Adventure Time is one of Cartoon Network’s most popular shows, and I’ve probably reviewed more Adventure Time games than any other cartoon license out there. Since I’ve been doing this for nearly 20 years now, that’s saying something!  In fact, most of my Adventure Time knowledge comes from the games, because I really don’t watch the cartoon much.  Anyway, all of the Adventure Time games up to this point have starred Finn and Jake, which makes sense because they’re the main characters in the cartoon.  But finally, we have an Adventure Time game starring another character, and it also happens to be my favorite one: BMO!  BMO Snaps is a picture-taking arcade shooting gallery game downloadable for iOS devices (reviewed on iPad here).

In the game, Princess Bubblegum is working on her holopedia, which stores information and holograms of all the mischief makers in the land of Ooo (even if some aren’t really bad guys). But her hair gets stuck in the machine and causes it to mess up, releasing holograms all over the place, and now they’re making trouble everywhere.  So Princess Bubblegum outfits BMO with a special camera that can capture the holograms when he takes a picture of them, and so begins BMO’s quest!

In each stage, you’ll view the action from a first person perspective from BMO’s eyes. Tilt the device around to aim, or you can use your finger on the screen.  Although I don’t see how that could be any easier since you also must tap the screen to take pictures and use power-ups.  Anyway, when a hologram is in your reticule, tap the camera button to snap pictures of them, which deal out damage, too.  When their life bar is empty, they’ll disappear.  Take out all the holograms this way to complete the level.  You can use a radar on the bottom of the screen to tell where they are, but it would’ve been more helpful if the radar showed BMO’s location, too.

Be careful, though, because the holograms will fight back! Some will throw pies or other objects at you that will block the screen, and you’ll have to use your finger to wipe away the mess.  Others may toss objects that can damage BMO or mess up the controls for a short time. If you wait too long to take out a hologram, they’ll deal out damage before disappearing, too.  So you have to be quick!  If you run out of energy, you’ll have to start the level over again.  After every few levels, you’ll have to fight a boss hologram who takes more shots to defeat and moves around faster and has more ways to attack you.  Other levels mix things up by giving you a time limit or a certain number of shots with no refills.

By taking photos and completing levels, you’ll earn stars and coins. Use the coins to buy upgrades to BMO’s camera, including a larger reticule, faster reloading time, more shots, and quicker rapid fire.  You can also buy power-ups that you can use once per level, and these include friends like Finn and Jake (who deal damage to all enemies), Marceline (who helps BMO shoot faster), and the Ice King (freezes holograms).  Power-ups can be upgraded, too.  Only problem is that it takes a LOT of coins to do any of these things.  The game costs three bucks to download, but you do have the option to buy more coins with real money, which is what I guess they want you to do.  Aside from how hard it is to earn enough coins, the only other problem I had with this game is that levels get rather difficult very quickly, and all the power-ups you can afford don’t seem to help that much.

The game does a good job with the Adventure Time theme, though. You’ll travel through lands like the forests and fields near Jake and Finn’s treehouse, as well as the Candy and Ice Kingdoms.  The holograms you take pictures of are also from the cartoon, like Baby Finn, Lumpy Space Princess, pie-throwing NEPTAR, and many more!  The game even includes original voice work from the cast.  And I thought it was extra cool that this game stars my favorite character.  You can also take selfies of yourself and add tons of Adventure Time stickers to your photos.  If you’re up to the challenge, I think Adventure Time fans will still enjoy this game.

Kid Factor:

Since you’re just taking pictures of holograms, violence is very minimal and cartoony. If you’re OK with your kids watching the show, they’ll be OK with the game, too.  Reading skill is helpful for some of the text.  Parental supervision is recommended because of the in-game purchases, and the fact that you have to tilt the device around, and kids will need to be careful so they don’t drop or damage it.

Tags: Game Reviews, Television