Approach again within the historic days when the Recreation Boy Advance was Nintendo’s major handheld, Recreation Freak (sure, the Pokémon individuals) launched a artistic little platformer known as Drill Dozer. Inserting you within the position of a barely crazed lady who tears by phases and foes alike with a strong drill, it shortly established itself as an all-time traditional with its distinctive tackle platforming, although it by no means turned common sufficient to justify a sequel. Now, practically 20 years later, an indie developer named Ahr Ech determined to make Pepper Grinder, a kind of religious sequel. Carrying on the spirit of platformers of yesteryear whereas bringing in a ton of nice new concepts of its personal, Pepper Grinder stands as a wonderful new entry within the style and one which we’d very a lot counsel you think about selecting up.
The story takes place in a world of islands the place piracy runs rampant. You play as a quiet adventurer named Pepper who amasses her pile of booty not by taking it from others, however by discovering it in varied historic caches. Throughout a storm, Pepper’s ship is wrecked on the seashore overrun by these goofy narwhal-like creatures known as Narlings, who raid her ship whereas she’s handed out and steal all her treasure. When Pepper involves, she quickly discovers a mysterious drill machine known as Grinder, and units out on a vengeful quest to destroy the Narlings and reclaim her riches.
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Pepper Grinder is a traditional 2D platformer by and thru, taking you on a linear journey by ranges stretched throughout varied themed worlds. Although not like most platformers, leaping isn’t emphasised practically as a lot right here—many of the focus is positioned on the chaotic would possibly of Grinder and its means to bore by nearly something. There’s a frantic glee to Pepper Grinder’s gameplay that we’ve hardly ever skilled in different platformers, and far of which has to do with its reliance on razor-sharp reflexes.
A bit just like the traditional Sonic video games, stage designs are sometimes outlined by sections of blazing-fast pace interspersed amongst slower-paced sections the place you’re meant to catch your breath. But when it’s time to go, Pepper Grinder isn’t the type of recreation that provides you very a lot time to calculate correct timing. As quickly as you go underground, the fuel pedal is floored and also you’re blitzing ahead whether or not you wish to or not, solely leaving simply sufficient time to react to obstacles you’re hurtling in direction of.
It’s a testomony to Pepper Grinder’s wonderful controls that the general expertise is so pleasant, as a lot of your time is spent hanging on for expensive life. For one factor, the controls are quite simple to return to grips with—you merely maintain down the fitting set off to spin the drill up, and you may juice the engine a bit by tapping ‘B’ for an enormous sudden pace burst that’s nice for nailing these jumps between pits. In the meantime, the physics are as responsive and tight as you’d count on in a high-intensity platformer, and whilst you by no means really feel such as you’re completely in charge of the wild drill, there’s a way that you’ve got simply sufficient to at all times level it the place you need it to go.
High-notch stage design is a spotlight of Pepper Grinder, and this goes a great distance towards making it such a singular and pleasant expertise. Each stage introduces some new stage gimmick, reminiscent of an early stage primarily based round Donkey Kong Nation-style barrel blasts or one other the place you’ll be able to flip your drill right into a minigun with infinite ammo, and this wealth of concepts offers Pepper Grinder great selection. But it doesn’t matter what the brand new taste is, there’s at all times a cautious stability between exploration and motion, lending every stage an excellent tempo that doesn’t really feel too quick or gradual.
So as to add extra replay worth, there are many collectibles and extra challenges to beat should you assume your abilities are sharp sufficient. Each stage has 5 hidden cranium cash that you need to use to purchase supplies in a store like beauty outfit modifications for Pepper or keys that unlock hidden ranges, whilst you can spend all of the treasure you seize from phases on a gacha that’ll provide you with stickers to be used in a photograph mode or momentary well being boosts that’ll up your max HP. Moreover, beating every stage as soon as will unlock a time assault mode for it that has some robust necessities for getting a gold medal, demanding mastery of each the stage format and Grinder’s motion mechanics.
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Visually, Pepper Grinder takes loads after the high-bit artwork fashion seen in video games reminiscent of The Mageseeker, One Step From Eden, or Grapple Canine, and it appears in all the perfect methods like a misplaced GBA recreation. Vibrant colours simply pop in every stage, particularly when there’s an explosion of treasure from one other Narling you wasted with Grinder, nevertheless it’s the little particulars and animations that actually take this visible fashion from good to nice. Issues like a dynamic digicam zoom if you ship the ultimate blow to a boss, or the way in which through which the menu UI twitches and vibrates, add that additional little bit of character and manic vitality which helps Pepper Grinder stand out from its friends.
Pepper Grinder additionally encompasses a standout soundtrack that completely matches the bristling vitality and inventiveness of the gameplay with an eclectic music lineup that throws loads of cool concepts your method. It options parts of drum and bass, home, pop, jazz, and funk amongst others, all of which mix into one thing that feels surprisingly cohesive contemplating the vary. You merely by no means know what sort of music would possibly play within the subsequent stage, but it at all times seems like an excellent match for the motion onscreen.
The one actual (fairly minor) criticism we have now about Pepper Grinder is that there merely isn’t sufficient of it. It ought to solely take about 4 to 6 hours to beat, and perhaps a number of extra should you gather all the things and nail the gold occasions within the time assault. After all, it’s at all times higher for a recreation to exit on a excessive be aware than overstay its welcome, however with the wealth of concepts and wonderful gameplay right here, we couldn’t assist however want that there was one other world or two to flesh it out.
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We encountered some minor technical points within the overview construct, too, together with a glitch in the course of the last boss struggle that made the boss invincible. Nevertheless, they did not quantity to way more than minor annoyances, and we have been assured {that a} patch to easy out these points is already within the works for launch shortly after launch.
Conclusion
Pepper Grinder is a splendidly creative and enjoyable platformer that no fan of the style will wish to miss out on. It could have a runtime that feels just a little too brief, however that is in the end a deeply pleasant, difficult, and extremely replayable recreation with numerous character. If you happen to assume you’d have an interest, we’d counsel you decide up Pepper Grinder on the subsequent alternative (and there is a even downloadable demo should you’re on the fence).