1 review liked by MushNowa


In this game the whole universe’s stability depends on a giant semicolon and that has be the most genius thing ever put into any videogame... and that's the only thing I can say that its exceptional about it

Toodee and Topdee sold me on its concept since the first moment I saw it, the idea of controlling two completely different characters in two completely different perspectives in a puzzle/platforming setting that demands of you both thought and skill sounds incredible, and yet, as Toodee's perspective, it ends up falling flat.

That's not to say the game is nothing short of creative, 'cause holy hell if it oozes it: the first two worlds are a showcase of how this idea can lead into fantastic levels; it just keeps building on top of itself, expanding on what it already established, mixing old mechanics while introducing completely new ones, like the teleporting blocks in world 4, which lead to some amazing (albeit cumbersome) puzzles and challenges. But it's in these two worlds where the true meat of the game lies, the parts that will make you feel incredibly smart after you realize what you need to do, or even solving a problem in a way the game didn't account for. But then half-way through world 3, something terrible happened, something despicable and horrifying... I wasn't having fun.

Like... how is it possible? The past two worlds were a blast, how come from world 3 onwards the game just… didn’t feel right? After finishing, I thing the answer lies on the fact the game stops revolving around you trying different things and you finding an answer out of the multiple ones, to a trial and error festival that demands of you doing the puzzle the EXACT way the game wants you, and if you fuck up, you gotta repeat all over again. And you may be thinking: ‘’Demon you absolute nut shitter, that’s exactly what puzzle games are about’’, and while that’s true (tho we could argue that the best and most challenging puzzle games are the ones that let you solver their puzzles in multiple ways), Toodee and Topdee is also a platforming game, and that’s the thing that hampers it the most. Cryptic solutions, really wonky hitboxes at times, bosses that just feel like memory trials and not actual challenges that demand skill, and the one that ISN’T based around trial and error, it’s the most annoying lump of pixels I’ve ever come across in a LONG time. But perhaps worst of all, not only there’s the possibility of one of the two characters dying, and as such having to start THE WHOOOOOOOLE thing again, but it also doesn’t have any kind of rewind feature, and you know what that means: if you screw up at some point, and unless you are the most skilled player alive, YOU WILL, there’s no way to undo the error you just made, you have to start. All. Over. Again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. AND. AGAIN. It all just feels like frustration for the sake of frustration, all culminating on the last world and levels, in which you have to do them basically perfect if you want to complete them, as if you fuck it up even once, you die. The thing that basically sold me on the game, the mix of puzzling and platforming elements, ended up being the exact thing that caused it’s downfall, leaving the game stuck between dimensions, not knowing what it really wants to be, something that even affects the story!

While the two main characters are fine and charming, the game as a whole has dialogue that is constantly trying to make jokes, puns and soft fourth wall breaks, and even ignoring the fact that I didn’t find them particularly funny, it makes an ending that tries to be emotional completely meaningless. The game didn’t take itself seriously for most of the adventure, hell, there are barely any instances where the characters interact at all in the first place, if all of the story was like this, I wouldn’t even talk about it, but since the finale tries to go for this ‘’sappy’’ route, I’m not even surprised that I didn’t feel nothing, ‘cause, if the game can’t even make up its mind about what it really is, how can I even care?

And that’s what kills me, that I don’t care about Toodee and Topdee, because I wanted to love this game so badly. The concept, the first bunch of levels, the soundtrack, the animations, all amazing elements that cannot fix a frustrating, indecisive mess of a game that feels like it has a semicolon in the middle. I can’t call it bad, it does have some incredible moments, some (VERY) few levels even in the later half are good and the final section shows how this game really wanted to be something special, but even in that part it just was infuriating.

It's the worst kind of mediocre game: A game that has so many fun and genius elements ; yet it takes a path that makes it much worse that it could have been.

Tho I have to say, the game did teach me something, and that is that pigs in 3D are killing machines. Those pesky porks!