The Noise Update recently released, and it is like a drug to my current Pizza Tower hyperfixation. I was already fixated on it, but the update made it like fifty times more intense. I need to yap about this game and why I like it so much. In fact, I need to yap about my interpretations of this game's cast of losers because I love them all so dearly. But before I do that, I should probably talk about my feelings about the update itself.
I was dying to know how they'd handle Noise's campaign in Pizza Tower, and I'm so happy about how it was handled. Basically, The Noise is just making a movie based off of the events of Peppino's campaign, except the script is edited to have him go through the tower and bring it down instead of Peppino, In fact, Peppino is nowhere to be seen, despite Fake Peppino, the other clones and the Peppibots still remaining. In a way, it's both incredibly hilarious and fitting. Pizzahead is obsessed with Peppino, for reasons nobody knows, and to replace the many assets with Noise would be too much of a cost for Noise. Sure, he's (probably) successful in his career, but there's only so much budget to go around. Not to mention, the tower is gone, so making more clones but styled after Noise would be incredibly difficult... and probably too morally gray for Noise.
When I told one of my friends about my interpretation of Noise's campaign, they told me about McPig's own interpretation, since they're also friends with him. They told me to take it with a grain of salt, since his writing tends to flip-flop and he's more of a visual and gameplay-oriented kind of guy, which is more than fair. Though, it's really interesting, because I absolutely do like aspects of it!
To start, my interpretation of Noise's campaign is about him trying to recapture the magic of the Pizza Tower. While he was only the third boss, and like the rest of the bosses didn't show up on other floors until after their defeat, when the tower started crumbling, it woke something up inside of him. Before this, he was always a sucker for chaos and destruction. His career is based around acting and doing stunts. He has to do other boring stuff too, like the business side of things, but the real excitement and passion comes with being able to go wild on set and be a maniac. Upon the tower crumbling, it made him feel alive. The destruction surrounding him, the rush to get out of the tower before you're burried alive under its rubble, and the fact Peppino, the man who beat him twice with the second time being more effortless than the first due to his sheer rage... it filled him with adrenaline he's never felt before. Fake Peppino didn't really know what was going on and didn't seem to have an opinion on things. Vigilante was panicing, due to the realization that was building up after his encounter with Peppino that Pizzaface/Pizzahead lied to him. Pepperman is furious, as the tower brought down a lot of his artworks with it. Noise, though? That entire tower was an experience and a half for him, and he was only there for a quarter of it. He needs that sense of danger, that sense of chaotic whimsy that he revels in. So, afterward, when everyone goes to Peppino's pizzeria, he finds the time to ask Peppino what all happened in the tower. He tells him everything he's felt, dealt with, and experienced, and it just makes Noise wish he were the one climbing up the tower instead. On top of getting his ass handed to him twice, he didn't even get to experience the levels of the tower, going through after knocking down Pillar John, rushing to get the treasure before Pizzaface comes to chase you... he's jealous. Partially because of that jealousy, kick to the ego and desire to feel that magic he felt going down the crumbling tower, he sets out to make a movie based on the events of it. I like to imagine personally that Noise did ask Peppino if he'd like to participate, but he declined due to stage fright, not wanting to experience the tower again even as a reinactment, and also because Noise isn't... exactly being faithful to what happened, making himself the guy going up the tower instead. Noise also asks Gustavo, to which he also declines. He declines mostly because Noise isn't exactly being faithful and therefore he doesn't really want part in what is essentially a lie, and Noise simply says "suit yourself!" and recruits the rest of the cast. Noise's campaign is a little bit of an ego heal, wish fulfilment and adrenaline rush. Swap mode is his ideal version of the movie, where he gets to go up the tower alongside Peppino and Gustavo, fighting each other along the way. Of course, because he can't get the real deals, he settles for doppelgangers, but boy is it a dream for him. Going down the crumbling tower in his campaign, saving Noisette and a Noisey on his way down is also a bit of a wish fulfillment for him. Unfortunately for him, he feels like he was on the wrong side during the actual events, so he tries to "correct" that here. At the end of the day, though, if the reviews of the film are less than 100%, he's sour about it. It's a mix of another kick in the balls to the ego and "you guys just don't get it you weren't there!!! Fuckin' assholes!!!" to me, and I love that.
Ironically, McPig's interpretation is pretty much the opposite. To him, as of right now at least, the movie based off of the events of Pizza Tower is more of an ego-healing trip than anything. His ass was handed to him, twice, and the movie is a wish-fulfillment on how he wish things went. Doise is there so he can write it off as "guys look, I wasn't actually the third boss, it was just some guy who looks and sounds like me!! Weird, huh!?" and pretend he wasn't a part of the tower's bosses. Noise is viciously insecure, hence being so ego driven, and is just coping with his losses from the tower.
I like both interpretations, and I'll admit, parts of my own interpretation were inspired from McPig's once I heard his. Though, I guess since I'm a writer, I love to read into things and dig into why characters are the way they are... so, who knows, I'm probably looking a little too deep into it.
One thing I'm really happy about regarding the update is Swap Mode. I've been playing it with a friend since we've unlocked it, and dear god is it hilariously fun. One thing I do wish is that both players could control themselves independently during boss fights, but otherwise the way it's implemented is fantastic and fits right in with Pizza Tower. Also, the way to unlock it by just... falling into Peppino's house is really hilarious??? Peppino's house's cannonicity is a little unclear as of writing, since we don't know how much is based off of Noise's interpretation vs. the actual deal, but I like to think it's a mix of both. The photos themselves are real, especially the one of the ancestor on the wall close to his bed. That's a callback, if I recall correctly, to Pizza Tower's earlier lore drafts, and that's so fucking cool!!! Peppino's also a war vet if the medals are anything to go by, which, fuck yeah, I've always loved that interpretation of him. It makes the WAR level hit so much harder, another reason that Peppino's fed up with the tower and ends up destroying it. The robot in the back, though... hm. I like to think, if it is real, it's just something found in the rubble of the Pizza Tower he decided to just stash in his house so Pizzahead doesn't decide to reuse it for whatever reason.
That's it from me, at least for now. Maybe another day I'll get into my specific interpretations of all of the characters of Pizza Tower, but for now, I've rambled enough! Hopefully my words were entertaining to some degree.