The Adventures of Pip is a charming platformer that doesn’t rest on the fact that it borrows elements from single, eight, and sixteen bit games of our youths, but adds an evolution/devolution mechanic that keeps things fresh in a world of generic indie platformers.
The Adventures of Pip is set in the Pixel Kingdom where a rigid class structure is in place. Instead of the classes humanity had during the middle ages, the Adventures of Pip sets its class structures based on how many pixels you are. Atari style pixels are the lowest class, NES 8-bit pixels are second on the list, and the SNES 16-bit pixels are the upper echelon of society.
The story sees the Pixel Kingdom thrust into chaos when the princess is taken by an evil Skeleton Queen that looks to absorb her power to access the pixel stream. You play Pip, a single pixel that seeks to save the princess despite all the odds stacked against him. The unique feature of the Adventures of Pip is that you will gain the ability to evolve into eight and sixteen bit forms by absorbing pixels from his fallen foes. But what really makes the game special is that this isn’t an RPG that locks you into the next form, but instead allows you to drop back to lesser forms so you can blast through different environment puzzles and enemies. This switching mechanic is essential to beating the game, so mastering its use is a must.
Pip in his single bit form can jump much higher than the rest of the forms and can fit into areas that are only open to him. Each other form offers up similar unique skills that will force you to switch back and forth to complete each level. 8-bit Pip can punch enemies, while 16-bit Pip has his sword that can destroy blocks. Some environmental puzzles will require you to switch forms on the fly and this offers up some of the most challenging parts of the game. It never reaches the level of I Wanna Be The Guy, or Super Meat Bot, but it is enough to keep things fresh, especially when you factor in boss battles that require to use everything you’ve learned for each encounter. 
Players will get to explore five distinct worlds and experience up to 10 hours of gameplay, although players with a lot of classic platforming experience will move through the game pretty quickly. The Adventures of Pip also does a great job at bringing in new players with how it builds in difficulty. Just when I was getting to the point where things were beginning to slow down the game throws something new at you to keep you on your toes. The Adventures of Pip is a simple game that offers up just enough additional challenge in small bits to keep you wanting to play just one more stage.
One of the big things that I noticed, and has stuck with me even after completing the game, is the music. The score is simply fantastic and it punches hard at just the right moments. It’s been a long time since I’ve felt like there was a full orchestra blasting through my speakers. The soundtrack employed is a blast to listen to and can go toe to toe with even some big Hollywood movies. You may just find yourself letting the game sit just so you can sit back and appreciate the score.
While the story is a bit cliché with rescuing a princess, it’s the way it’s written that makes it a lot of fun. The Adventures of Pip never takes itself all the seriously, and the writing reflects that. Humor abounds with some clever jokes and smart punch lines. The whole game is handled really well and is bigger than the sum of it parts. Often you’ll get a lot of games that have awesome visuals, but lackluster sound, great gameplay, but an abysmal story, and so on. The Adventures of Pip is solid on all levels and because of this the game is elevated out of the realm of just being a good game, and into being a very memorable game. 
The Adventures of Pip is a great platformer that comes highly recommended, but it isn’t perfect. The evolution/devolution aspect is quite cool, but I felt it lacked the punch that it could have had. I know that this is an indie game funded through Kickstarter from a small team, but the mechanic felt more like something that you just did, instead of being something that was truly special and required effort. I also noticed a few graphical glitches here and there, but nothing that ever distracted from the game, or killed the game in any way. One small issue is that while reading some text I noticed the word”I” wasn’t capitalized in a name line of dialouge and that just kind of bugged me. Look, I’m not an English professor and make more spelling/punctuation mistakes than I’d like, but finding something like that in a game always bothers me.Regardless of those few minor things the Adventures of Pip is still a fantastic platformer that everyone should get their hands on. For this review we played the game on the Wii U, so having the inventory on the Wii U Game Pad was really nice. Whatever system you may have the Adventures of Pip is a solid game that deserves your attention and I hope that this is only the first in a bigger series. A review copy was provided for this review
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