If there’s one thing I’ve noticed across the many 2D platformers I’ve played, it’s that they rarely allow you to go at breakneck speed. If you’re moving too fast to react to obstacles, then you will crash into them and the speed flow will be broken. So how can a platformer allow you to go fast without streamlining the level design into a series of straight lines that lack challenge? Sonic’s answer to this conundrum was to slow you down with vertical slopes and stairs for platforming sections. This worked well enough that I was convinced a fast-paced platformer must occasionally slow you down to be interesting, until now.

Pizza Tower is refreshing in so many ways I don’t even know where to begin, but I’ll try. For one, the controls are a contender for the best in any platformer. They have a slight learning curve, but all of Peppino’s movement options are responsive, satisfying to pull off, and most importantly, flow into each other seamlessly. Even when you turn around, he keeps most of that speed. Being able to run up any wall feels great and is something Sonic should consider incorporating. The momentum is perfect.

Like any great platformer, the levels are designed around these controls. There are very few moments where you will encounter a wall or obstacles that feel explicitly designed to slow you down. Even then, the knockback is very brief. To accomodate the speed, levels are, funnily enough, a series of straight lines and inclines. The reason it works here, however, is an excellent balance between moments where you can hold the run button to rampage through enemies and moments of hot-footed platforming necessitating a variety of inputs and quick reflexes. An autorunner, this is not.

As nice as all of that is, there’s only so many ways to arrange platforms. The levels would have gotten stale if they all lacked gimmicks like John Gutter, the first level. Pizza Tower is not like this. Almost every level has at least one gimmick that changes the gameplay enough to be stimulating on its own while still allowing you to move quickly. The weakest levels slow you down too much (Bloodsauce Dungeon), have uninteresting gimmicks (Pizzascare), or are simply out of place (GOLF).

The ranking system is excellently done. Grabbing all of the secrets and completing a second lap of the escape sequence while keeping my combo active was as tough and stressful as it was exhilirating and rewarding. It’s completely optional, but achieving them in my favorite levels was the highlight of my playthrough. It was so enjoyable I’d go as far as to say this is how the game is meant to be played.

Audiovisually, Pizza Tower is superb. The art style won’t be for everyone, but the exaggerated 90s flair gives it a surreal vibe that stands out from the chunky pixel art of most indie titles. Peppino is also extremely expressive no matter what you’re doing. He has a large variety of taunts, idle animations, and running cycles, all of which are buttery-smooth in motion. The sound design is an earworm, though I couldn’t help but notice a lot of it sounded similar to cartoon stock sound effects. After a trip to the wiki, I can confirm this to be true. The music is great, but only in the moment. I can’t recall any tune aside from “It’s Pizza Time!”, which is a certified banger.

Also great is the bosses. All of them have thrilling attack patterns and are far better than I would have expected for a platformer lacking a dedicated combat system. There probably could have been a time limit instead of giving Peppino a health bar to keep continuity with the main levels, but that’s a minor complaint.

Not so minor is the handling of secrets. In any other platformer I would praise their inclusion, but here, I found a lot of them to be too well-hidden and disruptive to the relentless pacing. Memorizing their locations is completely doable to earn a P-rank, but that only reinforces my point. They’re not satisfying to find for their own sake. The levels aren’t built for exploration anyway, so fewer of these or having them signposted by a trail of ingredients more often would have been appreciated.

The lighter exploration is also why, despite my comments in the first paragraph, I can’t entirely agree with the Sonic comparisons. They’re both speed platformers, yes, but their approaches to exploration and even level design are worlds apart. As much as Sonic is known for going fast, slowing down was encouraged for obtaining the Chaos Emeralds. If you didn’t care for them, the higher routes offered a quicker way through the levels when mastered. They were designed to appeal to both types of players and were very successful. Its use of physics-based movement is also still unmatched to this day and feels distinct from a dedicated run button. Just to be clear, Pizza Tower and Sonic offer completely valid ways of designing speed platformers. But they are different, and that’s a good thing. That is also why I avoided mentioning Mario’s greedy rival until now. For one, I haven’t played Wario Land 4 yet. And two, the one Wario Land game I have played, 3, is not applicable here due to its much slower, but still fascinating, puzzle-platformer design.

So, yeah, Pizza Tower is great. The best indie platformer in years. Highlighting its few flaws as much as I did only serves to highlight just how expertly cooked it is on the whole. Tour de Pizza served up a delicious debut and I’m eagerly awaiting their next meal!

EDIT: Click here for my review of the Noise Update.