From the moment you first boot up Pizza Tower, the most important facet of it is revealed to you in full force: this game is dripping, oozing, overflowing with personality. It's clearly heavily inspired by Wario Land 4, but more importantly than mechanics, what Pizza Tower really seems to take from that game is an incredible propensity to simply be itself. Despite taking plenty of cues from other games, Pizza Tower manages to craft its own identity that comes through in full force throughout the entire experience thanks to an incredible artstyle, oddball humor, and small cast of memorable characters. And not to mention the music! The borrowing of instrument samples from Wario Land 4 was to be expected, but I was shocked to quickly hear a Mario Sunshine nod, plus a sampled loop I recognized from Sonic Unleashed and even a memorable instrument from Sonic Rush in certain stage themes (plus more I'm sure I didn't notice while playing). Yet these familiar sounds are mixed together in a unique way with new stuff to create something that feels wholly original. I love how blatantly weird a lot of it is, especially with the random vocals many songs have in the background. In the end, not only is it a great soundtrack, but it feels undeniably “Pizza Tower” (something that can be said for every aspect of the game's presentation).

There aren't a lot of levels, but each one has its own unique theme and mechanics to help them all stand out. Quality over quantity. Movement feels kinetic (with a strong emphasis on maintaining speed), and while it takes time to master, once you get more familiar with the game, you'll be able to blast through the stages like crazy. Not only does it just feel good to play well, but the scoring system rewards doing so, and I find this to be one of the few games where I'm excited to replay stages to shoot for a higher rank. Each stage also comes with plenty of secrets to find alongside stage-specific achievements, so even if a normal playthrough is over pretty quick, there's a lot to dive back into the game for. And even more impressively, Pizza Tower accomplishes the impossible in that it manages to be a 2D platformer with genuinely good bosses.

Simply put, there isn't anything quite like Pizza Tower. It crafts a unique identity that'll leave you craving more, while having tight gameplay that can simultaneously be blasted through yet also leave a lasting impression and give plenty to come back to. My one main criticism of Pizza Tower during my playthrough was really just performance... I unfortunately ran into some pretty hefty slowdown, and by the time I finished the game and came back to replay the first few stages, it felt like it was running at half speed 90% of the time. Luckily, with the power of windowed mode (and turning the resolution down as far as possible), I managed to smooth things back out. With that said, I'd wholeheartedly recommend Pizza Tower as a must-play for any indie game or platformer enthusiast.

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