Pepper Grinder Review. A drilling adventure
What Is It?
"Pepper Grinder" is a unique and exhilarating side-scrolling platformer that combines challenging platforming, clever environmental puzzles, and chaotic combat, all wrapped up in lush pixel art. This game delivers a fresh twist on the genre by integrating a unique drilling mechanic that allows players to dive in and out of the earth like a dolphin in water. With its ultra-tight controls and a thrilling soundtrack, "Pepper Grinder" offers a gameplay experience that is as satisfying as it is demanding.
Gameplay
The core of "Pepper Grinder" revolves around fast-paced platforming and drilling. Players take control of Pepper, a fierce treasure hunter, as she drills through the earth to navigate the island, uncover hidden treasures, and battle the Narlings. The game’s controls are intuitive and responsive, allowing for precise movements whether you’re running, jumping, or drilling through obstacles. The controls are simple enough to memorize quickly, even when you get a few additional abilities later in the game. Most of the game comes down to drill baby drill in the most satisfying way.
The story of Pepper Grinder plays out over several maps, each presenting different biomes, with its own challenges, enemy types and hazards. Every level is varied and challenging, blending its unique platforming style with combat, light puzzle-solving, and exploration. Pepper can use her drill to attack enemies, break through walls, and propel herself through the air, creating a fluid and dynamic gameplay loop that keeps the action fast and engaging. Each level is a mix of tight corridors, wide-open spaces, and hidden secrets, encouraging players to experiment with their drilling abilities and explore. Each level has a number of hidden coins to find, these can be used to buy new costumes, stickers for an in-game sticker book or a key that unlocks a new level, one for each map, making a good case for the completionist to return to the game and find all the secrets.
Enemies, seem to come up with new tools, and weapons to try and stop you from progressing and they are hilarious. In many ways they reminded me of the minions. Evil minions that you both want to obliterate but at the same time also want to hang out with and have a laugh and a good time. The constant change up in their tactics is a fun experience, at one point I even encountered some of them flying WWI type airplanes.
Boss battles are another highlight, with each region of the island guarded by a colossal creature that tests your skills and reflexes. These encounters are intense, requiring you to learn the boss's patterns, exploit weaknesses, and adapt to their increasingly aggressive attacks as the fight progresses. This all culminating to the final boss which is no slouch and took me a while to finally defeat. It was in this final boss fight I finally figured out why in some cases I had some issues with the controls. They are very well tuned, and react will to your direction, but for some reason at times I felt I would lose control. In the final battle I had to jump from point to point and then I figured it out.
Unlike most controls I am used to the direction does not move with the viewpoint of the character. with other words if I move down the left and right are not reversed (like let's say when you drive a remote-controlled car towards you) Instead it took me a long time to figure out that the movement was more that of a cursor, no matter the direction pepper was looking at or heading too, you push direction on the stick where you want to go , much as you would a mouse pointer. I eventually learned and pushed years of instinct back deep down, but I would have loved a setting option to perhaps change how controls work to accommodate my playstyle.
Pepper's journey isn't just about surviving; it's also about thriving. The island is packed with dangerous enemies, treacherous traps, and devious puzzles that require quick thinking and even quicker reflexes. Along the way, players can collect Skull Coins to unlock new levels and visit Curiosity Shops to purchase health-boosting Armor Gems or other valuable items that aid in Pepper's quest. Some of those are permanent, others seem to go away, such as the health upgrade, which is really just a depletable bonus shield.
The drill that pepper carries is not only for digging and punching it also works as an interface for a variety of tools in the game. You use it to open doors, raise flags, shoot guns, race snowmobiles and even control a giant MECHA. All of which keeps the gameplay fresh and exciting.
Level design is also integral to the gameplay and puzzling how to overcome obstacles, drilling into the ground can be used to boost and then jump out the other side, avoiding deadly traps. In other places you launch yourself out of cannons from diggable area to diggable area. What is great is that for most parts of the game the save points are well placed so there is not much of that frustration when you die. On top of that the game allows you to slow down the game speed, to help memorize paths, patterns and work on your controls of pepper. This all makes the game challenging without putting you in a state of despair you will never be able to finish the game.
Release Date: August 6, 2024 (on switch and steam March 2024)
