MY FRIEND PEDRO REVIEW
Note: I give spoiler warnings for spoilers.
I didn't know much about My Friend Pedro before picking it up; I just saw that it was leaving Gamepass soon, and was drawn in by its undeniably interesting cover. I'd been looking for a good in-between game - a relatively short timesink - which is basically what I expected from it. Well, it definitely turned out to be a timesink! I ended up playing it for days on end last week, struggling to get 100% of the achievements before it was gone. I did it, though, and I'm glad I did. Those hours really helped to refine my opinions of it, both in what it does well, and what it doesn't.
Right off the bat, I was pleasantly surprised to stumble upon something that scratched my Hotline Miami itch (and I was unsurprised to learn that they were published by the same company.) MFP unashamedly draws a lot of inspiration from that duology - particularly with its gameplay, its music, and its narrative themes. In regards to the former two, it uses that inspiration very well, which is commendable; it's very difficult to live up to HLM, at least in my eyes. However, in the story department - both in what it borrows and in what is original - it completely flops.
I know some people might disagree with me making so many comparisons. I'm of the opinion, though, that when you use something as a blueprint for your own creation, it's completely fair for your work to be held up to it. There will be multiple points throughout this review where I talk about this further.
SHORT REVIEW
Visuals: 3.5/5
Sound: 4.5/5
Story: 1/5
Gameplay: 4.5/5
Worldbuilding: 2.5/5
Achievements (Does not count toward overall score.): 2/5
Overall score: 3/5
IN-DEPTH REVIEW
Visuals:
The graphics are pretty good, especially by indie standards. The 3D sidescroller aesthetic is really cool. I particularly like the way the game plays with camera angles. Besides that, I don't think there's many particularly memorable things about the art direction. However, I DO think the choices made fit very well with the core mechanics of the game. There's tight passages connected to larger rooms that accentuate the combos and platforming. There's a mundane color scheme that makes the enemies and bullets pop against the gray/brown backgrounds. I nearly always prefer vibrant and/or contrasting settings (I especially love colorful ones), but I do understand why it's more subdued here.
There are some very neat visuals, which are typically reserved for boss fights/final levels. Given the game's relatively short length, I think that's forgivable. You're not going TOO long without seeing something interesting. I especially love [SPOILERS] the level where you've fallen out of a skyscraper and are approaching the ground rapidly, as well as the train level. [SPOILER ENDING]
Overall, 3.5/5.
Sound:
I honestly wasn't paying close attention to the soundtrack my first playthrough. It was often drowned out by noise going on around me, so I simply wrote it off as generic dubstep. While I was collecting s-ranks, though, I realized that the music was a LOT better than I'd given it credit for. It's a tradition for me to listen to the soundtrack of whatever I'm reviewing, and I can definitely see myself coming back to this one in my free time. I wish I had been able to hear it clearly while I played. I feel like I missed out on a real strength of the game because of it. I seriously recommend playing with headphones (or at least without anything else going on around you.)
I also need to compliment the way I feel the soundtrack contributes to the gameplay, too. The inspiration from Hotline Miami shines here - the music is a big atmosphere creator, and a motivating factor in egging you through the levels, just like in HLM.
The gun sound effects are satisfying. I also really like how everything (except the music) distorts when you go into slowmo.
Overall, 4.5/5.
Story:
Oh good lord, I don't even know where to start. Nearly every element at play within the story is executed atrociously bad.
I will say this - there is an interesting foundation. Like I mentioned before, there are definitely some cool moments with the bosses/final levels, but even these are moreso contributable to the visuals, sound, and level design than anything to do with the plot. The last few minutes of the game were done particularly well, too, especially the ones leading up to the final boss. I believe that something really fun could have been done here if put in the hands of competent storytellers.
Before I go any further, I also want to acknowledge that the plot was obviously never meant to be the main focus here. That's absolutely okay. You can still make something great while honing in on specific aspects of it. My problem isn't that the story is simple, or a backdrop, or anything like that. My problem is that what IS here is AWFUL. It makes it even more appalling when you realize that it tries for similar themes that HLM uses. MFP feels like it's trying for 'comedic commentary', but it falls so short of it - in both the 'comedy' and the 'commentary' - that it's sad.
