What is Pizza Tower?
Pizza Tower is a new indie 2D platformer where you play as pizza chef Peppino climbing through the titular Pizza Tower to stop the destruction of his pizzeria. It was released on January 26, 2023 and is available on Microsoft Windows and Android. The game took me around 6 hours to finish the mainline game content.
Game Review:
Platforming games are one of the oldest genres of video games around, featuring some of the industry’s most iconic games and characters such as Mario and Sonic. For a new platformer to stand out, it really needs to nail its gameplay to even have a shot at competing with the big names in the genre. Pizza Tower is one of those games that absolutely nails the gameplay feel of a fast-paced 2D platformer. It looks at the example set by the games that came before and offers a genuinely fun and exciting take on the platforming genre and carves out its own space in the field.
Pizza Tower takes the most obvious inspiration from classic Wario Land games. I have never personally played any of the Wario Land games but having looked into them before I can see the similarities. Pizza Tower plays in a series of levels where Peppino has to go through a level, often with a number of possible pathways to the end, to reach the goal before having to race against a timer as fast as you can back to the start of the level. Wario Land games did this too. What this does is it makes the initial excursion into the level a way of experimenting and exploring so you can find the secrets and best paths while the return phase of the level is an exhilarating test of what you’ve learned.
When Pizza Tower turns on the jets and gets you going at full speed it is an incredibly fun experience, using the momentum and slipperiness of Peppino to great effect. And the feeling of blasting through the level and nailing the jumps and making every turn precisely feels incredible. I love how the developers were intentional and thought long and hard about the shape and design of each level. Turns and jumps, that lead into ramps or boost pads that launch you in another direction, are intuitively where you think they would be. Though sometimes my fingers couldn’t move fast enough and I would crash and have to regain my speed and momentum. And at times, especially towards the endgame, it would be going so fast that I really couldn’t exactly tell what was happening, my eyes couldn’t keep up with how fast everything was moving. Those sections where that happened were less enjoyable to me, I would like to be able to tell what I’m doing and not get dizzy trying to do so. But when they found the sweet spot of going fast but not too fast, it was an absolute blast.
Pizza Tower also has a great variety of gameplay. Every level offers some kind of new ability that Peppino can use and each one feels fleshed out and polished well. Some were more fun than others in my opinion; a highlight for me was a level that just straight up became a 2D golf course. There are a limited number of levels (about 20), each lasting between 5-10 minutes, and there were 5 boss fights that all took me at least a few tries each. Even though there are not many levels here, each one is incredibly well designed and distinct enough to be a great time.
Art style is a really important aspect of a game for me. I’m not terribly picky but I think whatever route the developers choose should be done well. While Pizza Tower does look good for what it’s going for, they picked one of the only art styles that I don’t jive with. Pizza Tower is reminiscent of Saturday morning cartoons like Ren and Stimpy. Everything kind of has a look that I can only describe as gross. Pores are often highlighted with facial expressions being highly exaggerated and contorted into some weird looks. I think it is done well, but it’s an art style that generally makes me feel uncomfortable.
The story in Pizza Tower is about as bare bones as it gets. Peppino is in his pizzeria and he catches wind that this sentient pizza named Pizza Face wants to destroy his shop so he blasts full speed to the Pizza Tower to ascend the tower and stop it from happening. He blasts through full speed, bashing anyone and anything in his way. It’s a silly but shallow premise for the story, but that’s not the focus of this game. Some things I don’t entirely enjoy about the story is that there are often crude jokes and inappropriate gestures shown. For example, one character will flip off Peppino at the start of the fight and one of the levels contains a swear word in the title, which loses a few family-friendly points. There are also often these annoying screaming noises from characters, including Peppino, throughout the game. It just all feels a bit frivolous and immature but again the gameplay is very polished and tight.
Another area where this game is great is its soundtrack. The composer and musicians for this game absolutely crush it. They go for an underground rock vibe mixed with a classic 2D platforming pixel sound. And it definitely works and is a blast. I’m not a music head but the songs match the energy and speed that the game provides and egg you on to keep up the speed.
Family Friendliness:
Like I said, Pizza Tower is not a super family friendly game. The artstyle can be off-putting and probably a little scary for little ones, the game contains some inappropriate gestures and language, and a few areas include gun violence. I don’t think this game is particularly egregious with its crudeness but I would probably avoid it for my kids until they’re a bit older personally.
Features for Parents:
Pizza Tower doesn’t offer many features for parents. There’s not a difficulty setting and I didn’t see much in the way of slowing it down visually if you can’t keep up with the speed required to play. Levels are fairly short and self-contained so it is conducive to playing in a bunch of short sessions. And the game does pause really well, letting you pause whenever you need to, even in a boss fight.
Final Verdict:
Pizza Tower is a silly high-octane 2D platformer that takes clear inspirations from famous platformers in video game history. It has incredible level design and gameplay variety jam-packed in a small digestible packet of about 6 hours. It wears its crudeness and immaturity on its sleeve making it less family friendly. But I still think Pizza Tower is one of the best games released in 2023 so far and is a great purchase if you love 2D platformers.