Review: My Friend Pedro is the best unofficial John Wick game

My Friend Pedro is some of the most fun I’ve had on my Nintendo Switch since playing Breath of the Wild in 2017. I kicked a knife into a man’s skull, did some John Wick-esque moves, did some kickass skateboard stuff, and swung from a chain while spraying a mini-uzi like a madman among many other things.

I’m a sucker for a solid narrative experience like God of War or The Last of Us but by god, if someone hands me a game that has fluid gunplay and combat, I will play it until someone tells me I have worn out the triggers on my controller. I long for these kinds of games and My Friend Pedro is the new drug to feed this addiction of mine.

As I was prepping for E3, I was looking to dust off my Switch and play something new on my flight to LA. My Friend Pedro was sent to me for review and I sat in several airports across the country smiling down at my crotch where my Switch was for hours on end. I have no doubt I looked like a lunatic with the amusement I derived from this game but I was completely transfixed in My Friend Pedro.

The story for this side-scrolling shooter is loose but truthfully, it’s mere window dressing for the main experience. You’re going to be too busy caught up in the frenetic momentum of the gameplay that feels near unstoppable. You’re constantly on the move and that doesn’t mean simply running through corridors. You bounce off walls using a bit of parkour, swing from chains and fly down ziplines, throw yourself through glass windows, ride on skateboards, and much more.

There’s not a stale moment in My Friend Pedro, it has a sense of relentless speed that can be taken both in big and small doses due to its structure. The levels are quick and snappy to allow you to just play during a small break you have and they’re also super replayable.

My Friend Pedro oozes with style and while it might take some time to get a handle on how to use it all to your advantage, it’s endlessly satisfying. Personally, I love a game with a lot of dynamic elements that can either cause fun “holy shit” moments that you didn’t expect or be the inner-workings of a carefully orchestrated plan.

While you can have plenty of fun without paying attention to it, there’s a scoring system based on how unique, quick, and stylish each kill is. This can allow you to challenge yourself to get the highest ranking which requires speed, precision, and lots of experimentation.

As already noted, there’s a lot going on in each level but it doesn’t feel “busy” or overwhelming. It feels more like you have options and tools constantly available to ensure you’re able to create these really epic bursts of action that could be pulled out of top-tier action films like John Wick, The Raid, or any other beloved action franchise.

It’s incredibly impressive that these relatively simple levels on the surface come off as incredibly layered. On top of that, My Friend Pedro flows in your hands in a thoughtless but also intuitive way. It’s a game that thrives on being presented in a very simple way but is quite deep mechanically when you look at it closely.

One of my favorite touches is how it deals with dual-wielding. Most games don’t allow you to independently move dual guns and instead, you just point them both in the same direction and fire for double damage. My Friend Pedro allows you to move them freely of each other.

You lock on to one target with one gun and then the other gun can be moved at will, allowing you to take out multiple targets at once no matter how close they are together. Again, not an incredibly complex mechanic but is a solution to a “problem” that hasn’t been solved by even the most world-renowned developers.

The Verdict

My Friend Pedro is a game I can’t recommend enough for fans of these fast, snappy, and frenetic action games that fill that empty spot of something like a new Max Payne game. It’s incredibly fun, creative, and plays like a total dream that fits right at home on the Nintendo Switch.