Ninja Pizza Girl

"Gemma Delivery Service, ready for
your next command!"

In a modestly cyberpunk future, cities have become too large to be sustainable. The ground level? Forget it; it’s all buildings and traffic jams. Several people have taken to living on rooftops. There’s room to live here. Gemma is a teenage girl with an affinity for parkour, a necessity to travel around these dangerous roofs and the construction areas on them. Her dad just quit his job to pursue his dream of opening a rooftop pizzeria, which he named PizzaRiffic, putting his mad pizzaiolo skills to use. Gemma thus becomes the business's delivery girl, aided by her wheelchair-bound brother, Tristan, telling her from his station where to deliver their father's concoctions. However, competition in the pizza market is ferocious...

Such is the (at first glance) silly concept behind Ninja Pizza Girl, a creation of the Australian family studio Disparity Games, released to Steam on September 30th, 2015. This product is the result of a successful Kickstarter campaign that gathered 38,694 AUS$ on a goal of 35,000AUS$. The game was later released on other gaming consoles: PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Wii U.

It's still safer than the streets of a megapolis.

Please wear pants... please wear pants...
please wear paOH DAMMIT

As expected of a platforming protagonist, Gemma can run, jump, wall-jump and crouch (which can also allow her to slide beneath obstacles if she was running prior to crouching). She can use that slide to kick, an attack that she can also pull while in midair to break obstacles or hit enemies. Most levels involve Gemma delivering pizzas, so there’s a timer and you must attempt to navigate the almost-labyrinthine levels in the given time, to arrive at the goal, represented by the door to a home. I say the levels are labyrinthine, yes, but they’re designed in such a way that you’ll reach your destination regardless of the path you take, if you go the right way.

The game is split in levels, which are divided into “story arcs” of sorts. Things begin on the comedic side in the “Home Neighborhood” arc, in which Gemma makes her first steps as a pizza delivery teen in the flashy and bright world of the megalopolis rooftops. However, she’s growing irritated at the number of customers who open the door without the basest decency. We’re even treated to…

Aaaaaaaaaaaah! My eyes! It burns! The goggles, they do nothing!

I'm not the one pushing other teens to the ground.
I'm not the bigger loser here.

God, I’m so sorry I had to show this to you folks. Gemma and her father immediately set up a “No Pants? No Pizza” policy. That solves the problem, but there’s worse on the horizon. See, PizzaRiffic has set up shop in the area of a well-established megacorporation, uncreatively named MegaCo., and they’re none too happy about it. They lead the market and have more money than morals. Also, their pizzas are little more than tomato-flavored cardboard. It’s Mona Pizza VS Pizza Dinosaur all over again. They have so much cash to waste that they hire their own army of pizza-delivering teenagers… and use them for anything else than delivering pizzas. Like, say, bully the delivery teens of competitors. These ninja teens are the enemies in this game. Mind you, they’re not trying to kill Gemma, like normal enemies would; nah, they’re a lot more subdued. They’ll trip her, throw trash at her face, and push her to the ground. Gemma, in return, can kick them a bit, but similarly won’t do them any enduring harm.

Why, yes, they're also throwing trash.
...And getting paid to do so.

While most of the game is comical in tone, a lot of elements that involve bullying and intimidation are treated seriously. A teenage girl’s worst enemy is other teenagers. The game makes a case to discuss bullying and other teenage issues in a believable manner (even if the setting itself is imaginary), and tries to present these issues with their real outcomes and possible solutions. No killing anyone here! …even if, I’ll admit, as a victim of intimidation as I went through elementary and middle school, tossing just one of these dickbags down to the streets below is tempting as Hell. I’ll make it seem like an accident, these rooftops are very unsafe after all… No? Aw, damn.

It's not the game getting darker;
it's her state of mind.
Nothing some TLC won't solve, though.

This is integral to the gameplay, as well; Gemma doesn’t have a Hit Point bar. Instead, she has a sort of self-esteem meter that goes down whenever she endures bullying or fails to do particular things, such as long jumps. It’s not an element on the screen, either; it’s represented by the colors of the world dimming and getting darker the lower she feels. Top mood? This world is flashy and bright and kind of fun to watch. Feeling under the weather? The colors fade a tad, the visibility lowers. At the lowest? Everything is dark and grey-ish, almost monochrome, and Gemma can barely see where she’s going. If she hits rock bottom, she’ll fall to her knees. You can mash buttons to make her regain her composure so she can keep going some more; she will also do it herself if you press nothing, but it’ll take longer. There’s hardly any durable “lose” option in a level, aside from taking too long to deliver a pizza. So, bullying and depression – some topics one wouldn’t expect a platforming game to discuss with such seriousness.

On her way, Gemma collects Recycle symbols and QR codes, both of which can be used for different things in the game’s shop. Recycle symbols are materials that Gemma gathers, which she uses to sew new clothes for herself. And yet, she can also somehow use those Recycle symbols as currency to purchase TLC items (English being my second language, I didn’t know that this meant “tender loving care”). These items include stuff like chocolate, sweet tea, bubble baths and new video games; feel-good stuff that will restore her spirits. Good to know that the future relies on barter again.

Chocolate, tes, and a bubble bath;
gotta learn to take care of yourself.

Listening to these interviews from the devs
at Disparity Games offers fantastic insight
on game development. I recommend
listening to them if the topic interests you.

QR codes can be used for one-time purchases of “Swag”. That section includes bonus art, interviews with the developers and the comics viewed during progress of the game. The most interesting may be “Game Craziness”, which consists of cheat codes basically; those can only be used in levels that have been beaten. This includes stuff like a Big Head mode, a double jump and a Motivational Mode that changes the enemy teens’ mockeries to positive messages.