The writing is cringe-worthy. MFP attempts to make up for its lack of serious depth by deploying humor, but that hardly works when your comedy is awful. It's less funny than dad shit. Here's an example:
"I can't believe it's Christmas again already. I didn't buy you any present this year. But I wrote you a poem! Rose are red... Violets are blue... Grass is green... Eggs are white... But yellow inside... ... Weird. It's still a work in progress."
What does this even mean? It's certainly not a joke. You can't qualify something as a joke when there's no punchline! This is just the tip of the iceberg, too. Be prepared to be bombarded with this kind of thing at least every few levels.
There are some minor spoilers in this paragraph, but I promise you that it's all so stupid it won't matter. One of the antagonists is the 'Dictator of the Internet'. Yep, that's her title, and there's no explanation for her character beyond it. In fact, there's almost no explanation for anything going on - in the story or the worldbuilding. Here's another direct quote:
"I guess being the dictator of The Internet is the ultimate power in this day and age. People's world view is built on what content they see online. If you can control what content is shown, you can control the minds of the people."
Wow. Thank you for such amazing social commentary, told to me directly, with no room for smart or nuanced writing.
I specifically want to draw attention to the way HLM and MFP both comment on "violence in video games." Hotline Miami is specifically designed to create discomfort in the player as they murder indiscriminately. Jacket, the protagonist, is actively condemned for his actions. Let's not forget that the most infamous line from the game is him being pointedly asked,"Do you like hurting other people?" HLM has a lot to say about the gore that it's built around, and it says those things exceptionally well. Its themes are one of its greatest strengths.
Now, in contrast, take the way MFP chooses to broach this topic. Again, I know it's not as narrative-driven as HLM is. I also know that since it's comedy-based, it won't handle this the same way. There are good ways to use humor to make observations about serious topics. It just has to be written well, and as I've already said, this game really isn't.
MFP satirizes the larger public's perception of video games in The Sewer levels. Pedro tells you that the 'gamers' you encounter in this area have basically gone insane from the violence they've been exposed to. He also says that they now live in the sewers, because... Well, MFP doesn't even know. Pedro makes a lame joke about how it's probably because of all the sewer levels in video games, so they must feel right at home. Are sewer levels even common?! I feel like they're literally making that up. Let's also not pretend that using "ZOMG" and "n00b", even ironically, is anything but cringy.
Now, I do think it's really cool to talk about the stereotypes associated with a certain type of media within said media. Parodying the way society has portrayed games in the past is certainly a fun idea for a game - making fun of the extreme that people pushed, that gamers would turn into violent murderers, and showing how stupid that extreme actually is. However, the way MFP does it falls completely flat. Again, because the jokes aren't at all funny, but also because the game has nothing smart to say about the topic beyond that. Your own player character is murdering hundreds upon hundreds of people - in fact, you are being influenced to do so by a talking banana. And yet, there's never much said THAT. It's just THERE. The two points could have easily been tied together, but it doesn't even try.
On top of all that, the pacing is all over the place. There's an entire chapter near the middle that just takes a break from the main story for no reason. This was a novel idea for the first two levels that changed things up a bit, but it got old after that. Especially when there's almost nothing going on in the first place.
I want to clarify that this isn't an experience-ruining fault. Thankfully, the dialogue is skippable, and I honestly wouldn't blame someone for not reading one sentence of it. You can completely ignore this trash heap and enjoy what MFP excels at - the music and the gameplay. Speaking of which...
Overall, 1/5.
Gameplay:
Damn, this game is fun though. The fast-paced, combo-based level design and combat are impressively polished. It's really difficult to pull off those long combos, but when you do, it feels amazing. Plus, kicking a skateboard at someone's head or ricocheting bullets off of a frying pan to kill three guys will always be sick.
