When Pizza Tower is at it's best, or rather, when my enjoyment of it was at its peak, it soars above contemporary and past platformers with a charm and energy that rivals anything the big developers have ever made. The visuals are gorgeous, every sprite, animation and character design is without flaw. They start out with an impossibly high standard and somehow only get more and more creative as the game progresses. The music isn't far behind, it's full of life and chaos, capable of both blending into the background and vibrating in your face when it's time to run. And the movement, oh baby, it's so buttery smooth and cohesive. During the last few levels I had more fun than I've ever had in a platformer.
However. Pizza Tower is not a game that gives up its smoothness without a fight. It requires a level of speed and reflex only possible with training, and it takes a while, maybe 5-6 levels, before I reached a point where I didn't have to wrestle every bit of fun out of the levels. The visuals, for all their zany glory, make everything a little hard to keep track of at first, and the often unassuming enemies dotted around can mess one up a LOT. This is part of the learning process though, and with every level the game feels a little kinder, your eyes and fingers catch up to Peppino's speed, slowly but surely. Towartds the end of floor 2 the game clicked for real, and from there it's pure joy.
I cannot stress enough how creative and joyful this game is. Just thinking about the ways the enemies move, or Peppino's facial expressions, or how that one level is just called 'Oh Shit', makes my heart race again and yearn for more. For the tragic thing about this game is that it's short. Very short. And given how steep the curve for enjoying the game is, it's hard not to end a playthrough without feeling like there should be more, like you're just cut off in the middle of the best part. Sure, there might be plenty of replay value in grinding each level for the highest rank, but for someone like me who doesn't find enjoyment in that, there's little more to do. I wish there was more, I would gladly have played this for twice, thrice as long. I wish I could love it fully, but there's just not enough of it to fully fill my heart.
However. Pizza Tower is not a game that gives up its smoothness without a fight. It requires a level of speed and reflex only possible with training, and it takes a while, maybe 5-6 levels, before I reached a point where I didn't have to wrestle every bit of fun out of the levels. The visuals, for all their zany glory, make everything a little hard to keep track of at first, and the often unassuming enemies dotted around can mess one up a LOT. This is part of the learning process though, and with every level the game feels a little kinder, your eyes and fingers catch up to Peppino's speed, slowly but surely. Towartds the end of floor 2 the game clicked for real, and from there it's pure joy.
I cannot stress enough how creative and joyful this game is. Just thinking about the ways the enemies move, or Peppino's facial expressions, or how that one level is just called 'Oh Shit', makes my heart race again and yearn for more. For the tragic thing about this game is that it's short. Very short. And given how steep the curve for enjoying the game is, it's hard not to end a playthrough without feeling like there should be more, like you're just cut off in the middle of the best part. Sure, there might be plenty of replay value in grinding each level for the highest rank, but for someone like me who doesn't find enjoyment in that, there's little more to do. I wish there was more, I would gladly have played this for twice, thrice as long. I wish I could love it fully, but there's just not enough of it to fully fill my heart.