ADIOS Amigos is a unique and fun game, one that’s no more simplistic and as straightforward as it needed to be. The game throws you into the role of a small being within a spacecraft that finds itself crash landing on a strange, unknown planet. Furthermore, the being’s computer’s memory – fittingly named Zing – has been wiped, leaving our protagonist alone in unfamiliar surroundings. It’s a relatively bare premise, but an introduction that feels suited to the game’s overall design nevertheless.
The aim of the game is to find your way home and to do this, you’ll need to Z-Jump. Z-Jumping is a form of travelling between systems and the more that you Z-Jump, the closer to home you’ll get. Upon gaining control over the character, the first set of missions serve as a tutorial that feeds you nicely into the flow of the game. Once you’re done here, which roughly spans about three missions in total, the hand-holding comes to a halt and you’re free to tackle the game at its pace. This, is where the real exploration comes into view.
Each small system encompasses a few small planets, with the meat of the matter consisting of obtaining exploration points – achieved through, you guessed it, exploring either on foot or in your spacecraft, depending on the size of the needed resource. Obtainable wares will flash when you’re nearby and can vary from the likes of planet rock, alien creatures, or even space debris such as pieces of satellites. Once you’ve collected the required amount of resources, you’ll be afforded the ability to utilize one of those aforementioned Z-Jumps.
Each system is procedurally generated, so you’re rarely going to get the same play-through twice and indeed, you’ll constantly be greeted with different runs. ADIOS Amigos sports quite a few decent mechanics and fun additions. There’s a gravity system and a night/day cycle, as well as silly, hilarious functions that enable you to do outlandish things; riding a sofa to the sun, dropping into a black hole and so forth. There’s a lot of things to interact with and locate throughout the entirety of the adventure, lending the game some depth.
Some would argue that ADIOS Amigos is nothing more than a scavenger hunt with some jumps to break up the pace of play, and although the game does become repetitive, the real magic is that it never wears its concept too thin. There’s also the choice of three different campaigns that offer varying missions and difficulties; Odyssey, Voyage and Endeavor. There’s no real save function within, and instead, you’ll be relying on the game’s wave-esque save system – being that for every number of Z-Jumps, you’ll get a save point.
This serves quite like a shortcut that allows you to pick up where you left off, should you close the game down or die. Death can happen regularly here, and there’s no shortage of different ways to bite the proverbial dust. For example, if you step onto a low-gravity planet, you may find yourselves floating into the abyss of space. There’s a jet-pack, of course, but this tends to empty a lot quicker than expected. If gravity isn’t the cause of your downfall, there’s hazards, such as falling asteroids, that will gladly test your resilience.
ADIOS Amigos can be enjoyed either solo or with up to three other local players, and the neat addition of Rookie Mode is great for times in which you want to play with a younger sibling or child. Rookie Mode enables you to take the reigns of play, so to speak, and guide the rookies through the game with additional tools. Helpful when those younger players just don’t know what they’re doing. Moving back, when playing, you’ll notice that each player wears a M.A.D hat, which stands for mass amplification devices – a mouthful, I know.
These keep you grounded in space to stop you from floating away, though, the ability to throw your hats at aliens or team mates like you’re Oddjob is a fun touch. Should you lose your hat, a simple jump back to the spacecraft will reward you with a new one. Speaking of the spacecraft, you begin the game with a very simple triangular craft. The controls are well mapped when navigating the craft, but there’s certainly an adjustment period that players will need to get used to first and foremost, which can indeed be quite tedious starting out.
LS angles your ship, RT powers your thrusters, and the X button will fire your harpoon. It’s worth noting that many functions will consume fuel; powering your craft, repairing your craft and even healing yourselves will drain the old tank. This means that on top of seeking out those all important exploration points, you’ll constantly need to be on the lookout for fuel too. No fuel means no travelling and no travelling means you fail. The star system has a very funky look to it – a whiff of Kerbal Space Program, if I’m to draw any comparisons here.
Zooming right out on the map will pinpoint where your ship is via a large white triangle, which helps to determine the direction that you’re looking at. This comes in handy when you’re aiming for a specific planet, which is achieved, again, via LS and RT to get the desired alignment. Like I said, it’s simple stuff to begin with but before long, you’ll need to be cautious as more aspects and obstacles are introduced. Whatever the case, the notion to press on, or more specifically, Z-Jump on, is fun for as long the game’s campaign lasts.
The repetition chases away the urge to replay, but given its price and its decent functionalities, it’s well worth the investment nonetheless. It may take some time to get used to the solid physics-based systems as well as craft navigation and landing, but everything else fits into place nicely and the game does a good job at handing you all the info that you need to keep track of. Rounding off, the game’s colorful visual and catchy audio design is decent enough, if lacking in any real detail or kick from start to finish.
Conclusion
ADIOS Amigos is a fun game that accommodates both solo and local co-op play, across a small variety of well designed modes. The controls take some time getting used to and the entire journey can become repetitive before long, but with that aside, its decent gameplay mechanics coupled with its light-hearted sense of exploration, drives ADIOS Amigos in all the right directions.
This game was tested and reviewed on Xbox One. All of the opinions and insights here are subject to that version.
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