Recently I had the joy and pleasure of playing a bit of the new Adventure Time game for the Nintendo 3DS, and was not disappointed. The game pays homage to the greats of the past while bringing its own distinctive style. With creator Pendleton Ward overseeing the plot and dialogue as well as creating new enemies specifically for the game, fans of the series should be more than pleased with the final product. 

The game starts off with Finn and Jake in their tree house and Jake showing Finn their secret basement. The first two minutes of the game are spent in a painless tutorial, and soon after you’re free to go out into the world. The world map is reminiscent of Zelda II’s. There is an overworld map with some enemies wandering about that, when touched, can trigger random battles that may end with loot. When exploring a dungeon or area, or battling, the game turns into a side-scroller

The fights are fun and rewarding. With Jake’s stretchy punches and Finn’s brawling there’s more than a few ways you can defeat enemies and tackle each battle. The game has mini-boss and boss fights that star characters from the show, and they’re not just a ‘run up and attack’ kind of thing, either; these fights require a bit of strategy. 

The game also features a level system in which stats are boosted when you obtain special stars. Once you find a star, you can place it in either health, attack, or defense. These stars are usually found after boss battles and are scattered throughout the game. 

The game looks and feels like Adventure Time. The characters talk like they do in the show and the game progresses with a plot that can be described as awesomely goofy with some epic on the side. There is the main quest, which hopes to answer the question the title poses, as well as multiple side quests throughout the game. Whether Finn’s battling talking rocks or visiting the House People, the game can and should easily please fans of the series.

Oh, did I mention the save points are fountains guarded by water nymphs that can’t make good jokes? Or that you can combine food items to recover more health? Or that some of the enemies are animals with knives and chainsaws attached to them? Or that a lot of fan favorites will be making appearances in the game with sound bits from the show?

In case you couldn’t tell yet, I had a lot of fun with this game and can’t wait for it to make its debut later this fall.