Fancy Pants Adventures Is Making The Computer To Console Leap Quite Nicely

I’ve got to play more Flash games, because, earlier this week, I was that guy who’d never heard of Internet phenomenon Fancy Pants Adventures and thought I was seeing a brand-new Xbox Live Arcade game.

Nope, Brad Borne, developer of the Flash hit Fancy Pants Adventures told me as he was handing me an Xbox 360 controller at a recent showcase for games from the publisher EA. This game’s pretty big on the web. (Our Mike Fahey’s been loving it since 2008!)

http://lastchance.cc/343437/fancy-pants-adventure-2%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E

The console game, set for a downloadable release this spring for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, is a bigger version of the Flash game. It’s still a side-scroller designed for fast, smooth running and jumping. Two can play on the console game, helping or hindering each other with well-timed hops on the other’s head. Players control stick figure heroes, one in orange shorts, the other in purple. In the early going you just run, wall-jump and slide a lot, preferably with the speed and dynamism of a rollercoaster. Later, there will be melee weapons, but I didn’t get to those.

Borne is designing mostly new levels for the console game, though the construction of them is being done by a small studio called Over The Top. That crew made the celebrated WiiWare game NyxQuest. EA is publishing the game, which is why Borne was showing it in the same showcase room where I played Dragon Age II and games EA won’t allow me to write about yet.

https://lastchance.cc/dragon-age-ii-definitely-not-as-dumbed-down-as-mass-eff-5764293%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E

The game isn’t as old-school hard as Super Meat Boy, another Flash-to-console side-scroller with slick movement. Borne said he’s made his game with the intent for people to get through it, though he’s tucked a lot of secrets into each level. As I ran through the game’s opening level, for example, I saw what looked like a whole other track for the level, deep in the background. To reach it, I’d have to climb to one of the level’s highest points, slide down a steep slope, jump at just the right time and land near a door that opens into the background.

The trailer atop this post was released in November but still gives you an accurate look at how the game plays. Look for more on it closer to its “spring” release. Lat year was rich with side-scrollers, from Super Meat Boy to Kirby’s Epic Yarn. This is one of the first to get excited about in 2011.

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