Panino

Retro platformers are very popular today, mainly because modern game engines allow developers to quickly prototype their ideas and have a demo in a matter of hours if everything goes well. On the other hand, it’s a bit of a bummer that few people try to change things around and come up with original ideas, since most arcade platformers feel the same.

Panino is a very basic 2D platformer designed for a game jam competition, in which the only goal is to get to the end of each level without dying. There are no engaging new mechanics to keep you on edge, nor any kind of real obstacles to provide you with a challenge. Instead, the only thing you have to do is keep moving and jump over the spikes that block your path.

The plot is basically explained in the game’s official description, because there’s no trace of it in the game. Hence, it would appear that you play the role of a chef who finds out about a very special sandwich, so he goes searching for it in order to make his customers happy. There’s nothing exciting about the environment or the action itself, so you might as well ignore the plot completely.

The mechanics could use a bit of work as well, although it must be mentioned again that this is a jam game, so it was designed in a rush. It’s understandable that most of the game is not very polished, but since you can only jump and dash, at least these two features could have been a bit more enjoyable. At the moment, it’s a real bother to perform tricky jumps, given the fact that the character does not react quickly enough to your input.

You also have to perform wall jumps every now and again, which are beyond annoying, given the fact that the controls prevent you from achieving your goals most of the time. Lastly, the graphics are as basic as they can get, but it’s not much of a problem in this case, because they shouldn’t be a priority anyway. Hence, each level looks almost the same, except of course for the actual layout and the traps you have to overcome.

In the end, Panino may be quite difficult during certain sections, but that’s only because the mechanics are badly implemented, and so are the controls. Thus, it may be just a short jam game, but it needs a lot more work in the gameplay department.