‘90s era video games comprised a huge part of my life as I grew up and why wouldn’t they, I grew up in that time. A period of time when games were sold fully completed for half the price and there was no such thing as a loot box. Guin Entertainment has recaptured this feeling for me with The Adventures of Chris. I previously previewed the game through the demo and I had a chance to complete my adventures…..I mean his adventures and saw more from the title than I did in the actual demo. This is our review for The Adventures of Chris.
Taking the fight to the enemy wasn’t something Chris thought he was ever going to do but he took to the calling just the same. Turn this overweight boy who was picked on into the hero that we know he can be in this Mega Man-esque platformer.
The story is a simple one. A guy is walking home, he gets sucked into a portal and brought to a castle filled with monsters and a vampire who wants to give away children for the monsters pleasure. You survive the culling but get turned into a giant balloon and have to learn to use your inflate skills, and later on, other magic skills that can be leveled up as you continue playing through each of the levels. Magic is learned from specific teachers found throughout the world.
The levels vary based on where you are in the world also. Mayan type temples in Mexico, cloud cities for the lost balloons, and more as you float across the map. That’s right, when the world map is up on the screen your character will be able to float to the desired location instead of just bouncing from point to point like some other titles. Once on the map of your choice run, jump, and float around obstacles and find out how to reach the end goal for each level.
Cookies! Remember to collect them when you see them because just like the dark side the lost balloons use them as currency. When you go into the baker and tailor cookies are used to increase your stats or to upgrade your clothing. The baker has three different food items to increase health, magic, and how quickly you can reuse your balloon skill after releasing it. The tailor has different suits that will help you survive as you travel the world trying to rescue the kids that were given to the vampire’s monster friends. There is also a library you can visit so do that once you start learning skills.
The Adventures of Chris is a fun title to play, but it does have a learning curve as it is not your standard platformer. Once you are turned into a balloon for the first time there will be many deaths as you learn how to fight while floating. Learning how, and when, to bounce off of solid objects also comes into play a lot, especially in boss fights. The boss fights have timings and movements you have to learn as well causing several more deaths and resets. One thing that helps a lot during your missions is the checkpoint flags. Upon finding one of these leaving the level for the world map is possible. Take advantage of this to go back to the balloon kingdom and upgrade your skills and gear if you have collected enough yummy chocolate chip cookies. Head back into the level and continue your journey through forests and all the other colorful levels.
Note: Our copy was reviewed on Steam with a code provided by PR.
