Pandamonium

Pandamonium is a shorty action platformer with a distinct metal gear vibe in terms of calls and dialogue.

While it is only worth playing for that charme, the actual gameplay is bare, easy and a little bit bland, but does offer a minigame and two bosses to break up the gameplay.


Loud and clear.


The story is simple and straightforward - pandas vs humanity. And conveniently there is an seemingly omnipotent device in the possession of some human, so on to retrieve it you go!

It switches to the "enemy base" for the beginning and the ending of the game, to get an insight on how these pesky humans perceive the situation.
There are little bits of dialogue inbetween, both in call as well as with the bosses you encounter as you slaughter your way through simple battle stages.
The obvious metal gear solid reference had me chuckling, the ridiculousness of the story and the overly forced seriousness about it all as well.

The art does not mesh well at times, the animations seem clunky, enemies stand still and even bosses either just move back and forth, or stand around as well. The text-message boxes are not pleasing, either.

Gameplay-wise you really do slaughter your enemies. Attacking them will freeze your enemies while you keep chaining. This works even when the attack does not connect, and even for bosses, which makes bossfights a breeze.
The first one involves some napalm dodging and for the second one you will use the fact that you can freeze the boss in place. Given that there are only 2 enemy models in total, battle is really just something to go through.

The stages revolve around the fact that you are quite large in size and cannot attack midair. To be able to hit enemies you will often need to jump over them and avoid as miny hits as possible before you stun-lock them to death. The big size makes this a little bit iffy, and so are the graphics, but it works for what it is. There is one dodging mini game added for a good stage transition and for giving a change of pace.


Behold the claws

There is one part where you have to jump over acid. And while you have to move/glitch to the sides should you fall in to actually die and be returned, you return with full health right where you left off. You could easily respawn with half hp or a different malus, but I appreciated the room for error.

What it comes down to is a small amusing game with lots of parody. I could hardly recommend it for its gameplay, but you can just play it to enjoy the flair.
It's pandas, alright?