Only in the indie space do we see games like Pizza vs. Skeletons. Bright and humorous, as well as off-the-walls, it’s a 2D action game that stars a 10-foot tall pizza. It has a knack for catching you off guard by design; delicately crafted to avoid the mechanical monotony so common in its space, it’s an adventure that re-imagines what it is in almost every level. Sometimes you’ll save puppies. Other times, you’ll ski. Or butt heads with gigantic skulls. Or just bash skeletons because, hey, that’s fun.
You just can’t pitch this game to a major publisher. This will never be a blown-up, $60 retail title. It’s too free-wheeling, too idealistic. It’s too … different.
I’ve had my paws all over a pre-release build for the last week or so, and I’m OK with saying that it’s looking every bit as awesome as its name implies it will be. Sure, it might not have any ultra-familiar trappings to draw connections to, but that’s kind of the point: this thing is bananas, man. It’s as far-out as a quasar.
Take the mechanics, for example. In the game, you control a house-sized pizza that can roll, stomp, and jump. Rolling requires a simple tilt of the device. Tap the screen and the pizza jumps. Tap again while in the air and the pizza unleashes a devastating stomp.
Rolling automatically obliterates enemies into plumes of grave dust — provided they aren’t hoisting an over-sized, pizza-skewing spear in front of their bodies. If this is the case, a physics-bending jump and stomp will do the trick. As you play, you’ll start running into a few enemies that twist this basic combat model. There’s a flying skeleton that requires a bit more touch, as well as other minor iterations on this specific idea.
If that was the game, I’d still be as into it since, you know, you’ll be controlling a giant, grimacing pizza on a quest to kill all the skeletons ever. But that’s not all there is. Pizza vs. Skeletons is like a conga line of levels and different systems, each one bolting onto the back of the last and making the stream stronger and crazier.
In the first chapter, you’ll be introduced to a skiing mini-game that doesn’t task you with killing. Instead, the objective is to hit the ramps perfectly in order to collect the most currency possible. Later, you’ll be balancing the pizza on the top of a huge skull while crossing a pit of spikes, pummeling telltale Angry Birds structures into oblivion, or even bouncing on rocks in a timed adventure that has you knocking skulls off of the tiny platform you’ll be forced to work with.
There’s a lot more, and I won’t spoil it all. I will say, though, that nothing I’ve been doing is striking me as particularly interesting. Everything in the game exists in the service of fun, kinda like a Rock Band. You’re just playing to act out weird power fantasies, and that’s cool.
Also, while there’s a level of schizophrenia inherent in this kind of design, Riverman ties all of the bits and bobs together into a coherent whole; the sound design is as kooky as the game, and the art direction? It’s like something Tim Burton would do if he could (a) draw and (b) chill out every once in a while. The game is bent, but lightly so; its style and its tone fits well with the oodles of off-the-wall content.
There’s a good story about this game’s design in this week’s show. Riverman is composed of two brothers, Jacob and Paul Stevens. Jacob, the art dude, dreamt up the scenarios. Paul, the programmer, then had to figure out a way to not only make it work technically, but also make them fun.
The prototyping phase took awhile and the duo had a lot of back and forths on the subject of dreams vs. the reality of having to make solid, fun-to-play content within the technical parameters of the game.
“There are a few levels that have the theme of your sort of crushing a structure in a way like how you fling birds in Angry Birds at something and destroy it. We thought could we make that fun as a pizza? Well, if you actually physically control your character and just crush, say, the Great Pyramids, that could be interesting." Paul told us earlier this week.
“Jake’s ideas probably come from a totally different place than mine do. In mine, I was thinking what’s fun being a huge, powerful character? Crushing structures."
Another fun thing that comes hand-in-hand with the conceit of driving around a huge pizza is topping customization. As you beat levels, you earn currency which can be dropped into extra vegetables or meats, new faces, new glasses, and even hats. Each is lovingly animated, and most are pretty hilarious. I’ll go on record here and say that nothing comes close to being as cool as a 10-foot tall pizza with a top hat.
I’ve held back my progression in the game so I wouldn’t get too review-y in this, but I think it’s pretty obvious that I’ll be embracing the game with open arms when it hits a little later this month on the 16th. We’ll be bringing you more around that time, too.
For now, though, keep your eyes on this and Riverman. The studio has never attempted a game this ambitious, this out-of-the-mold, and it seems like it has hit a new stride in the process. I’m excited, and I think you should be, too.
I've been playing this a fair bit since it's release, and I'm just not enjoying it. I liked the original a lot, despite it's silly redneck theme, but this just feels dull and lifeless by comparison.
