MY FRIEND PEDRO

AERIAL ACROBATICS MEET MOBSTER MURDER IN THIS DELIGHTFULLY TWISTED PLATFORMER-SHOOTER.

PC, Switch | $28.95 | www.myfriendpedro.com

SIDE-SCROLLING, SCORE-ATTACK PLATFORMER My Friend Pedro is a game about artfully blasting a variety of gangsters with a pair of pistols while simultaneously jumping, flipping, rolling and comedically pirouetting your way to each level’s end zone. Oh, and there’s a floating sentient banana – the eponymous Pedro – who occasionally turns up to guide you through your murder spree. Neat.

This is a game that rewards skill and speed – its 40 levels are generally short and sweet, and to do well at them you’ll need to learn each inside-out, plotting an efficient course in terms of both physical movement, interacting with objects in the environment, and figuring out when and how to shoot your enemies. Thankfully, effective controls make it easy to perform the requisite deadly acrobatics (at least to a passable degree), so splitting your aim to take down two enemies while bouncing off walls and performing mid-air flips – all optionally in ‘Bullet Time’ style slowmotion – really is no big deal.

This isn’t a terribly long game from start to finish, and its simple gameplay formula means it probably won’t appeal to everyone; to really get your money’s worth here, you do need to be the type of gamer who’ll compulsively replay the same levels time and again until you’ve mastered them and landed yourself a decent position on the global leaderboard. If that sounds like you, however, this is one banana you’ll definitely want to put in your basket.