My friend Pedro. This ship is bananas !!

My friend Pedro. This ship is bananas !! 

A talking banana, a spooky mask,frying pans and an endless supply of bullets. "My friend Pedro" is certainly not afraid to go a little crazy and drags you gleefully with along into the criminal underbelly of a fictional world where your only friend is Pedro, a floating yellow banana.  Not that this banana helps you all that much, besides a few quick tips he is mostly chatting away while you do all the work.But he keeps you company and at least motives you to get out whatever situation you found yourself in. It seems you woke up in a meat factory and instead of becoming the contents of a smoked sausage you decide it is better to listen to the banana and escape while you take out anyone who stands in your way.

"My friend Pedro" is  sidescrolling action platform shooter with a stylish presentation, using, 3D art assets and a thumping soundtrack. The hook of the game is the way the protagonist jumps, leaps and vaults over and in between the onscreen enemies taking them out with a well placed shot while in the air or twirling circles to avoid a storm of enemy fire.
You can kick an enemy or take one out with a well placed kick of debris, be it a ball, body part or a random frying pan. Or if you want to get fancy, why not kick the frying pan up in the air and shoot it causing the bullets to ricochet and take out enemies hiding in hard to get places. On top of that you can add even more style points by slowing it all down, yes indeed bullet time is back and as awesome as ever. You can start and stop it on command, though there is a meter that drains over time, you do not have to use it up. It allows you to burst into a room and weave a tapestry of bullets to take out your adversaries in a manner that would make John Wick envious. 

But despite all the action and bullets whizzing, I believe that "My friend Pedro" is really an action puzzle game. Each section has a way to navigate perfectly and get through unscathed and victorious on the other end, Especially in the later levels well timed jumps and a well aimed shot can make the difference and you have to use the environment around you to move forward, from levers to move a platform to well placed ricochet shot to open the way forward.

The game is presented over 5 different worlds , each divided in a number of levels. Each level off course has an end boss, and small in game "cutscenes" help the story move forward in a way that reminded me of the one of the old arcade days, such as Final Fight or Double Dragon. 
After each level you see a small clip of  your best moment in the game, or at least what the game thinks was your best moment. And you get graded with a score. It is a great incentive to go back and try to get a better score, I know I have a lot of practice ahead of me. Add different difficulty level and you can can be busy mastering each area over the course of the summer. 
 

There is plenty of variation in each environment and how to navigate each world. With scattered a highspeed highway chase on a motorcycle shooting bad guys while you fall of a building, add to the thrill of the game.  Save points are plenty and if you make a misstep and die you spawn fast in and close to the area made the mistake. This saves a lot of frustrating moments. The controls on the Switch were a bit complicated to get down while playing in handheld mode, but was much easier with the pro controller. The issue is mostly that doing combos takes a bit of coordination. You move with the left stick and aim with the right one, but then you shoot with the right trigger, aim for a second target with the left trigger, spin with the left bumper , jump with B , reload with Y and kick with X.So if you want to combine them all in a smooth sequence things can get a bit complicated and hands start to cramp.  Still, after some practice was able to pull of some sweet moves with a reasonable ease, and the controls never got in the way so bad that is took away from the gameplay.

This game is rated T (for teen) it has violence and blood in it so it is not for the little kids out there. It is up to you to decide if it is OK to play for your tweens and teens. But there is no foul languages and the game is easy to pick up and play even for new players. There is no online gameplay included either, but there is an online leader board to match up you skills with the rest of the world.

"My friend Pedro" is one of those games that generates a lot of buzz with its presentation and delivers with its gameplay. It is too hard to resist the joy of leaping around and shooting like a action hero in a john woo movie. But instead of pigeons, you get a flying  banana.

Game information:
Title: My friend Pedro
Developer: Deadtoast
Publisher: Devolver Digital
Release date:June 20, 2019 
Platforms: PC, Nintendo Switch
Version Reviewed:Nintendo Switch
Official Site:https://www.devolverdigital.com/games/my-friend-pedro
ESRB: T for Teen (violence and blood)