➤ The Super Fancy Pants Adventure review 🎮

There are now several videogame series born as simple web applications, but the one created by Borne Games remains undoubtedly one of the most brilliant and popular. The latest episode, Super Fancy Pants Adventure, landed last September on Steam and is now also available on the App Store in premium format, priced at € 5,49. A sum amply justified not only by the quality of the new platform-based adventure designed by Brad Borne, but also and above all by its numbers, with a view to a campaign made up of fifty-six medium-sized levels.

Of course, the narrative incipit is negligible: you just need to know that the traditional protagonist of Fancy Pants is struggling with a difficult rescue mission in which he will have to go very quickly on ramps, jump on platforms, slide on pipes and fight while brandishing the inevitable pencil. like a sword. It is this last mechanic that stands out above all the others, because judging by the essential graphic style, one would never say that the game can convey such a successful sensation of impact. And instead the clashes in Super Fancy Pants Adventure are exciting, every shot is enhanced and you are therefore encouraged to fight even when perhaps you could simply go beyond, tackling the stages at speed like any Sonic.

It hurts the pencil more ...

During the early stages, the experience of Super Fancy Pants Adventure seems to underline the good things done by the series so far, in a sort of fun review that puts on the table all the elements already seen and consolidated in the previous episodes. However, there are also some interesting news when the protagonist comes into possession of unpublished instruments, for example the ability to "surf" on sheets of paper to overcome large chasms or the much more convincing ability to operate a stylus pen to fire ink bullets at enemies. In all this there is no shortage of elaborate platform sections, stunts, chases and maneuvers capable of enhancing the physics that governs any movement in the cartoon world created by Borne Games.

You have to collect items to restore your health, but there are also many secrets to discover, such as the mini-levels that hide behind certain doors and which, in some cases, reveal new details about the gameplay. The same characterization of the scenarios, different from each other in tone and design, aims to enhance an exploratory phase that at times takes on fairly complex and intriguing connotations. Naturally, there is the minimal but fascinating graphic style to which we are well accustomed, which in this new adventure puts itself at the service of a direction that is never predictable, with changes of view and interesting variations on the theme, placed at the service of history and of its characters.

Everything perfect, then? Unfortunately not: the Super Fancy Pants Adventure experience is marred a little by the touch controls, inexplicably devoid of any regulation. The buttons on the screen are too small and transparent, but above all it often happens that the directional arrows "enchant", forcing us to raise our finger and try again a couple of times so that the character moves in the desired direction, perhaps while we are in the middle of a fast and excited phase. The support for MFi controllers makes it possible to overcome this lack, but in any case the application should be updated with a patch that can solve the problem for all users.

Comment

Tested version iPhone (1.2.0) Digital Delivery App Store Price 5,49 € Resources4Gaming.com

8.5

Readers (1)

8.1

Your vote

Super Fancy Pants Adventure is an excellent action platformer, which takes advantage of the experience with previous episodes to offer us a terribly solid and fun system, made up of jumps, runs, non-trivial exploratory phases and really exciting fights, with very well valued impacts and spectacular combos. The price of the game is amply justified by the body of the campaign, with its many levels, the boss fights and the secrets to discover, while the technical sector succeeds in the arduous task of making mature the essential graphic style that has always characterized the franchise. Too bad for the unreliable touch controls, but we are sure that the problem will be solved quickly.