Adventures of Pip is a 2D side-scrolling action platforming game on PC, iOS, Wii U, Xbox One, and PS4, with a Nintendo Switch port launching on September 10. Developed and authored by Tic Toc Games, Adventures of Pip is a fun, creative, and challenging platformer that translates brilliantly to the Switch. Hanging around, you play as Pip, a single-pixel character who lives in a global dominated by a pixel-based hierarchy. The princess of the kingdom, Princess Adeline, comes into the world with a special capacity to change people's resolutions but is kidnapped by an evil queen, named DeRezia. DeRezia, of course, wants to use Adeline's powers to take within the kingdom, transforming everyone she can into single pixels, leaving up to Pip to save the princess and also the kingdom.
Adventures of Pip has many clever mechanics focused on the thought of pixels and resolution. Throughout the game, you will find three pixel-based evolutions that Pip may take: single pixel, 8-bit, or 16-bit. The single-pixel Pip can drift after jumping, crossing long distances, whereas the 8-bit Pip can wall jump. The 16-bit version has a sword to consider down enemies and break blocks. To conquer levels, you need to switch between the different evolutions with respect to the situation, sometimes with very precise timing. This method of gameplay was incredibly engaging. Not only was the platforming itself fun, with a lot of challenging sections that needed creative or skillful solutions, however it felt more unique than simply another platformer. You couldn't make use of all your abilities at once and had to pick and choose specific forms of Pip and stick to them until you could evolve again.
The game wasn't punishing with the evolutions, either. To evolve, you need to hop on a particular enemy type. At first, I had been worried there would not be an adequate amount of these enemies scattered through the levels, making Adventures of Pip unnecessarily difficult. However, the developers did an admirable job placing the enemies in all the right places. Irrrve never felt like I was stuck since i had devolved and couldn't upgrade Pip to the correct form required to finish the following section, but I also didn't feel like the sport was saturated with these enemies, which would have made it too easy.
Additionally, while a lot of the levels can be fairly straightforward from beginning to end, there are plenty of hidden treasure chests and lost villagers which make exploration worthwhile. Trying to find secrets occasionally makes Adventures of Pip feel like there's two different experiences – one for players that simply wish to beat the sport and something that allows players to deep dive in to the level design and challenge themselves to find out everything.
I loved this aspect of the game if I needed to just go through the world as quickly as possible and beat a level in Ten minutes, I could. Simultaneously, I possibly could also spend 30 minutes searching for all of the collectibles, which got harder and harder to find. Toward the start of the game, it felt nearly impossible to conquer a level without stumbling upon the 3 lost villagers, but because Adventures of Pip continued, I started to really struggle and needed to include a much more effort to locate and reach the secret passageways.
Plus, Adventures of Pip has some truly great boss battles after each world. The bosses, along with the remaining game, clearly take inspiration from SNES platformers within the best possible way. Like most old-fashioned platformers, the bosses just take three hits to kill, but being in a position to land those hits is often far more complicated of computer seems.
I found myself dying many times throughout boss battles when i attempted to evaluate which I desired to complete to land an attack in each and every phase. This hadn't bother me, however, as there was always a respawn point right before the battle and once you figured out attack patterns and how to damage in charge, everything went rapidly. I truly enjoyed the nostalgic sense of being thrown into an essential enemy encounter without any idea of how to beat it, forcing me to undergo a series of experiments to determine what was effective without feeling severely punished when I died.
Overall, Adventures of Pip is a joyful experience that translated well towards the Nintendo Switch. Everything runs smoothly and also the game is an absolute blast to experience. The amount design was clever, along with the general premise and game mechanics. It were able to feel like all of the platformers I played as a kid on the SNES without having to be too punishing, essentially offering two ways of play, one for players who just want to beat the game and another for platforming buffs that actually want to dig in to all it has to offer. If you are seeking an indie platformer in your Switch, or the other platforms Adventures of Pip is on, I truly cannot recommend it enough.
Adventures of Pip is currently available for PC, iOS, Wii U, Xbox One and PS4. A Nintendo Switch version launches on September 10.