Game Reviews

Adventure Time Game Wizard

Star onStar onStar onStar onStar off
Get
Adventure Time Game Wizard

For those who don't know, Adventure Time is a critically-acclaimed cartoon with an appeal that ranges far wider than its looks might suggest.

And if you were to apply the same 'judge a book by its cover' logic to Adventure Time Game Wizard, you might write it off as yet another simple 2D platformer and little more. That would be a foolish mistake.

Yes - there is indeed a fairly ample 2D adventure waiting to be bashed through, but the real stars of the show here are the robust level creation and sharing functions, offering aspiring game-makers of all ages everything they need to have a go at level design.

We're off the see the Wizard

Starting with a fully-voiced animated intro on par with the TV show, Adventure Time Game Wizard sees series heroes Finn and Jake stumble upon a magic book.

Upon drawing a doodle of himself, Jake sees the sketch come to life, and naturally his best bud wants to get in on the action too.

Should you play the included adventure, you'll journey through the usual suspects of generic platformer environments - a grassy starting area, ice-based levels, a more dangerous lava-filled dungeon. You know the drill.

As you progress, you'll meet and unlock other members of the Adventure Time cast, including Ice King, BMO, and Flame Princess, all of whom have special abilities that unlock earlier inaccessible areas - effectively making this a junior Metroidvania.

A couple of control options are available, letting you opt for either a slider or d-pad for movement, with buttons to jump and attack. Both movement options are a bit pants though.

While the d-pad wins out for clarity, pressing up to grab on to ladders or grating - essential for trickier sections - feels harder than it needs to be, especially if you're playing on a full-sized tablet. Younglings be warned.

Likewise, other aspects may prove tricky for younger players. Some of the enemies you'll encounter are alarmingly precise with their attacks, which are hard to avoid given their speed, and boss fights are surprisingly challenging.

Ahead of the game

But the real reason for playing through the pre-made adventure, achievement-hunting aside, is inspiration. With varying levels of complexity and devious design, the dev truly whets your appetite for making your own stages.

Available from the get-go is a level creation toolset which lets you either create levels via simple in-app taps and swipes or, ingeniously, print out sheets onto which grid-based designs can be sketched, then scanned-in via your device's camera.

While nowhere near the capabilities of LittleBigPlanet, the offering here is smart, simple and streamlined, and it works perfectly.

Once your level is complete, you can then share it with the community and play other offerings, with many proving surprisingly good, even this early into the game's lifespan.

With lists for levels that are new and most popular, up-voted by giving a stage a thumbs-up or marking it as a favourite, it's easy to find new content, and to 'follow' talented level-makers who, in yet another smart touch, require usernames that are almost gibberish, maintaining privacy.

While a little rough around the edges in very minor ways, Adventure Time Game Wizard is outstanding. To put it simply, if something like this existed when I was 10 years old, it would have blown my mind.

Adventure Time Game Wizard

Truly innovative and potentially infinite, Adventure Time Game Wizard is an essential purchase for younger players interested in making games, and doubly-so for for fans of the show
Score
Giles Armstrong
Giles Armstrong
Having worked in the games industry since 2007, Giles knows a thing or two about how good video games are made, why bad games happen, and that great games matter. A Game & Narrative Designer by day, story-based games are quite literally his bread and butter.