My Friend Pedro

Welcome to 2 D 2 1 (2 dimension in the year 2021)

Haters vanquished. In my mild corner of the internet I review games and spout what I want about games. I'm newly employed after having the worst boss in 3 decades of employment. I’ve started a new job in what could be my last job ever (not in compensation but in achievement, challenge, and self-worth). That is an amazing feeling. There are people in my life that I can click block on my phone and never look back. 3rd-person and First Person games might just be next on my block list.

I am a hater of Mario. Seeing Sepiroth stab the $hit out of Mario gave me joy. Mario, The Simpsons, and South Park need to retire. I’m sick of them. My Friend Pedro has a little commentary on videogame fans and internet culture. Some of the aforementioned entertainment properties are so generic that they just can’t do a good job. The Pandemic Special was terrible when i needed it to be great I am quick to turn my back.

I used to be a 2d hater. But not any more. Turned my back on 2D as soon as N64 gave me mario64 and psx gave me Tomb Raider (and a little bit Crash Bandicoot) This game gives me feelings from Elevator Action and Russian Attack. Trials (the motorbike game, especially Trials of the Blood Dragon) on the 3DS spent so much time in a permanent rotation on a system where you had to actually phone up Nintendo to get digital rights on a different system. I had to honestly recall 20 plus games that I had purchased digitally on an older system. Believe me, it was fun and a memory I will never forget. I was sitting at my parent’s dining room table furiously searching emails and talking to a customer support person for about 20 minutes as I recalled all the games I could remember playing. After i realized he wasn’t going to budge until an arbitrary percentage of games were correctly listed I stopped having fun and pulled up a wikipedia page and my festering hatred for Nintendo was solidified. If i could accurately list Gunman Clive and Space Harrier 3D as well as log in to my Nintendo account transfer my games. Now I turn my back on 3D. I’ve got it bad. Almost bad enough to want and seek out a wii-u. (Thanks to the diligent Gamestop employees that stop me). You can’t trust a Switch to run the game without slowdown. Since i got tired of waiting for Mario to wield a gun in something other than smash I have missed out on a lot of 2D games. I’m back baby!

There’s enough games on Gamepass, Xbox Live, and Physical to cause a real assault on your harddrive space. It’s enough to pay $220 for an extra Terabyte of space on a Series X/S. But if you don’t play 3D games your harddrive is fine. We have been chasing 3D all the way up to VR. Veni vidi vici. One of my favorite haunts on the internet is reddit/r/patientgamers: For Gamers Behind the Times.

My Friend Pedro is my most recent experience with a John Wick type game. Max Payne was kind of like the original John Wick game. I loved Max Payne (mostly because choosing Xbox over PS2 was a poor decision and boy was i trying to justify it at every turn) and Max Payne 3 is a game that I would really like to revisit if backwards compatibility on Xbox could work out. By John Wick I mean the game slows down to allow for more precision weapon firing in this platformer. The puzzles in this platform are so pleasantly simplistic. I really hate puzzles that constantly have me hitting a brick wall like The Witness. If I'm searching on the internet for solutions then i’m not having fun. A personal pleasure of mine to boot up another game as soon as credits roll on a game you play. It could have been Super Meat Boy it could have been or N+++, games that are still worth my time.

I think i will get a PS4 for some 2D titles like Resogun and Street Fighter V. I’m also leaning way more into PS5 than I am for Series X because of titles like Sackboy. Give me a list of 2D exclusive Playstation titles so when that moment at Target comes and I have both the Series X and PS5 in my basket i don't have to have the cashier decide for me.

Microsoft is running a gamescore to reward point to microsoft funny money conversion. On My Friend Pedro i made $0.22. (220 gamerscore). You can make up to $10 or 10,000 gamerscore. This incentive to basically make $0.05/hour for work rally has set me off on a quest. I bought Cyberpunk Rockstar Energy Drinks for $1.50 to get $1 in reward points. My goal is to beat as many 2D games as possible as I prime myself for The Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World Re-Release. That game’s soundtrack was amazing and really got me through some tough times. I tried to play Unravel but that game seems so authored, requiring you to do exactly what they want you to do instead of offering multiple paths really turned me off the game. I’m either going to go to Streets of Rage 4 or Battletoads next and then the first Ori.

Back to the review. My Friend Pedro is fine. The levels are pretty short making quick gaming sessions pretty easily done. There’s enough challenge and introduction of obstacles and platforming mechanics at a steady enough clip that it’s clear there was decisive guidance on what, how long, and whom for this game was made. 4 out 5 stars. 9.1 out of 10. 4 hours. Get in and get out, never to return. 2D for life.