There are a lot of neat mechanics based around both your character and the environment - slowing down time, swinging from ropes, kicking, riding skateboards, backflipping off enemies, and dodging bullets, for example. That's just breaching the surface. The idea behind them is to kill in creative and flashy ways, which will earn you more points. However, as cool as this idea is, a lot of the mechanics (with the exceptions of slowing time and dodging bullets) become pretty much obsolete when you go for s-ranks. It doesn't matter if you kill everyone in the most mundane way possible, as long as you keep your combo going. The points that a giant combo provide overshadow any extra points you could be getting for all of that stuff. These smaller mechanics DO become more relevant again when you're trying to get to the top of the leaderboard. Every point counts then. Let's be honest, though, with how difficult getting an s-rank is in the first place, I think most people will just be happy to get one at all.
Since the game is a sidescroller, it also chooses to employ platforming and environmental puzzles. I think that, mostly, this is executed very well. I like the platforming, and a majority of the puzzles are fine. However, it's difficult to overlook the way that some of these sections slow down the important part of the gameplay - to put it bluntly, the killing - and mess with the pacing a bit.
On top of that, MFP overstays its welcome for a little bit too long. It's fun, but anything fun can become tiresome after too much of it. They could have definitely cut a few levels toward the end and I would not have missed them. The finished product would have been much more concise if they had.
Overall, 4.5/5.
Worldbuilding:
None of the lore here makes much sense at all. There's little scope of the world beyond the enemies you encounter and a very small bit of dialogue from Pedro. Politicians are mentioned offhandedly one time, I think, as having argued over a font for a sign.
The environmental design is good most of the time. Despite there not being anything too complicated going on visually, everything does what it needs to. I do think that some of the settings become bland when put next to each other, because of how similar they can be. Like I mentioned before though, the music contributes a lot.
Overall, 2.5/5.
Extra Category - Achievements:
If you want to 100% MFP, be prepared to invest way more time than just one playthrough would take you. I'm sure it will vary based on your skill level with games like this in general, but it took me over 38 hours to get all of the s-ranks I needed.
Overall, 2/5.
Overall game score: 3/5. My Friend Pedro is a good timesinker with really fun gameplay and very cool bossfights. The story is atrocious, but that can (mostly) be skipped over in favor of focusing on ridiculous combos and flashy murders. It runs a little too long, and has some pacing issues, but its 4 hour playtime makes that forgivable. It is absolutely worth picking up, despite the faults.
Note: I give spoiler warnings for spoilers.
I didn't know much about My Friend Pedro before picking it up; I just saw that it was leaving Gamepass soon, and was drawn in by its undeniably interesting cover. I'd been looking for a good in-between game - a relatively short timesink - which is basically what I expected from it. Well, it definitely turned out to be a timesink! I ended up playing it for days on end last week, struggling to get 100% of the achievements before it was gone. I did it, though, and I'm glad I did. Those hours really helped to refine my opinions of it, both in what it does well, and what it doesn't.
Right off the bat, I was pleasantly surprised to stumble upon something that scratched my Hotline Miami itch (and I was unsurprised to learn that they were published by the same company.) MFP unashamedly draws a lot of inspiration from that duology - particularly with its gameplay, its music, and its narrative themes. In regards to the former two, it uses that inspiration very well, which is commendable; it's very difficult to live up to HLM, at least in my eyes. However, in the story department - both in what it borrows and in what is original - it completely flops.
I know some people might disagree with me making so many comparisons. I'm of the opinion, though, that when you use something as a blueprint for your own creation, it's completely fair for your work to be held up to it. There will be multiple points throughout this review where I talk about this further.
SHORT REVIEW
Visuals: 3.5/5
Sound: 4.5/5
Story: 1/5
Gameplay: 4.5/5
Worldbuilding: 2.5/5
Achievements (Does not count toward overall score.): 2/5
Overall score: 3/5
IN-DEPTH REVIEW
Visuals:
The graphics are pretty good, especially by indie standards. The 3D sidescroller aesthetic is really cool. I particularly like the way the game plays with camera angles. Besides that, I don't think there's many particularly memorable things about the art direction. However, I DO think the choices made fit very well with the core mechanics of the game. There's tight passages connected to larger rooms that accentuate the combos and platforming. There's a mundane color scheme that makes the enemies and bullets pop against the gray/brown backgrounds. I nearly always prefer vibrant and/or contrasting settings (I especially love colorful ones), but I do understand why it's more subdued here.
