{"id":572,"date":"2021-04-06T14:22:34","date_gmt":"2021-04-06T14:22:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/?p=572"},"modified":"2021-04-06T14:22:34","modified_gmt":"2021-04-06T14:22:34","slug":"my-friend-pedro-savior-or-false-shepherd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/2021\/04\/06\/my-friend-pedro-savior-or-false-shepherd\/","title":{"rendered":"My Friend Pedro: Savior or False Shepherd"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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This article originally ran under a different banner\/website in July of 2019 and is now being here re-uploaded for purposes of convenience and consolidation. Please enjoy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MY LOYAL FOLLOWERS!!!  Games, like many forms of art, succeed at evoking an emotional response.  Some evoke feelings of sorrow as a valued companion sacrifices themselves to ensure your survival.  Some evoke feelings of joy as you and the player character were able to overcome the odds and save the day.  Others allow us to unleash the primal beast inside of us that has been feeding on our frustration and rage.  No doubt 2016\u2019s Doom <\/em>comes to mind, but I argue there are not many games like Doom <\/em>that let you go full berserk.  Three years later, I have finally found a game that I believe captures a similar animalistic rage in a slick fashion.  If Doom <\/em>was meant to make you feel like Wolverine tearing up government agents invading the X-Mansion, then My Friend Pedro <\/em>captures the feeling of Deadpool dropping into a van full of criminals and turning their pants brown and red.  MY LOYAL FOLLOWERS, I PRESENT TO YOU THE BALLET OF BLOOD AND BULLETS: MY FRIEND PEDRO!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Similar to Doom<\/em>, My Friend Pedro<\/em> follows some similar beats in the story department.  You are a faceless protagonist, traversing maze-like levels with enemies who would rather not let you complete the level.  Much like Rorschach from Watchmen<\/em>, you’re not locked in with these enemies, these enemies are locked in with you.  You are simply a harbinger of death.  Along the way, you encounter what could be considered hallucinations of a floating banana named Pedro.  Claiming to be your friend, he acts as an almost Navi-like character pointing out weapons and the way forward.  He does it all in a sarcastic tone that almost seems mandatory for all Devolver Digital games.  Oh, did I mention this was a Devolver Digital game?  Naturally, one can only vaguely imagine the cartoon violence on display that is on par with a Deadpool cartoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It is not just the setting that resembles everyone\u2019s favorite Merc with a mouth.  I didn\u2019t compare My Friend Pedro <\/em>to the opening scene in Deadpool <\/em>for no reason.  My Friend Pedro <\/em>can best be described as a side-scrolling shoot\u2019em up similar to Katana Zero<\/em>.  Unlike Katana Zero\u2019s <\/em>one-hit kill, you are given three health bars that, depending on the difficulty, will refill until they are empty, allowing you to be reckless at times.  You have an arsenal of weapons, some that you can dual wield, a spin move that allows you to dodge incoming shots, a wall jump, and finally bullet time.  All of these elements blend perfectly together into a banana milkshake of violence, that I know I should be ashamed for liking, but satisfies my animalistic nature to break things when my temper boils over.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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My Friend Pedro <\/em>works hard to keep each level feeling as exciting as the newest roller coaster at your local amusement park.  Along with taking you to various locations like an underground meat shop, a sewer filled with hardcore gamers, and a dream-like fantasy world, the game will often throw in new combat toys into your playpen.  You will often find barrels that you can ride to run over people, swing signs that you can use to ricochet your shots, or skateboards that you can ride and kick into people mid-air.  Performing all these moves are vital to the performance grading system in  My Friend Pedro<\/em>, and actively encourages you to replay levels trying to get a better score.  While My Friend Pedro <\/em>doesn\u2019t boast a sixty-hour campaign, the arcade-style scoring system will allow many players countless hours of play trying to achieve that fabled S ranking.  Even as I speak, I have only been able to achieve S on the motorbike level due to the fact I am not very good at video games.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Now I know what you are thinking.\u00a0 Side-scrolling, violent pixel art, dodge moves, bullet time, and a motorbike level?\u00a0 Weren\u2019t all these features available in Katana Zero, <\/em>and yes they were.\u00a0 Both of these Devolver Digital games have a lot in common that you can draw comparisons to.\u00a0 While I do believe both are fun and worthy of your time, I can\u2019t help but feel like Devolver Digital is cannibalizing its audience.\u00a0 If someone had a tight budget and was looking for a fun indie game, I struggle to be able to argue get both games.\u00a0 If I had to choose between both games, I would probably choose Katana Zero <\/em>because I found it really enjoyable to watch the levels played out in real-time.\u00a0 It feels so slick to watch yourself dodge roll and deflect bullets in real-time after you spend the whole level in bullet time.\u00a0 My Friend Pedro <\/em>is able to satisfy that visceral joy that comes from killing assassins in Christmas sweaters, it just doesn\u2019t feel as slick as Katana Zero.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Again, all of this doesn\u2019t mean My Friend Pedro <\/em>is unworthy of your time.\u00a0 I would almost encourage my audience to not waste their money on the latest triple-A game and spend their sixty dollars on Katana Zero, My Friend Pedro, <\/em>and any other Devolver Digital titles.\u00a0 Why do you ask?\u00a0 These games focus on fun.\u00a0 Plain and simple.\u00a0 There are no surprise mechanics in their games.\u00a0 No grindy gameplay designed to psychologically weaken your resistance to recurring user spending.\u00a0 No live services systems insight.\u00a0 In an industry flooded with unchecked greed, it is nice to know Devolver Digital has erected safe havens that focus on games that work on making one mechanic as fun and enjoyable as possible.\u00a0 The real thing video games should be about.\u00a0 Along with blood, bullets, and bananas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This article originally ran under a different banner\/website in July of 2019 and is now being here re-uploaded for purposes of convenience and consolidation. Please enjoy. MY LOYAL FOLLOWERS!!!  Games, like many forms of art, succeed at evoking an emotional response.  Some evoke feelings of sorrow as a valued companion sacrifices themselves to ensure your… Continue reading My Friend Pedro: Savior or False Shepherd<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":573,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-572","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-game-reviews","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/572","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=572"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/572\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":581,"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/572\/revisions\/581"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/573"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}