Avocuddle

Review

Welcome to the wondrous world of AvoCuddle. An adventure that proves that love knows no boundaries, that anything can be accomplished when love is the driving force moving you forward. On Avoplanet, a young couple of avocados on a walk after a long day's work are enjoying each other’s company and the evening skies. Their conversations end up making Miss Avoln (the girlfriend) mad enough to tell Mr. Avora (our protagonist) to leave her alone, she does not want to talk anymore. Playing Mr Avora, and realizing you messed up, you need to devise a way to make her happy again. As you are walking around you come across a love orb and it instructs you to please her by collecting roses. After you collect them all and are about to present them to her, an alien ship abducts her right in front of your eyes, flying off somewhere into the universe. Hope is not lost; the love orb knows a secret about the alien visitor, setting you on the path to being reunited with your love. You will be travelling across the universe to many planets, through a variety of biomes, each with their own unique environments to overcome. Solving a variety of puzzles and mini-games along the way, you must seek out the hidden moon gems scattered around the different worlds, as well as purchasing upgrades and items in the item shops when you have collected enough limon coins from enemies you dispatch. The time is at hand to see if you can reclaim your life's love & live happily ever after.

Released on Jul 13, 2019, by the developer Ramez Al Tabbaa & published by FistikTech, this is the first release on Steam by both. This indie title is a Single Player, 2D, Action, Adventure, Platformer. I would rate it as casual to challenging. The game is quite casual, but as you progress the game does get more difficult. It features a beautifully painted game world with a parallax scrolling background. This creates a 3D effect in a 2D world that is quite impressive. A lovely soundtrack setting the mood throughout the different levels of the game accompanies the well-made sound effects. You have 5 uniquely different planets to explore (each with its own set of monsters and obstacles to overcome), 7 weapons to collect and upgrade, and an assorted variety of powers for your character (from a jump & double jump to dashing, parachuting, jetpacking, and swimming) that will be obtained as you play. Enjoy a variety of brilliant mini-games that will need to be conquered in order to progress, a myriad of puzzles to solve along the way, and secrets to find that are scattered across the different worlds. Play it your way with full controller support (I preferred keyboard and mouse).

I admit I was instantly hooked on this one. Such a lovely story and remarkable work for a new developer; I was impressed with every aspect of the game.  It is the love child of one man’s passion and vision that was 2 years in the making. It was a pleasure to have pre-release access, as we were able to inform them of any bugs so they could rectify them before the release day; they have worked hard tracking down any remaining issues the last few weeks to assure a smooth release. Graphically the game surpassed what I expected for the title. The use of the parallax scrolling was a sensational addition to the game over a standard scrolling background. I loved the way the dynamics changed continuously and kept the game fresh as you progress. The platforming is a blast and its mechanics change all the time. The variety of mini-games are fun and creative, and some can be a little challenging, taking a few attempts to overcome. Some are so creative I believe they could be a game of their own. The game does blend a few different genres; it is much more than just a platform run and gun game. I will let you discover the mechanics behind these on your own. I am looking forward to whatever this developer releases next! I am currently just over half-way through at 6 hours of play time. I do love to explore every nook and cranny and even try to break the games if I can (it's what I do). I would imagine most people could finish much faster than myself. Get your copy today; if you’ve read my review all the way to here, you will Love it!

When all hope seems to be lost, always remember Love can conquer all!

The only extra things I would like to see in the game is the interaction messages between you and A.I. characters to be re-playable when you return to them should you forget their dialogue (I have conveyed this to the developer for consideration). And the keyboard/controller layouts could not be edited.

Achievement Hunters:
Achievements will drop with a single play-through as long as you find all the secrets.

For Settings, the Basics are covered:
Music Slider
SFX Slider
Graphics Preset Quality
Resolution
Fullscreen/Windowed

Review written by DamageInc.for Zeepond.com!