Kid Tripp Review

Kid Tripp is tough as nails. It’s got a very old-school low-resolution look, and with it, a low tolerance for pansy modern gamers and their “forgiving gameplay.” Pfft. Of course, there’s a difference between being challenging and being frustrating, and too often Kid Tripp falls into the later trap.

This is an auto-runner where players just have to get through short levels, bopping enemies, avoiding spikes, and falling into the water (though it can be quickly jumped off of) in order to get to the end. It’s almost more of a run ’n gun game, what with the kid’s ability to shoot out an endless number of stones to take out enemies. Of course the game, being a cruel and uncaring thing, makes some enemies that shouldn’t be killed, as they need to be bounded off of in order to get to the end.

While retro games in general are based around featuring low-resolution pixel art at players, Kid Tripp goes with an ultra low-resolution style. This probably has the resolution of a Game Gear, upscaled many times for Retina Displays. So yeah, the game looks a bit blocky but kind of unique. It’s very colorful, and has a pleasing variety of environments. As well, there are a few subtle influences from 8- and 16-bit games sprinkled throughout.

Now, while the game does feature a very high degree of difficulty, which can be fun for some people, it can be very unsatisfying to try and do over and over again. Success is based on conquering a lot of little challenging moments in a 20–25 second span and the addition of all these low-probability chances, when split-seconds could mean the difference between life and death, just doesn’t add up to satisfaction. Each individual piece just isn’t satisfying enough to conquer, especially knowing that there’s another level with more of the same afterward. It’s a short but steep climb. A long steep climb has the feeling of an endurance feat, that one persevered through adversity to conquer the challenge. Kid Tripp can feel like waiting 15 minutes in line to just buy one thing at the grocery store on a Sunday evening. It’s more relief than satisfaction over finishing it – and there’s more annoyances to come.

It’s a fine line between the challenge of something like this and Brick Roll. That’s a game that feels like victory can be attained through patience, not through a war of attrition. Kid Tripp may satisfy the more masochistic challenge-seekers out there, but that’s all I can really recommend it for.