Pineapple Smash Crew – Want to See Things Explode?
Have you been having a hankering lately to search through catacombs, looking for treasure? You know the "Indiana Jones" itch that makes one want to crawl through dusty tunnels, encountering all sorts of strange adventures until you finally have that crazy 'find' in your hands? Well, if you're thinking that you want to dig holes in the ground and find artifacts all day, then this game is not for you whatsoever. However, if you're not big on getting muddy in the Sahara looking for a new pyramid, then perhaps I can interest you in a game of Pineapple Smash Crew!
First of all, I can hear the questions already... what kind of a name is Pineapple Smash Crew? (And before you accuse me of hearing things... I've already had this question asked several times while I was playing it.) Believe it or not, Pineapple Smash Crew is a perfect description of this game. Don't believe me? Well, let me prove myself correct. Click more and read after the jump!
Let's dissect the name down based on each word. But first, a history lesson is in order. During World War I, the Americans regularly used a grenade called the MK I, a fragmentation grenade which looks much like you'd expect a grenade to look. However, because we advanced so much in the few years between the 'Great War' and World War II, we upgrade the grenade, added the word defensive to it and called it the MK II, a defensive fragmentation grenade. This grenade, due to its shape and size, was often called a 'pineapple' grenade by the troops using it in Europe in World War 2. In time, the term 'pineapple' was generalized to include many different forms of grenades. So, with that out of the way and all the readers more educated (who said games weren't educational these days?), we move on to the name dissection process.
Pineapple - A reference to grenades (as seen above). And boy, does this game have grenades. While your characters are also loaded with sidearm rifles which resemble pulse rifles, the game stresses the need for using grenades. The rifles just don't have the kick required to flatten many of the various enemies which you will see throughout the game. But the grenades aren't limited to just the normal 'throw and forget' grenades by any means. This is one of the place where the game really shines. In an attempt to add a tactical awareness to the game, each grenade type must be thrown and then detonated by another mouse click when the player has decided it's time. And the variety of grenades will make you think some as well, as you can throw a regular frag grenade, or a rocket propelled grenade, or even a random laser grenade that can fire a directional beam through walls! And if that's not good enough, perhaps it's time to break out the teleport grenade, the cyclone hole grenade, or the shield grenade? It's very entertaining to find the grenade that works best in the situation that you find yourself in.
Smash - You will be smashing everything in this game. When you enter a randomly generated level (a fantastic element, by the way, the game will never be the same each time you play it), there are many enemies, crates, boxes, reactors, and doors around. By the time you leave that level, heading to the next part of the wreckage, there will only be a few walls and operational doors left. Everything blows up, squishes, or vaporates when your crew hits the stage and that's a very satisfying feeling.
Four, loot-hungry mercenaries ready to embark!
Crew - This is, at heart, a tactical squad-based adrenaline shooter. Your squad consists of four mercenary types which are determined to find anything of value in alien ship wrecks at any cost. Each can hold only one grenade at a time, making it important to choose which grenade you pick up next, to keep your options open. Each of them holds a standard issue mercenary pulse rifle that they fire upon command on targets. Scrolling with the mouse, you can choose which mercenary you're currently operating and all the rest stay in formation. Normally, squad based games and I don't get along, because I don't want to keep track of everyone else that I'm supposed to be in charge of and I lose many, many people (Rainbow Six and I didn't get along well when I had about 50-75% of my teams dead before the fourth mission in). However, though I lost many mercenaries, I enjoyed the controls of this game very much.
So, with the name a bit more understood now, the question is, is it worth playing? Let us look at a few of the problems with the game and make our decision based on that.
1) Levelling/Sense of Progression: As you play this game, your squad will level up, assuming they didn't die during the mission. From what I was able to tell when I played through the game, this levelling changes the damage reduction for your squad members. To give some sort of visual progress, the armor that each mercenary is wearing changes color as their level increases. Starting with a very noobie green, the max level of your mercenary will sport black armor with skulls on the shoulders. That said, if a member of your squad dies during a level, he's gone forever and is replaced upon returning to base with another nooblet of a merc in his flashy green. I felt that this level didn't matter much as I finished the game with level 2's in my party (I lost my entire party to the second to last mission, sue me) and it didn't seem overly difficult.
The other level is the squad level, and this determines which grenades are available to you. This level goes up as the team gathers more credits from the crates and hubs that they destroy as they traverse these wrecks (so much for preserving stuff for posterity, eh?). As you gain another level (progress tracked by a giant blue bar at the top of the screen), you get to choose another grenade from two options to have available to you as you go along. At first, it seemed as if you are going down a tree, but you do start seeing repeats as you level your squad up farther.
We made it! Lost quite a few people though... too bad...
2) Game Length: I finished this game shortly before writing this review and Steam has my hours logged at 3. 3 hours... for a 10$ game. I'm not sure how I feel about this. Honestly, you could easily get a different 10$ game and it's going to suck up way more time than this. It was a very disappointing game length, but you could always replay it?
3) Replayability: Normally, when I finish a game like this, I'm usually ready to go again... and see what else I can find! However, there's no loot in this game, so you're not going to go see if you can't find different randomly generated items. You've seen most of the grenades and what they can do, because there's no decision that you can make that you won't get to change later. I can't get excited about playing this again right now, though I could see myself doing it after a few months away from the game, perhaps? Time will tell on that one.
Now before you think that all I have to say are negatives, that's not true. I immensely enjoyed my time in the world of Pineapple Smash Crew. It's a great indie game with no bugs or glitches whatsoever. It won an award at Eurogamer Expo and it was well deserved. Rich (the only developer of this game) has made a fantastic title... I just wish it was a bit expanded or cheaper? In reality, just expanded, because I want more Pineapple Smash Crew!
Final Grade: B
(Only because of the cons mentioned... I had a lot of fun with this one!)