Pineapple Smash Crew

In a world of multipart narratives, deep progression systems, and lush dialogue trees, sometimes a fun and straightforward experience is exactly what you need to remember what games are all about. Pineapple Smash Crew, a small indie title for the PC developed by RichMakeGame, doesn’t over encumber the player with layer after layer of mechanics. This is a top-down shooter with plenty of weapons, enemies and explosions, and that’s really all you need to know. Sure, there are levels to be raised and secondary weapons to be unlocked, but the star of this show is the crisp and remarkably satisfying combat. A few of that tropes wrapped about the action may not be fully developed, but the fun factor easily outweighs the missed opportunities to make for one mindlessly fun title.

As the name implies, this isn’t a game about one man taking on the world. You control a crew of four space soldiers, which you have the option of naming, that move as one. Left click, and all four fruit-themed mercenaries shoot simultaneously, allowing for a wide range of fire. The basic attack is tied to a cool-down meter that drains as you pump hot, steamy death rays into both the organic and metallic resistance, while ammo for the secondary fire can be picked up from crates and enemies. Each of your four hombres carry one deployable pickup at a time, and while very standard items like grenades and health packs drop quite often, more interesting weapons are available. As your party levels up, new unlocks, such as automated turrets, laser beams that shoot through walls, and rockets, help to vary an already exciting combat system.

Maps in Pineapple Smash Crew are randomly generated. You’ll be able to choose from up to four unique areas at a time that vary in difficulty and scope. An easy map may ask you to reach one target area by navigating through four or five dangerous rooms. Once you reach the correct room, you’ll either have to clear out the enemies, find specific items or destroy explosive crates in order to achieve victory. More difficult levels may have two or even three target areas, but the objectives themselves stay the same.

The explosions are both plentiful and wonderful.

It’s always an enjoyable ride to the finish line, but there’s no true incentive to explore far beyond the target location in any given map. There are plenty of rooms around your objective, yet only enemies and credits that can be used for respawns wait for you there. In certain levels, terminals that act as a pseudo-Wikipedia for the game’s futuristic universe can be accessed and read, but the writing and humor isn’t strong enough to be worth the journey. It would have been nice to see bonus rooms with unique items for enemies to add some variety, but sadly, most of my time was spent darting to the nearest goal room.

The look and sound of the game are evocative of the oldies, as you’ll be treated to music that sounds like it belongs in an arcade while controlling the tough yet adorable soldiers. Their thick, blocky exterior is charming, and as you gain levels from vaporizing hundreds of angry enemies their amour even changes color. The defense boost is probably more important to most people, but seeing Josiah the Super Soldier finally sporting a red suit of steel made all my hard work well worth it. Enemy design is also strong, even if the variety isn’t where it should be. It doesn’t take long to grow tired of seeing the same types of enemies in each new room, and while boss battles are fun early on, there’s really only one repeated model that sees an increase in armor or firepower in the more difficult dungeons. It’s a little lazy, but nothing that dampens the experience too greatly.

Don't you just want to give him a hug?

Credits gained from your foes and destructible parts of the environment are a missed opportunity, too. It would have been nice use the money to equip the crew with unique aesthetic features or even new weapon types, but their sole purpose is respawning fallen members of the crew. The danger that comes with the bullet-riddled and highly explosive nature of the most difficult randomly generated levels may force you to spend those credits quickly, though. Certain rooms become unrelenting and populous, but happily, it feels completely fare. The tension that comes with seeing a crewmember’s health drop dangerously close to zero is exhilarating, and it’s tough to not become invested in your uniquely named and highly leveled characters. I still miss good ol’ Adam the Pineapple Smasher. He was a valiant soldier.

Even with the unlimited levels at your disposal, this isn’t a game that will stay fresh for hours on end. Pineapple Smash Crew’s lack of enemy variety and failure to populate levels with interesting things to do limit what could have been a full-bodied, and possible even everlasting, experience. Yet, the silky smooth gameplay and retro window dressing make up for the shortcomings. As a £6.99 ($10) download, this shooter is well worth your time and money. There’s plenty of fun to be had here, and it’s a wonderful first effort from this single-man development studio. If nothing else, you and your friends can now randomly generate enough fruit jokes to be had for the entire year.

Josiah Renaudin

View My Other Posts