-in-hand with this, with a simple, catchy, childish nursery rhyme-styled theme which constantly loops. While it is good, it does get very repetitive after a while, but fortunately you can turn it off. Sound effects are well-suited with theme and are also a pleasant to hear, especially when collecting a star as it does help contribute to making the success feel very rewarding.
Screw this guys, I’m going home!
Verdict
His Adventure is a simple game that is simply awesome, and easily recommendable to anyone. It’s filled with character and addictive gameplay and some great level design, and feels very rewarding. Whats remarkable is that its frustratingly challenging, but yet still addictive and keeps you wanting to come back for more. However this difficulty will turn off some players, so I if games anger you easily, this probably isn’t the perfect title for you. There are also some control issues to be addressed, but as previously mentioned, it can be easily ignored. A very fun game at a very cheap price that is defiantly worth checking out.
I just want to pick up this guy and give him a hug! His Adventure plush toys anyone?
PROS
- Wonderful Art Style
- Addictive Gameplay
- Challenging
- Feels Rewarding
- Great Level Design
CONS
- Clumsy Controls
- Not being able to touch the head makes things unnecessarily difficult at times
- Difficulty may be a little to frustrating for some players
