Promotional image featuring Peppino, the protagonist of the game. Photo courtesy of Tour De Pizza.
Many video games have been an instant success on launch, and games played at San Luis Obispo High School are no different. One game in particular is “Pizza Tower”.
“Pizza Tower” was released in 2023 by Tour De Pizza as a humorous, fast paced, platformer focused on score attack and exploration of levels. It began development around 2018 and took nearly five years to develop, with the concept and gameplay evolving drastically over the years, culminating into perfection at launch.
“[‘Pizza Tower’] is a great game, because of fast-paced action and challenging gameplay,” said junior Joey Bernardo.
The main story shows Peppino Spaghetti as the protagonist, the owner of a failing pizzeria, being threatened by a giant sentient pizza named Pizzaface that will destroy his pizzeria with a giant laser. In response, Peppino must climb the tower to stop him.
The gameplay revolves around a 2D platforming structure akin to the “Wario Land” series of games. With a mach run which allows Peppino to run at breakneck speeds destroying everything in his path, a grab dash which Peppino can grab foes and throw them into other enemies, and combines even more moves and techniques.
The levels players visit in the tower are even more zany than the story itself. Visiting a ruined city turned jungle, an ancient ruin made from cheese, a city of pigs, and even a “Five Nights At Freddy’s” inspired level with animatronics based off of pizza toppings. There are even more strange places that will have gamers excited for each new level they enter.
That’s not all though; a staple of every great game is the boss fights. The bosses in Pizza Tower are almost as challenging and creative as the regular levels, with Pepperman, a giant living pepper, The Vigilante, a cowboy-themed living cheese blob, The Noise, a parody on Domino’s “Noid”, and a fourth boss, which will remain undisclosed.
“The boss fights are my favorite; they’re challenging,” said Bernardo.
Levels in Pizza Tower play out at the start gate, players collect five “Toppins” which give you money to buy the boss gate, and find “Pillar John” at the end of the level, activating “Pizza Time” which starts a timer with frantic music. Then players have to rush to the end in time. All the levels are structured similarly, but each one’s design is unique with different layouts and gimmicks.
“[A tip I can give is to] go through the levels slowly, once you’re familiar with them, you can go fast,” said Bernardo.
Overall, “Pizza Tower” was reviewed very positively, with “Overwhelmingly Positive” reviews on Steam, eighty-nine out of one-hundred on Metacritic, and a nine out of ten on IGN.
“‘Pizza Tower’ is like the Cheese Lover’s 10 Cheese Pizza with Stuffed Crust from Pizza Hut,” said YouTuber Videogamedunkey.
For any platformer fans at SLOHS, this game is a must!
“Come on, just buy it! You know you want it!” said the character “Mr Stick” on the game’s Steam Page.
