Adventure Time: Heroes of Ooo

In the eyes of any knowledgeable gamer, it's evident that Adventure Time: Heroes of Ooo is a Zelda clone, almost to the last game mechanic and trope. Now, not every game out there that borrowed from the Zelda recipe can be called a clone. The differences usually concern the graphical style, story elements, and even control scheme. AT: Heroes of Ooo, on the other hand, doesn't distinguish itself too much.

The game has you in control of Finn, the main character of the Adventure Time cartoon series, exploring the kingdom of Ooo (supposedly) and rescuing maidens.

The control scheme is straightforward. You can move Finn in eight possible directions, and you can interact/attack in four. Finn's attack arch is reasonably wide, but moving him is very imprecise. As a consequence, you will often find yourself pulling a finger trying to make him walk into a particular direction or face an incoming enemy. It would have been way better if everything had been relegated to orthogonal movement. But even with this flaw, the game is reasonably entertaining.

As you explore the woodland environment, you will find stumps that lead to various dungeons. These dungeons are filled with re-spawning monsters and are set up in such a way to make you explore them in their entirety, collecting crystals, keys, and unique items on the road. The treasures that you find you will spend topside to improve your items and abilities.

I must come back and complain about the controls again. The action button is situated very close to the pause button, and I often found myself opening the menu while trying to attack a monster. This interruption wouldn't be too bad if the app wouldn't play a video-ad whenever you do that. Well, it's not playing one every time, but when it does, it's sufficiently frustrating.

Conclusion

If you've never played a Zelda game, then you will find AT: Heroes of Ooo to be a breath of fresh air. After all, the game has a solid formula, and it's free with zero freemium entanglements. If you can get past the shortcomings of the control scheme, you have a decent title on your hands.