Review: Pizza Tower [PC]

Developed and published by Tour De Pizza, take a bite out of the wildest pizza delivery ever. What happens when you cross the platforming of Sonic the Hedgehog, but with the manic nature of Rayman or Bubzy the Cat? You get Pizza Tower, a fast paced almost LSD Simulator styled game that is almost indescribable. But I’m going to try my best.

Ci siamo, amici miei!

Better Sauce, Better Ingredients. Peppino.

Pizza Tower follows Peppino Spaghetti, a pizza chef whose goal is to scale the Tower to prevent the destruction of his pizzeria. The mysterious Pizzaface is threatening to destroy the business with his nuclear laser atop a nearby tower. Scared silly and severely ticked off, Peppino sets out to climb the tower and save his pizzeria. While a simple premise, the back-story of this game is anything but. At its earliest stages Pizza Tower and its development was led by the pseudonymous designer McPig and programmer Sertif. It began as a RPG with survival horror elements, but over time it became a platformer.

Inspired by Nintendo’s Wario Land series, and intended as a sort of spiritual successor, the game featured a very unique art style. With high resolution pixel art inspired by 1990s Nicktoons, every inch of this game is oozing with personality. Peppino is extremely expressive in that old toon rubber style. All of the enemies, from the cheesy crawlers to the bosses share in this over-the-top hyper exaggerated feel.

Keep Calm and Climb On

Gameplay in Pizza Tower is a breakneck dash that rewards skillful movement without being too punishing. Honestly, for being made on the GameMaker engine, it handles remarkably well. The controls never feel too floaty or slippery once you get the hang of them. You have a myriad of moves at your disposal, starting with your dash. Once Peppino starts running, he picks up speed and becomes slightly harder to control. However, you can use this speed in several ways. If you hold up, you’ll charge a super jump; or if you jump and dive forwards, you’ll curl up into a ball and imitate a blue hedgehog. Holding down mid-air will have you ground pound like another Italian Plumber, and if you build momentum, you can bounce from wall to wall.

There are various types of hazards and speed bumps in Pizza Tower, each handles a little differently. Some blocks require high speed to break through. Others, you need to reach a certain height to be able to smash downward. Peppino can also grab onto enemies and throw them, as well as pick up certain items. Some enemies, like a walking pile of cheese with a fork are dangerous, in that you can’t rush into them. Doing so will cause Peppino to take damage, and slow down.

Pizza Tower, an idea done right

I should take a moment to talk about the difficulty system in Pizza Tower. With the exception of Boss Battles, Peppino doesn’t take damage. Instead, whatever points streak combo he is on will be reset to zero, causing you to have less points overall. At the end of each level, you will be graded, with a funny reaction pose to go with it. However, these things aren’t mandatory to beat the game. You can find a gallery of each of the missions, with accompanying “tasks” that can make a once simple level into a far greater challenge. It’s extremely interesting to see a game only be as hard as you make it within the confines of the game itself.

To “win” a level, you must guide Peppino through a level and find the big rock face at the end of it. Striking the face will cause a countdown timer to start, and you have to race back to the beginning of the level in order to complete it. The way back can change though: some paths are blocked off and new ones open up. You can collect stopwatches to grant you more time, but it’s a breakneck race to the finish in a lot of cases. Thankfully, some of the NPCs will appear along the path and point you in the right direction. Once you’re out of the level you get a grade, and based off of how you did and how many collectibles you found along the way, you will earn money to unlock the floors boss battle.

Love at first slice

Pizza Tower is a love letter to nostalgia. The levels are challenging, the designs are iconic, and the music will stay with you long after you finish playing. Being able to be as “difficult” as you want is a truly unique take on level design and serves the game well. If you want a breath of fresh air that reminds you of the old times, give Pizza Tower a shot.

Pizza Tower is available on PC through Steam.