Pixel Games SARL-S has been on a roll with what they call their “Class of 1983” games. I adored Cash Cow DX and then grabbed Donut Dodo afterwards and loved that too. They were highly skill and flow state focused arcade coin-op classics arriving 40 years later. Looner Landers completes the Class of 83 Trilogy with a slightly different focus – a 1v1 skydiving score-chasing platform racer. It packs a punch but doesn’t quite reach the same heights as its classmates.
Looney Landers can be played versus a computer in single player mode, or another player in 2 player mode. Each player has a limited amount of jumps to skydive out of an aeroplane and attempt to land on various platforms dotted around the level. The smaller the landing zone, the bigger the points haul, but in order to land there you’ll need to avoid the enemies and traps dotted around the single-screen levels. Your character bounces around like a pinball feather but if you forget to open your parachute before you land, you’ll splat on the floor and score no points. Herein lies the dichotomy. Play it safe and your opponent will open their parachute later and steal your points. Play it risky and you might miss the platform and end up in spikes, water, or an enemy’s mouth.
Looney Landers is frantic and fast paced as every second is a race against your opponent. Each level has unique traps to consider and collectables to to grab on your way down to boost your score. There is also a combo meter which means if you land on a platform on consecutive jumps, your score will get a multiplier. This is key to victory as without it, you’ll not be able to gain a score advantage. After 5 levels you’ll reach the final jump with a moving big bonus score platform to aim for and this is why you need to focus on combos so your lead can’t be overcome at the last gasp jump. The computer player is decent in hard mode and makes far fewer mistakes than in easy, but it’s always fair.
Just like its classmates, Looney Landers is short and succinct, but unlike its classmates, this causes a problem. As this isn’t a pure leaderboard challenge where skill is rewarded for perfection, playing the same level layouts repeatedly wears thinner earlier in the playtime here. This game desperately needs a pool of levels to select 5 from rather than just having 5 total, as it will inject some variation and variety into each gaming session. This becomes particularly problematic when you have two players who are skilled and capable. It is a race to the highest scoring platform which often determines how a level plays out. The other issue I found with Looney Landers is that when you land on a platform, you have to wait for your score to be counted and this locks you in place. Sometimes you seem to locked in place for about half of the playtime and whilst this gives you opponent time to land elsewhere and catch up a bit, the flow state of gameplay is broken up by these longer holds. The bigger issue is the lack of levels though, and that means I’ll only pull this out for short multiplayer bursts so it stays impactful and fresh and players can’t get too good at it!
All that means that whilst I enjoyed Looner Landers moment-to-moment gameplay immensely, it ultimately doesn’t have the staying power Donut Dodo and Cash Cow DX have. Its soundtrack and premise are on par with the others, but this star burns too brightly and burns out quicker. Do I still recommend it? Yes, absolutely. This is retro heaven for me. Just limit yourself to small doses to keep it fresh.
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