Fancy Pants Adventure

Platforming perfection

Reviewed by Shawn from afro-ninja.com

Fancy Pants Adventure is an absolutely beautiful platforming game. Maybe not in the graphics department, but in the overall fun factor area. The worlds feel open and free, and movement and control are nearly flawless.

The object of the game is simply to make you way through some levels and beat the end boss. Along the way you’ll face a few enemies, collect little swirls (equivalent of coins), and have fun interacting with the level designs. You get a real sense of speed when running around, but not so much that it feels like an out-of-control sonic game. The surfaces in the game have plenty of curves, so this means you can run up the sides of walls and roll down hills. The character himself is a stick figure but is fluidly animated, and there’s a lot of little touches that make this game shine. There’s a turning animation when you switch from forward to backward, and if you jump in the middle of the animation you’ll do a backflip. When coming out of a loop your character will continue moving in the angle and momentum they had before, making curve-to-curve jumps look pretty neat. It’s the combination of physics, animated fluidity, and level design that make it fun to just run and jump around in a level without trying to go anywhere.

Graphics are simple but stylish, and any shortcomings of the graphics are made up for by the animations that accompany them. The game also has a nice soundtrack to go along with it (provided by API) that really fits the casual fun atmosphere of the game. The game also features a small collection of trophies to find and collect, adding a bit of replay value. However most of them are pretty easy to come across. When you get to the point in a level where you can either move forward or explore some other path, chances are that other path will give you a trophy. You’ll also learn a wall-jump ability if you look carefully- but as the author himself states you won’t really make much use of it in this installment. Personally I found the wall jumping a little hard to pull off.

I really have nothing bad to say about this game except that there’s not enough of it. You’ve got one world split into three levels, with a boss. The game also could have been a bit harder, but with an engine like this I’d rather just have more areas to play in than a harder time doing it. I also hope for the next installment the wall-jumping gets a little more intuitive, and integral to the level design. Fancy Pants Adventure is an absolute must-play flash adventure game.

Click here to play Fancy Pants Adventure






Comments (2) [view all]

  Latest comment left by Paranoia:

In terms of gameplay and style, this really reminds me of Pandemonium on the PS1; easilly one of the most awesome 2D platformers ever made.  The engine here is simply brilliant, and the basicness of the art does not subrtact from the great style and animatone possessed here. Its only real flaw is the fact that there's not nearly enough of it.  At the game's end I just found myself wanting more and more levels!  Other than that it's a superb, must-play game. 10/10

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