What would you do if a load of pirates stole your hard-earned booty and the one software you can discover to get your stuff again was an outsized drill? Nicely, Pepper Grinder proffers a solution: you’d flip that drill right into a type of weapon-cum-vehicle and chase them down.
Over the course of a brief runtime, throughout 4 worlds that every supply up a handful of ranges, you will zip round, tunnelling by means of comfortable earth to burst out into the comfortable underbellies of enemies. As you go, you will be constructing your momentum to leap throughout gaps, boosting when you possibly can. In homage to a reasonably apparent inspiration, you finish every degree by drilling to spin a flag up its pole.
Like all conventional platformer, every world concludes with a boss stage, and these characteristic noticeable spikes in problem (fortunately mitigated by an excellent problem possibility that permits you to actually flip the pace of the sport down). Regular levels, although, are all about motion, as you snake round underground looking for the proper line to progress by means of the following part of platforming.
This platforming feels nice, and as soon as grappling and boosts are within the combine you will have a pleasant mix of choices at your arms to get by means of ranges. Each additionally hides 5 cash that, when collected, may be put towards cosmetics and keys that unlock a bonus stage per world, that are nicely value exploring.
Comparatively beneficiant checkpointing implies that you will not typically end up pressured to restart ranges, and Pepper Grinder additionally has some good twists on its central concepts, together with underwater sections and stomping controllable robots. Nonetheless, by the shut of its three-to-four-hour run, you will be repeating these concepts somewhat, and Pepper Grinder finally ends up feeling prefer it in all probability did not have way more to offer, which suggests you will solely be dissatisfied for those who’re on the lookout for a mammoth set of ranges.
Pepper Grinder’s look can also be actually sprightly (pun meant): its pixel artwork is straightforward and well-executed, with sometimes characterful animations, and the entire thing’s backed by a cool soundtrack. This won’t be probably the most substantial of platformers, but it surely’s a spirited entry.