The original had really difficult, twisty little tracks. The races were ferocious and tough to win. Reckless 2 is slow, overly long, and the difficult twisty tracks are now wide, gentle, and to be frank, boring.
It all feels dumbed down, made easy and accessible to chase sales. It looks very nice for sure, but that's not enough.
You may have not been playing long enough.. It starts out slow, and I was thinking the same thing. But I had faith in the developers and kept on driving. Now, after buying several cars and improving their performance, I am power-sliding all over the place on the many beautiful, some tight and twisty dirt, some flat-out street, circuits, just like the original Reckless Racing. Keep driving, you will see.
It's really not at all easy or slow when you crank up the difficulty and when you get past the half-way point of the campaign. I've played arcade and career through and the last ones are a real thrill because they are insanely fast.
But this sequel is definitely more "racing" than "reckless" as opposed to the previous one. In the first Reckless Racing, there were all kinds of small objects and fun things scattered around. This feels like a Need for Speed game as a top-down version. The tracks are pretty generic without any real character to them. It is very sterile and definitely un-humorous. I have a lot of fun playing this game but I probably won't keep playing it for weeks and weeks like the first one.
Oh, and definitely not smooth on an iPhone 4
Im using iPad 1 and it's laggy and the music is choppy.. I hope it gets fixed.. :(
The game seems to not want to load game screens well.. Have been having trouble loading races in arcade mode.. Hope this is a temporary problem.. Am unable to compete past event 2 in arcade mode.. Other than that it is an awesome game..
How smooth does the game play on the iPhone 4S?
Very smooth. Absolutely perfect with no framerate problems. However, Multiplayer is sketchy at the moment, but that is due to network lag due to server overload, according to Pixelbite.
Awesome! Thanks for the info.
This game rocks.
how do the controls work in this game? i was never good at controls where it depends on the direction you're facing AKA the character's POV. eg. facing south means pressing right to go right, left to go left, and up to go down (forward)
any opinions?
We do not have a "pull the direction you wanna go" type of control, but there's an optional chase camera that puts you behind the car at all times.
Does that setting get a little dizzy? What other settings are there available?
No, chase camera is great.
thanks, yall convinced me to get it.!
The only problem with the controls that I've found is that I've lost more than a couple races because my finger hit the wrong button and the car went the wrong way... Wish there was a wheel!
There are 2 different wheel setups, besides the two button configurations (that you also can customize to place the buttons where you like, and as large as you like).
Best top-down racer to hit any platform, ever. The car physics and handling are great.
...iCloud? Or do you have to have two separate careers and sets of lap times?
Is this actually iPad resolution or just uprezed and fuzzy, like a Cave "HD" game. I wish there was some way of telling this. Universal app can mean a lot of things, I have learned.
It's actual iPad resolution.
I can't seem to get used to the other control schemes (playing on iPad 1). The wheel and half-wheel are too "loose" imo (even after adjusting sensitivity) and obviously tilting is god awful. Thankfully, the default arrows work as they should, but I really would've wanted to use the wheel like in Mini Motor Racing; but I guess the physics in that game is WAY different here.
That being said, I love this game. Looks beautiful, plays great, and has loads of content to keep me occupied for a very long time. Don't wait for a sale guys, this game is worth every penny.
I think the original is probably the worst top down racer I've ever played and I've been playing them since the days of the spectrum 48k. I can't understand why people liked it. Ok the graphics were reasonably impressive but the game had nothing to it.
I'm skipping this one just based the last one.
-1
I wish I could click "No - this comment was not helpful".
Also, your comment does not add to the conversation, which is a requirement for posting here.
And who are you again?
I found his comment to be helpful, as I felt the exact same way. He wasn't trolling, just being honest about the first installment of a franchise that he paid for. Back the eff up internet police
I get that the first felt like a bit of a tech demo, but 'the worst ever?'. Are you kidding?? It was incredibly beautiful and the driving dynamics were amazing. It just seemed like they started to make one game, then finished a different one.
I love this game, but the same as @NeetyNeety I would wish for a wheel that would work Mino Motor Racing. In my opinion that is the perfect way of controlling a racer like this. Can you make that happen in a future update? It would make the game basicly perfect.
As you wish. :) Directional steering wheel will be implemented.
I spent $4.99 on this app this morning on my iPad 1 and it's unplayable. Whenever I try to start up a race, I get the load screen and then it quits and goes back to the home screen. Being one of the more expensive games on the app store, I'm extremely disappointed and pretty annoyed, I feel like I've wasted my money.