Preview - Adventure Time: Explore the Dungeon Because I Don't Know!

During the San Diego Comic-Con this weekend, Cartoon Network's Adventure Time had a huge presence, between the Ice King booth where you could literally walk into his mouth (there were stations inside) and the star-studded panel that brought out hoodie-wearing fans in droves. But that wasn't all, as the ShiftyLook Arcade housed an upcoming console game that fans could check out.

The game, officially titled Adventure Time: Explore the Dungeon Because I Don't Know!, is a nearly top-down action/adventure where you control up to four characters as they work their way through dungeons and overworld maps, collecting items while defeating enemies. In a way, it's almost kind of like Gauntlet, but with the presence of familiar characters from the show. Oh, and it's silly. But you knew that.

Adventure Time will feature numerous playable characters, but, for our hands-on time with it, we stuck with Finn the human and Jake the flabby-armed dog. Players can drop in and out of a session at any time, though there's no confirmation whether it will have online support or not. (It's not looking likely, but you never know...)

In the game, you begin by going into an open world hub, where you deal with a variety of characters to prep yourself for the quest. This includes talking to Loose Goose, among others, and picking up supplies and weapons you're going to need. From there, you'll head over to a manhole, where you'll decide which level you'll start on (beginning the first time around, you'll automatically head to level one) and venture into the catacombs.

From there, the game uses a nearly top-down perspective as you explore through the caverns, defeating enemies with your attacks – Finn with his sword, Jake with punches – and collecting items like gumballs and other power-ups. Occasionally, you'll need to destroy generators, in pureGauntlet-esque fashion, to avoid new enemies from popping up. It's relatively easy to do, and the more people you have in your party, the merrier. (As stated before, up to four can join in.)

Read the rest of this preview at GameZone >