The most interesting "cheat" code may be a First-Person Mode that changes the camera to first-person, behind Gemma. I tried it, and unfortunately, it’s not great; the controls aren't modified to reflect the change in perspective, so the teenage protagonist still moves forward by pressing Right rather than Up (or Left when going in the opposite direction), which makes for very awkward gameplay.

A new perspective can be really cool,
when done right.

Make the world a better place, one pizza at a
time - thus is my duty!

In the second set of missions, Gemma makes fun of an introvert girl, only to realize her meanness later when she, too, gets made fun of, so she sets to help the introvert to open up a little. In the third, Gemma helps hook up a man and a woman who have feelings for each other but are incapable of confessing it to each other, an issue that gets resolved through the power of pizza. Wow, her dad makes some crazy good pizz if it has that power. In the fourth, after seeing the level of poverty in the neighborhood, Gemma helps a little girl by crafting a custom outfit for her. Awww!

"Look, I have no mask on, I appear supportive
 and friendly, I promise this is not a trap."
This is a trap.

Instead of boss battles, the last level of each set is a special challenge. As examples: In one, you collect excitement points for the introvert girl; in another, you must collect as many recycle symbols as possible so Gemma can craft something cool for a little girl. However, the MegaCo ninjas have gotten even meaner than before, straining Gemma’s self-confidence, and this, in spite of the many happy people she delivers to. One of the ninjas, who stays unmasked, seems to be more supportive of Gemma. Eventually, the guy, Roy, offers to race against her and says he’ll try to have the other ninjas respect her if she beats him.

Are you sure I'm still not allowed to kill
just one of them? This emotionally-manipulative
bastard, as an example? No?
Nonviolence is hard.

Her world may be figuratively crashing
down around her, it still looks pretty
damn literal right now.
Don't give in to depression, Gemma!

She does, but it turns out to have been a distraction; while Gemma was racing, the MegaCo ninjas burned down PizzaRiffic. Oh, fuck them all. They are goddamn lucky that this game favors nonviolence, because if it were me, they’d be splatters on the pavement several floors below. And Roy is the worst of them; emotional manipulation is a bitch. Pretending niceness just to hit back with even greater nastiness. Yep, been there, seen that. Seeing the damage, Gemma runs away, and what follows is the darkest level in the game. She must flee from the shadows, to prevent depression from overtaking her, and the world appears reduced to rubble. However, she remembers everyone that she helped, who have good words for her, and it allows her to escape the darkness. Upon her return to PizzaRiffic, she sees that those very people have come out to help them with rebuilding the business.

With all the scaffoldings around here, I was
wondering when we'd get our homage to
Donkey Kong.

Hatching up a plan with her brother, Gemma hunts down the CEO of MegaCo. And… please tell me we’re throwing him down to the streets below. No? This guy got teenagers to commit arson, that’s real crime territory. It’s way past time for niceties. Fine, we’ll try the nonviolent route again… Gemma races against the clock to reach him before he flees on helicopter, and gets him to admit to wrongdoing and that his company’s pizzas are crap compared to PizzaRiffic’s. Gemma’s brother airs the confession online and spreads the word about MegaCo’s awfulness. We sure showed him! …Even if it likely won’t make much of a difference in the long run.

There's nothing more satisfying than a CEO admitting
that his own products suck.

This is where the story ends, but I feel like the major issue of teenage bullying hasn’t really been resolved or dealt with in a satisfying manner. Those teenagers deserved a comeuppance. Even in keeping the nonviolent path, I feel there would have been solutions with better results. 

A QR code - yes! I can unlock the next
interview!

On top of it all, the game has a wide variety of options to extend gameplay and offer more challenges. First is the difficulty, from Trainee to Pro; then, several details can be customized, such as the time pressure in the levels (to have less or more time to finish levels), the meanness of the enemy AI (the level of bullying Gemma faces, basically), and the game’s speed (from 0.5X to 1.5X). The main menu even includes a Speedrun option. I've found that maxing out the amount of time to finish a level helped a lot in finding the last few Recycle symbols and QR codes scattered around. The double jumps helps a lot, too.

Sweet, a lot of Recycle symbols!
I might make some new threads today!

Overall though, Ninja Pizza Girl is a good game. I like the idea behind it, the concept and the setting as well – and I like that this idea came about from parents listening to their children and learning about their situation. How a teenager’s worst enemy is often other teenagers. How kids go from happy-go-lucky and unaware of social classes to being embroiled in situations worthy of entire seasons’ worth of soap operas. At least, all according to this article. I particularly love that the game’s graphics reflect Gemma’s state of mind and serve as a “health bar” of sorts as well. The levels are designed in a clever way, allowing for exploration while rarely letting Gemma get lost on the way. Lastly, a speedrun option and unlockable cheats are very nice additions, not to mention the many options that one can change to their liking. Had the Kickstarter raised even more money, the game would have included more accessibility options, more levels, more story.

Oh, don't you DARE bring her disabled brother
into your mockeries!

I do think that the issue of bullying should be addressed more often in video games. As I was bullied throughout elementary and middle school, this theme is very important to me. It’s relatable, and can lead to important discussions. The use of (mostly) nonviolent, or at least non-lethal solutions for the problem, adds a different color to this game. It’s also a change from the many games that make light of the issue. That said, the way the situation was resolved in this game still feels pretty weak, considering the enemy teens got involved in genuine crimes. And to top it off, there’s nothing that actually prevents the CEO of MegaCo from sending teens to attack Gemma or the pizzeria again.

But barring this problem I have with the plot, I still enjoy pretty much every other aspect in this game. It’s more unique than the average platformer, and does a lot of things really well, which I feel are good reasons to recommend it. You can find it on Steam for 6.99$.

I’m hungry after all this. I kinda want a pizza now.