Its Adventure time! The most rhombus game to draw you into Cartoon Network's mathematical TV hit is here. With the lumping expletives over with, lets get down to the shmowzow.
Much like Finn and Jake's adventures on the show, the duo kick out of bed when the menacing but lonely "Evil" Ice King tries to make friends the only ways he knows how, in this case, stealing their trash to make models of the local Princesses. Along their way, they'll be tasked with the entire Land of Ooo's errands. Comprising mostly of walking around receiving random gifts which later find their uses as you stumble upon other characters from the fiction; i.e. Raggedy princess give you a random, but affectionate sock. Tree Trunks the Elephant bakes a sock pie that cures an Anthropomorphic House's dog's fleas. The Anthropomorphic House give you dungeon key for gratitude, rinse repeat.
The show's simple animations translates well. Animations are smooth and bring the world to life, as nothing is truly static. All the memorable characters and creatures make an appearance, and in suit with the psychedelic themes of the show, Finn and Jake have the strangest enemies. There is a fair bit of pandering like the characters including famous quotes into sections of dialogue, but that sorta to be expected with tie-in games. The chip tune soundtrack keeps you upbeat and therefor moving along, and could almost beat Anamanaguchi's soundtrack for Scott Pilgrim Against the World: The Game; Almost.
If you know your way around an old school platformer, Adventure Time: Ice King Why'd You Steal Our Garbage shouldn't feel alien. Inspired by The Legend of Zelda 2: The Adventures of Link, you look down on Finn and Jake from a bird's eye view as they travel along the map. Walking into a town, dungeon, or when stopped by the overworld's randomly generated monsters, you're given a 2D side scroller's perspective. Once inside a level, monsters appear in real time as you travel from one side to the next. I expected more fighting, but I battled more with platforms than monsters. The enemies are frequent, but are mostly pushovers, requiring only button mashing in between animation rotations. Familiarly designed levels, though, gave me a false sense of security that caused hasty missteps that reset Finn back to the beginning of the screen.
With all its lengthy inspirations, it's a shame its so short because with about 4 to 6 hours to endgame its hard to warrant the retail price. It's nice Adventure Time: IKWYSOG is conscience enough to do its job and wrap up rather than add needless content, something that it's early gaming inspiration never had the luxury of knowing. There is a new game plus that repeats the game with increased difficulty, and Metroidvania-like back tracking with newly trained abilities to grab supplementary skills and items if you'd like, but I was still left wanting.
Adventure Time Ice King Why'd You Steal Our Garbage blends the show's source material and its nostalgic gaming inspiration well, but doesn't have enough substance beyond a few hours of mild platforming. IKWYSOG is for anyone feigning for distant memories of older game design, and should be played by somebody looking to find the industry's beginnings. So unless you can wait and search for a deal with the holidays closing in, or at least rent for a good weekend of entertainment, keep your eyes on the TV instead of your 3DS.