Single player, by 
‘Hungry of Truth’ (sic) by Gus is a Single Player pack featuring 18 levels, four custom tilesets (each with 3 different pallets, and an extra ‘credits’ tileset). Its storyline revolves around ‘Team Jazz’ investigating food shortages in the aforementioned four new worlds.
OPENING CREDITS:
The player is presented with, of course, a menu screen, allowing you to choose between viewing credits, a short summary of the storyline, and of course, to begin playing. The menu tileset is pretty bland and there were definitely a few minor tile errors, but this is simply the menu, the game hasn’t begun.
LEVELS 1 – 4: MACARONI POT PASTA LAND PLACE THING
These levels are themed pasta. You heard me right. The walls/floor are, I suppose, giant plain yellow noodles. The background features what I assume to be boiling peices of macaroni and other pastas. You’re given a lot of text, and plenty of it is a combination between what is just plain Engrish and a pseudo-Italian accented twist (“Graces a lot!!”). Little cooks tell you of stories of little girls who can’t buy makeup kits or are lost in ‘da sauce forest’ and so you must go and save them. There are some other interesting platforms designed to look like lasagna, bowtie pasta, and what I guess are herbs. The enemies consist almost entirely of tuf turts and what seem to be bouncing.. meatballs?.. that fly into the air and get spikey on the ground. Some of them bounce straight up and down, and some arc, which I found interesting. It doesn’t take lot of effort to get stuck in walls, so the mask could use some work. If you choose not to die when falling from platforms you’ll have to cheat to get back up. Throughout the levels you talk to various chefs and cooks, who insist on calling you “she” (which the author insists is apparently Italian for “you”). When you complete a “quest” you get a SMACK (kiss) and a single TNT +3.
These levels are quite easy. Most of the danger consists of the kinetic variety, jumping from platform to platform while avoiding certain objects. There are ‘puzzles’ I guess, none very challenging. I got through the level easily, the biggest problems were having to cheat to get out of the walls or off the bottom of the screen.
The second level makes you play as Chuck. Since Chuck can’t fight back, you’re followed around constantly by Floating Lizards. In contrast to the first level, this seems much too difficult. Eventually you come across some cooks with dynamite that can kill the lizards, but getting that far without dying is a trick. The whole ‘help me save [woman]!!’ theme continues (at least this time they give you cuddles instead of smacks). The level is fairly non-linear, and there are some creative ideas. The ending of this level is a “hoover” sucking up bits of pasta, which you were supposed to stop. By the end of this I was very very sick of being Chuck, who moves slowly and is very weak all around.
You start the third level back at the Pasta Hoover. The second level, by the way, had a red tint to the tileset. This last one has a blue and grey tint (including sprites). In this level you finally learn that the moving balls are actually porcupines (which fits perfectly with the whole “pasta” thing).
Finally, the fourth Pasta level. And finally, a change of music! You better hope you saved every piece of TNT for this level, which consists of a lot of small areas with moving scenery that will suck you in and kill you. If you manage to get through all of the areas without dying at least once, you’re quite good.
LEVELS 5 – 8: CHAOS INDUSTRIES
These levels are a bit easier on the eyes. Chaos Industries is apparently a large city/industrial complex with a bad crime problem. Custom enemies include small ‘gangsters’ that shoot at you. Unfortunately they’re very hard to see most of the time.
The eye candy, as I said, is much easier on the eyes. All background layers are well utilized to give an urban feel. Unfortunately there isn’t much else, the same tiles lead you through the entire level, which is mostly cramped area after cramped area. The same ‘rescue so and so’ theme continues as well. I forgot to mention the ‘custom items’ which are basically destruct scenery that you run through that disappears (you get no points for it either, probably because the animation doesn’t finish).
The enemies used remains pretty standard.. norm turtles, tuf turtles, etc. The second level makes you play as the frog, just as the second pasta as a bird. In fact, most of the levels seem to be made specifically for one character and one character only. You get through this level using the frog’s toungue to get coins, and once you’ve gathered enough coins the level is over.
The third Chaos Industries level is in night. This level features wind as an important factor. There are thugs shooting everywhere still, and there is a constant theme of avoiding them as you go down floor after floor. Finally, it’s finished.
