Pinstripe PS4 Review

A Beautifully Stylised Indie Game

Although Pinstripe can be completed in a little over 3 hours, what this puzzle-platformer lacks in longevity it more than makes up for with bags of charm, an incredible, nightmarish style and a really great sense of humour. There’s an almost Tim Burton feel to the style of this Indie flick that makes it such a joy to traverse through the condensed levels. Boasting excellent voice acting and a good combination of combat, platforming and puzzles, Pinstripe is a highly enjoyable Indie game that’s well worth checking out.

The unique art style makes traversing the levels a real joy

The game opens with you on board a speeding train with your beloved daughter Bo and caged dog George. As you navigate the various carriages, learning the basic mechanics of the game, you encounter the game’s creepy antagonist Mr. Pinstripe. This charismatic, engrossing character doesn’t have many lines but when he speaks, the lines are delivered with such smooth, venomous precision it’s hard not to admire the great work Dick Terhune has done to bring this character to life. After snatching up Bo and disappearing, you’re tasked with navigating various worlds and solving puzzles all whilst defeating enemies and navigating simple platform sections along the way. Each area is broken up into smaller sections that are around the length of the play screen with a simple fade in/fade out animation when moving off the screen to get to the next section. This set up works well in the context of the game and breaks up each individual section with the aforementioned platforming or puzzling.

The voice acting during dialogue sections like this are excellent

Aesthetically, Pinstripe oozes an incredibly unique style. From the character design to the beautifully realized worlds, the game looks great and the various worlds are different enough to stand on their own whilst fitting with the thematic structure of the game. Most of the shadowy, silhouetted characters can be interacted with too and upon doing so a dialogue box pops up with a bite of humorous voice-acted dialogue. For some characters there’s a choice of two responses – one good and one not so good – that does tease a little replayability here with two different endings but given some of the basic mechanics at play here, it’s unlikely you’ll return to this one in a hurry, even if it does leave a lasting impression with its style and charm.

Combat is a little basic but easy to aim and shoot nonetheless

There’s a good dose of variety in the puzzles too and although most are relatively straight forward to complete, there are a few here that took a little longer to figure out, much to Pinstripe’s credit. From physic-based obstacles to deciphering clues to get into safes, there’s a great variety of puzzles cleverly placed through the various worlds, broken up with just enough platforming and combat sections to avoid any monotony from settling in. Still, it’s worth mentioning that Pinstripe is a little simple in its approach to platforming and although there’s bags of style and charm in this game, the actual gameplay mechanics are rather basic with one jump and a simple slingshot, aimed with the right analog stick and fired with R2, making up the platform and combat sections. There is a fair amount of backtracking here too and at times, it isn’t always initially clear what you need to do to complete puzzles but the condensed layout of the various sections didn’t make this too much of an issue.

The various worlds all fit with the thematic structure of the game and are beautifully presented

If you’re looking for an enjoyable, charming puzzle-platform game then Pinstripe is worth checking out. The game is solid, with just enough variety in the game play and a decent enough length to leave a positive lasting impression when the credits roll. The voice acting is sublime, the puzzles interesting albeit a little easy at times, and combat simple and engaging enough to see you through until the end. Simply for its unique, nightmarish style and excellent voice acting, Pinstripe is one Indie game that stands out among others in this category which is certainly no easy feat given the fierce competition in the Indie market. Although some of the gameplay is a little basic and the puzzles could be tweaked slightly to be made slightly harder, Pinstripe is a solid, enjoyable ride well worth hopping aboard.