Sometimes the craziest ideas flourish into something great. My Friend Pedro happens to be one of those cases and is a fine addition to the Nintendo Switch’s growing library of fantastic indie titles. Devolver Digital’s latest release has you playing as a masked gunslinger who takes orders from… a sentient banana… wait, what?

As the game begins, you awaken after being taken captive by a criminal and must escape with the help of your banana… er, friend Pedro. Pedro the banana happens to be your only friend in this game and is effectively the brains of the operation. That being said, the plan isn’t all that complex; murder everyone in sight until you are free. My Friend Pedro is an action-packed adventure which is light on plot, but boy is the gameplay fun! You see, a normal shooter would be too plain and boring for a game as insane as My Friend Pedro.

Pedro is not only a sentient banana but also seems to carry some strange, unexplained powers. He passes on the ability to slow down time, perform incredible parkour moves and have the immense understanding of physics needed to perfectly ricochet bullets off surfaces to hit enemies in the coolest way possible. Yes, Pedro is truly the best friend anyone could have, wouldn’t you agree?

The story in My Friend Pedro is rather light and does not make any sense whatsoever most of the time… but who cares really? This game isn’t interested in having a tight, captivating plot. The game will keep you hooked and addicted due to the immensely satisfying and cool gameplay. Unfortunately, the game doesn’t last all that long and you can probably complete a playthrough in about three to five hours. You can gain some additional time by trying to get high ranks in the levels and trying to make your way onto the high score leaderboard. The fact that the game is not reliant on story but rather on gameplay means that this game is very replayable and repeating levels for high scores turns out to be very fun! It feels like a game that would be very well suited to an arcade as repeating the same level does not feel stale or boring.

The first time you see the incredibly brutal and fancy gameplay, it will probably both shock and enthral you as there are very few games like it. The game has some of the most over the top violence and carnage I have ever seen and boy does that pull you in. All of this carries out over a 2D world and the game has some platforming elements in between the carnage of clearing rooms full of enemies in the most stylish and appealing way possible. The most crucial mechanic that the game offers, however, is the slowdown of time. You will find yourself using this mechanic constantly as you line-up shots, perform stunts and setup wicked combination tactics. Rolling down a hole and split attacking enemies on your left and right simultaneously using your dual wield pistols while dodging their bullets then landing on a skateboard all while in slow motion truly is an adrenaline pumping sequence of events for the player!

Almost every level in the game’s arsenal introduces some new mechanic which keeps the action feeling fresh, exciting and different. A variety of additional weapons will be introduced over the course of the game and all of them find themselves having appropriate uses at various stages of each level. The game also looks great despite some textures being slightly low resolution and looking a tad blurry. In terms of frame rate, I had a buttery smooth experience both in handheld and docked mode on the Nintendo Switch. Sound effects also prove a perfect match for the theme and gameplay and this all comes together to make My Friend Pedro a very pleasant adventure to play through.

The controls can take a bit of getting used to, however, this is to be expected in a game which offers a great deal of free-movement, stunts, split weapon firing, parkour elements and the ability to literally slow down time itself. I think the developer did a great job of making the controls feel as intuitive as possible, given their constraints.

Overall, My Friend Pedro is another fantastic indie game from Devolver Digital and DeadToast and is definitely worth picking up for a gameplay experience like no other on the Nintendo Switch.