Rating of
3/5
A Bit on the Medium Side
Chris Kavan - wrote on 05/08/13
I was gifted this awhile ago, but admit I haven't sat down to play more than a few levels, but, as my backlog ever expands, I have to knockout some of these shorter games and Burgertime World seemed like a safe choice. The original game, while being really tough, was always a favorite of mine and this updated version is like the original game on steroids while throwing you a few bones so it's not impossibly tough.
Presentation:
The game combines a traditional action platformer with a standard puzzle element (building those burgers is work!). The design is colorful if pretty simple. The music is likewise adequate though won't leave any kind of impression (other than the classic Burgertime theme given an update). You could easily finish the entire run in a couple of days (at the most) though some of the challenges will provide hardcore gamers with plenty of additional content. Overall - it's the epitome of a standard game.
Story
There is a story here - hero Peter Pepper is challenged by all matter of burger maniacs, spanning four worlds: the U.S, Mexico, France and Japan. Each level introduces a new enemy - the U.S. has an annoying jumping pickle. Mexico has the exploding tomatoes, France gives you a floor-drilling carrot and Japan has a gas-spewing sushi roll. Aside from that, you have to do pretty much what you do in the original game: avoid enemies, build burgers and advance.
Gameplay
As a platformer, it is an improvement over the original game because you can actually jump with some form of control and it gives judicious use of your "attack" in the form of pepper - and you can collect unique power-ups - a spatula that lets you spin to take out enemies, hot sauce that kills every enemy on screen, an energy drink that gives you temporary invincibility (and speeds you up), a rocket to launch you several stories and a snowflake that instantly freezes any enemy you touch.
The game is 2D - but each level is circular, not flat - and can contain many different levels as each stack contains a piece of a burger and completing said burger is the point of the game. If you can lure an enemy (or two or more) on top of a burger piece, it will fall further and result in many more points. Certain levels also contain the letters to spell "Burger" also giving you a bonus. The last stage in each level is a boss level where you have to build burgers to injure the boss (everything from a giant luchador to a dragon-mech) - often while avoiding special attacks. These bosses aren't hard, but avoiding everything - especially as attacks speed up as you deliver damage - can become annoying.
The other aspect of the game is speed - and not dying - each level has up to a five star ranking you can get and as far as I can tell it's all about being really fast. You can also earn the only gold trophy in the game by completing every level without dying, but I'm not going to try to touch that. Earning three stars seems like a chore - let alone five - I was happy with my two-star ranking on each level. As I said - people who really are into this kind of thing probably have a lot of extra time on their hands. There is a multiplayer aspect, but I didn't explore that part of the game.
Overall
For a platformer, it isn't too bad. Some levels shake things up (there are a few levels where you have to use the rocket special power exclusively) and give you plenty of obstacles to avoid along the way. It's pretty straight-forward but for those looking for a bit of nostalgia or just a fun little diversion, it isn't too bad.
Presentation: 3/5
Story: 2/5
Gameplay: 3.5/5
Overall (not an average): 3/5