There are some very neat visuals, which are typically reserved for boss fights/final levels. Given the game's relatively short length, I think that's forgivable. You're not going TOO long without seeing something interesting. I especially love [SPOILERS] the level where you've fallen out of a skyscraper and are approaching the ground rapidly, as well as the train level. [SPOILER ENDING]
Overall, 3.5/5.
Sound:
I honestly wasn't paying close attention to the soundtrack my first playthrough. It was often drowned out by noise going on around me, so I simply wrote it off as generic dubstep. While I was collecting s-ranks, though, I realized that the music was a LOT better than I'd given it credit for. It's a tradition for me to listen to the soundtrack of whatever I'm reviewing, and I can definitely see myself coming back to this one in my free time. I wish I had been able to hear it clearly while I played. I feel like I missed out on a real strength of the game because of it. I seriously recommend playing with headphones (or at least without anything else going on around you.)
I also need to compliment the way I feel the soundtrack contributes to the gameplay, too. The inspiration from Hotline Miami shines here - the music is a big atmosphere creator, and a motivating factor in egging you through the levels, just like in HLM.
The gun sound effects are satisfying. I also really like how everything (except the music) distorts when you go into slowmo.
Overall, 4.5/5.
Story:
Oh good lord, I don't even know where to start. Nearly every element at play within the story is executed atrociously bad.
I will say this - there is an interesting foundation. Like I mentioned before, there are definitely some cool moments with the bosses/final levels, but even these are moreso contributable to the visuals, sound, and level design than anything to do with the plot. The last few minutes of the game were done particularly well, too, especially the ones leading up to the final boss. I believe that something really fun could have been done here if put in the hands of competent storytellers.
Before I go any further, I also want to acknowledge that the plot was obviously never meant to be the main focus here. That's absolutely okay. You can still make something great while honing in on specific aspects of it. My problem isn't that the story is simple, or a backdrop, or anything like that. My problem is that what IS here is AWFUL. It makes it even more appalling when you realize that it tries for similar themes that HLM uses. MFP feels like it's trying for 'comedic commentary', but it falls so short of it - in both the 'comedy' and the 'commentary' - that it's sad.
The writing is cringe-worthy. MFP attempts to make up for its lack of serious depth by deploying humor, but that hardly works when your comedy is awful. It's less funny than dad shit. Here's an example:
"I can't believe it's Christmas again already. I didn't buy you any present this year. But I wrote you a poem! Rose are red... Violets are blue... Grass is green... Eggs are white... But yellow inside... ... Weird. It's still a work in progress."
What does this even mean? It's certainly not a joke. You can't qualify something as a joke when there's no punchline! This is just the tip of the iceberg, too. Be prepared to be bombarded with this kind of thing at least every few levels.
There are some minor spoilers in this paragraph, but I promise you that it's all so stupid it won't matter. One of the antagonists is the 'Dictator of the Internet'. Yep, that's her title, and there's no explanation for her character beyond it. In fact, there's almost no explanation for anything going on - in the story or the worldbuilding. Here's another direct quote:
"I guess being the dictator of The Internet is the ultimate power in this day and age. People's world view is built on what content they see online. If you can control what content is shown, you can control the minds of the people."
Wow. Thank you for such amazing social commentary, told to me directly, with no room for smart or nuanced writing.
I specifically want to draw attention to the way HLM and MFP both comment on "violence in video games." Hotline Miami is specifically designed to create discomfort in the player as they murder indiscriminately. Jacket, the protagonist, is actively condemned for his actions. Let's not forget that the most infamous line from the game is him being pointedly asked,"Do you like hurting other people?" HLM has a lot to say about the gore that it's built around, and it says those things exceptionally well. Its themes are one of its greatest strengths.
Now, in contrast, take the way MFP chooses to broach this topic. Again, I know it's not as narrative-driven as HLM is. I also know that since it's comedy-based, it won't handle this the same way. There are good ways to use humor to make observations about serious topics. It just has to be written well, and as I've already said, this game really isn't.
