What would you do if a load of pirates stole your hard-earned booty and the one instrument you possibly 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 kind of weapon-cum-vehicle and chase them down.
Over the course of a brief runtime, throughout 4 worlds that every provide up a handful of ranges, you will zip round, tunnelling via delicate earth to burst out into the delicate 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 function noticeable spikes in issue (fortunately mitigated by an excellent issue choice that permits you to actually flip the pace of the sport down). Regular phases, although, are all about motion, as you snake round underground looking for the best line to progress via 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 fingers to get via ranges. Each additionally hides 5 cash that, when collected, could be put towards cosmetics and keys that unlock a bonus stage per world, that are properly price exploring.
Comparatively beneficiant checkpointing implies that you will not typically end up compelled 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 just a little, and Pepper Grinder finally ends up feeling prefer it most likely did not have rather more to offer, which suggests you will solely be disillusioned in case you’re searching for a mammoth set of ranges.
Pepper Grinder’s look can be actually sprightly (pun supposed): its pixel artwork is easy and well-executed, with often 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.