I never considered myself a Wario Land fan (hoping to replay them soon to see if that’s changed in the last 10 years) so going into this game I was a bit skeptical. I could tell that it was a great game based off the visuals and presentation, but would I actually like playing it?

The answer was quickly found to be a resounding yes.

Taking that Wario Land formula and mixing it with lighting fast movement and fun abilities/transformations that vary by the level is a stroke of genius. The movement was super fluid, trying to keep yourself going at max speed to get through enemies and obstacles was a fun mini challenge in the game made even better with the wall running mechanic.

Each level has 5 cages to find that are essential to progression but they aren't so hidden that it was ever annoying, I never had to redo a level to progress to the next world because I was finding 99% of them just naturally exploring the stages. They do have 3 extra secrets and a special item in each level which provide a little more challenge if you are looking for that, I ended up finding a good amount and can see a lot of appeal to finding more on another run. My only complaint with the game were the boss fights, they weren't bad per se but I did not enjoy them very much.

All in all a great game I would highly recommend to any of my fellow platformer fans.

Developers Mr. Pig and Sertif were handling the pure essence of the late 90's with this one. This was like the sudden resurrection of the Ren & Stimpy show; a speed run through a Nickelodeon slime obstacle course; a junk food fueled gaming marathon with a bean bag chair and a 32" CRT.

There's a glorious level of detail in every inch of this fairly meaty experience. The Microsoft Paint art style transcends its low technical fidelity through heaps of garnish and fun animation work. Character sprites are memorable and often hilarious. Levels writhe with character, almost literally, and almost all 22-24 of them are unique in appearance. And the music accompanying it all is equally as detailed and varied, with a nice mix of classic chip-tune instruments and more modern beats with sampling.

If you have any nostalgia for the heyday of the pizza and X-games world, you'll have a wonderful time even just watching this game.

And under that is a very solid high-speed platformer.

I can't claim a large amount of experience with 2D platformers, as I've always had an odd hangup with them — thankfully I've been getting around that recently — but I know I like Rayman Origins, and the flow of the levels here is reminiscent of that. More... brutal, but similar. I've been told it's like a spiritual succesor to the Wario Land series, and I can easily imagine that with the vibe this game gives off, but I'm entirely unfamiliar with those games.

For the most part Pizza Tower is a smooth experience, and even when it's not "smooth" it's gratifyingly "chunky" with the combat and box breaking. There's also a lot of great variation in the gameplay with the level specific power ups and gimicks. The way they're tailor fit to the context you find them in keeps them from becoming throwaway "nice-to-haves" that you eventually start skipping because you either never get to the "right" time to use it or because collecting it isn't worth going out of your way for.

Doesn't hurt that they're just fun, too.

But sometimes I do feel like there's a bit too much of a conflict between the game encouraging you to go quickly and follow a clear line and it wanting to throw unexpected obstacles at you and have to learn the layout to earn your speed. The result for me was that, for the regular gameplay, there was a lot of whiplash. I also found a few of the control scheme options were a bit frustrating. In particular, a lot of the interactions around wall-climbing and diving.

I also... think the boss fights are too long. 16 hits was a bit past the point of tedium for me.

But overall that wasn't enough to ruin the experience by any stretch. And if you enjoy 2D Sonic, Mega Man, and the like, I wager you'll be much better off than my 3D brainrot crippled self.

So, unless you are particularly averse to platformers or can't understand the appeal of the art style, I would recommend giving this game a go. And if you're the speedrunning crowd, this seems like a very rewarding course to learn.