MFP satirizes the larger public's perception of video games in The Sewer levels. Pedro tells you that the 'gamers' you encounter in this area have basically gone insane from the violence they've been exposed to. He also says that they now live in the sewers, because... Well, MFP doesn't even know. Pedro makes a lame joke about how it's probably because of all the sewer levels in video games, so they must feel right at home. Are sewer levels even common?! I feel like they're literally making that up. Let's also not pretend that using "ZOMG" and "n00b", even ironically, is anything but cringy.
Now, I do think it's really cool to talk about the stereotypes associated with a certain type of media within said media. Parodying the way society has portrayed games in the past is certainly a fun idea for a game - making fun of the extreme that people pushed, that gamers would turn into violent murderers, and showing how stupid that extreme actually is. However, the way MFP does it falls completely flat. Again, because the jokes aren't at all funny, but also because the game has nothing smart to say about the topic beyond that. Your own player character is murdering hundreds upon hundreds of people - in fact, you are being influenced to do so by a talking banana. And yet, there's never much said THAT. It's just THERE. The two points could have easily been tied together, but it doesn't even try.
On top of all that, the pacing is all over the place. There's an entire chapter near the middle that just takes a break from the main story for no reason. This was a novel idea for the first two levels that changed things up a bit, but it got old after that. Especially when there's almost nothing going on in the first place.
I want to clarify that this isn't an experience-ruining fault. Thankfully, the dialogue is skippable, and I honestly wouldn't blame someone for not reading one sentence of it. You can completely ignore this trash heap and enjoy what MFP excels at - the music and the gameplay. Speaking of which...
Overall, 1/5.
Gameplay:
Damn, this game is fun though. The fast-paced, combo-based level design and combat are impressively polished. It's really difficult to pull off those long combos, but when you do, it feels amazing. Plus, kicking a skateboard at someone's head or ricocheting bullets off of a frying pan to kill three guys will always be sick.
There are a lot of neat mechanics based around both your character and the environment - slowing down time, swinging from ropes, kicking, riding skateboards, backflipping off enemies, and dodging bullets, for example. That's just breaching the surface. The idea behind them is to kill in creative and flashy ways, which will earn you more points. However, as cool as this idea is, a lot of the mechanics (with the exceptions of slowing time and dodging bullets) become pretty much obsolete when you go for s-ranks. It doesn't matter if you kill everyone in the most mundane way possible, as long as you keep your combo going. The points that a giant combo provide overshadow any extra points you could be getting for all of that stuff. These smaller mechanics DO become more relevant again when you're trying to get to the top of the leaderboard. Every point counts then. Let's be honest, though, with how difficult getting an s-rank is in the first place, I think most people will just be happy to get one at all.
Since the game is a sidescroller, it also chooses to employ platforming and environmental puzzles. I think that, mostly, this is executed very well. I like the platforming, and a majority of the puzzles are fine. However, it's difficult to overlook the way that some of these sections slow down the important part of the gameplay - to put it bluntly, the killing - and mess with the pacing a bit.
On top of that, MFP overstays its welcome for a little bit too long. It's fun, but anything fun can become tiresome after too much of it. They could have definitely cut a few levels toward the end and I would not have missed them. The finished product would have been much more concise if they had.
Overall, 4.5/5.
Worldbuilding:
None of the lore here makes much sense at all. There's little scope of the world beyond the enemies you encounter and a very small bit of dialogue from Pedro. Politicians are mentioned offhandedly one time, I think, as having argued over a font for a sign.
The environmental design is good most of the time. Despite there not being anything too complicated going on visually, everything does what it needs to. I do think that some of the settings become bland when put next to each other, because of how similar they can be. Like I mentioned before though, the music contributes a lot.
Overall, 2.5/5.
Extra Category - Achievements:
If you want to 100% MFP, be prepared to invest way more time than just one playthrough would take you. I'm sure it will vary based on your skill level with games like this in general, but it took me over 38 hours to get all of the s-ranks I needed.
Overall, 2/5.
Overall game score: 3/5. My Friend Pedro is a good timesinker with really fun gameplay and very cool bossfights. The story is atrocious, but that can (mostly) be skipped over in favor of focusing on ridiculous combos and flashy murders. It runs a little too long, and has some pacing issues, but its 4 hour playtime makes that forgivable. It is absolutely worth picking up, despite the faults.