The fourth level is a boss level. You again go from small room to small room accomplishing a single task.. getting to the next warp while avoiding one ‘Tony’, a total gangster if there ever was one. There is definitely some creativity in these, which are basically mini puzzles. I got through them rather easily compared with the pasta levels boss. Finally, you defeat Tony. HUGS ALL AROUND!!!!!!!
LEVELS 9 – 13: CANDY HILLS
These levels are candy themed. I think. Or is it Christmas? Is that snow.. or frosting? I dunno, but the scenery is cute. Enemies change a bit, you get some bees now. God I hate bees. And, of course, some custom enemies a la Pasta Land. This time the author insists on calling you “they” (this time it’s GERMAN for “you”). German chocolate. Mmmm. The background layers are normalized as they have been. This time there’s much more variety for platforms and custom items. It becomes more of an eyesore after a while, though.
There are some interesting puzzles in this level. At one point you’re lead through a series of rooms where you are asked a question and must go to the correct answer’s warp. You get math questions, word association.. and others. I won’t spoil it. The engrish here is just delightful. I dare you not to smile. At some points your view is completely blocked by very large foreground layers.
The second level has a different tint and background, as does the third (it’s raining rocks and chess boards and candy!!!) Same stuff as the last series of levels. By now it’s getting old. There are, of course, some original and interesting ideas, but it’s getting pretty tired by now.
Finally, the boss level for this series.. another trip from room to room, each its own minipuzzle featuring Piggy, who is ‘allergic to human dribble’. The ghosts in here are fun, although they regenerate. They reminded me of Pac Man. The enemies surrounding the pig are the feature, and boy do they NOT get really old.. By the end you realize that “there are no peas in Piggy” and so you are beckoned to the last world.. Vegetable Land.
LEVELS 14 – 18: VEGETABLAND
“He” sometimes means “you” in Albanian.
Vegetabland (does ‘bland’ appear in that on purpose or was that hilarious coincidence?) features grassy lettuce stuff and carrots and indescript scenery that I guess has to do with vegetables. The custom enemies? Slugs.
I’d like to go into more detail about this series, but frankly it’s the same stuff. You can see for yourselves.
Finally you get to the boss, one “Lardus”. Same idea as before. Small rooms, get to the warp at the end of each, being careful where you step and watch out for enemies. Same old same old. Creative, but I’m so over it by now. There is nothing fantastic at the end as far as I saw.
ENDING CREDITS:
Uhh.. wait a minute here. This isn’t a happy ending at all. Did I get caught cheating, or is this some sort of bad joke? Come on now, Gus, put down the pipe and tell me you’re serious here. I played through all of your levels and this is my prize? A real shame.
JUST KIDDING:
I jjnext’d (could find nothing else to do) and now we’re at “Final Mick”. I guess this is the final boss.. or the final series of bosses. You have to switch characters between rooms (if you pick the wrong one, oh well). These puzzles are difficult and I am tired of them. A lot of creativity went into these, so much so that I didn’t feel like trying and solving each one. A braver person, perhaps.
Then everything comes back around. You’ve saved the day, and everyone has food. Hurray hoorah.
SUMMARY AND RATING:
This is probably one of the most difficult pieces of work to rate that I’ve ever reviewed. The author made all of the tilesets and levels, which was obviously a lot of work. There are some very creative and intruiging ideas and stuff, and the levels don’t look terrible, per se, the author did the best with his tilesets that he could. While blatantly flawed, I think this level pack has a lot of charm. The storyline is rather silly, but it’s fun, and the engrish and stuff makes for some very memorable quotes. There are lots of custom items and enemies, and they’re usually placed strategically. Several levels are quite ‘open’ and non-linear, while the boss levels are blatantly linear, cramped, and get very old very quickly. The music choice works, but it’s boring as each world has the exact same music.
Gus, you obviously show a great deal of potential, and you’re willing to put in a lot of work. My rating will reflect that, but honestly these levels are not ground breaking or really that great. I wish I could give you a higher rating for this, but I think 6.5 sums it up well enough.
Do I recommend that you download this? Yes. Even though this was not that great, I certainly had fun playing it and writing this very, very long review. Gus creates some priceless moments that I could not help but smile at. It’s quirky, creative, and silly. Download this and don’t play it in one sitting, or it WILL get old, and quickly.
