Why Pizza? [Xbox]

Developed by Marginal Act, Why Pizza? is a physics-based platformer that is completely bizarre. The purpose of the game is to make your way to the end of each level in order to deliver pizza. But it’s not quite as simple as that - there are hazards blocking the path to the exit, ranging from abstract creatures and pits of lava, as well as a lot of blocky structures that you’ll need to weave your way around. To aid you with this, you have a magical hand that can grab and hold you in place, essentially giving you the ability to swing and jump to higher platforms without landing on one on the way up - learning how to best utilise this is important, as it can often be the only thing that will lead you to success. Along the way, you might pick up extra deliveries such as mayo or cake, and you’ll find coins that come in handy later to buy extra hearts as well as grabs and temporary invincibility against the lava pits.

The bright, acid-trip visuals are truly an assault on the senses, with lots of clashing colours and nonsensical level layouts that are less puzzle-styled and more… wrong. On one hand, it’s definitely a very unique looking game - but that’s not always necessarily a good thing. The layout of levels make it quite difficult to tell what you need to do/where you need to go, even in spite of how short each one is, and while there is a pizza arrow pointing you in the general direction of the end, it doesn’t factor in for any of the blockades - so you’ll sometimes find yourself going the wrong way, backing yourself into a dead end, or wasting your grabs trying to reach higher platforms. You’ve also got an awkward dash to help with gaining some distance, but even this isn’t a guarantee. The music of Why Pizza? has what I can only describe as a very ‘kids-movie’ feel across each of the levels, and having multiple tracks was a nice surprise. Trying to get through the levels can be particularly challenging, so at least by having some decent music, it takes a bit of the edge off! It feels like it’s intending to be awkward and difficult, with the physics purposefully throwing you off, and whilst this can be funny at times, navigating your big clunky napper through the level often ends up more frustrating than fun.

Why Pizza? was definitely made with the achievement/trophy hunters in mind, given that they can all be unlocked in around half an hour to an hour, depending on how well you fare with physics-based titles. There are plenty of coins as well as a few secrets to be found within each level, and that gives you a bit of encouragement to replay them to nab anything you’ve missed. Priced at £4.19 on Xbox Series X|S - with the Xbox One version being a separate release (at the same price) - and with a free demo available if you want to try it out first - it’s not an absolutely groundbreaking title, but it does offer a bit of fun and a bit of challenge, for a fairly budget price.

In the end, we decided to give Why Pizza? the Collecting Asylum rating of 5.5/10.

Are you interested in Why Pizza? What do you think of it?
Let us know in the comments below!

- V x

Thank you to Sometimes You for the Why Pizza? Xbox review code!