A Daring Jester Destined to Crash and Burn
Tightrope Theatre is a free-to-play action platformer that exists for the patient gamer. The game will test your platforming abilities, your timing skills and your sanity. This title quickly becomes difficult, even in the first theatre. Indie developer Adventure Islands designed a game of twisted torment that shows no mercy to the player. If you are a rage quitter, shout profanity when you lose at something or break phones after playing games that piss you off then stay far away from this title. If you are a hardcore gamer who enjoys a ludicrous challenge and keeps calm as a chameleon even after losing hundreds of times then give this game a try. Only the most hardcore gamers will make it through Tightrope Theatre.
Tightrope Theatre offers vibrant pixel visuals that really pops. The game’s wonderful soundtrack is enjoyable. There are five theatres with 20 levels in each. Every theater introduces new obstacles or elements to the title. Run-down Theatre has spike hazards, which means you have to be extra careful when jumping across tightropes while Jubilant Theatre introduces shooting cannons and falling barrels, which test your timing skills.
You can unlock an extra theatre by watching an ad. Ads don’t slow your gameplay too much, but there is an option for removing ads in case they get on your nerves. The thing I find most annoying about the ads in this game is that I was shown a few ads that I couldn’t close and thus had to restart the game. Hopefully, not every player will have this issue with the ads. On the upside, ads only pop up after deaths so your level progress is not interrupted.
Brutal Platforming Punishment
The slippery game controls fit perfectly for what one might expect to pedal a unicycle on tightropes. You truly feel for the poor jester on his unicycle who has to do everything in his power to survive. Level hazards include spikes, cannons, falling barrels and dancing flames. The fire levels in Theatre Five reminded me of Bowser’s castle in Mario, with fireballs greatly increasing the platforming difficulty.
If you are feeling daring for a super hardcore challenge then you can play through the whole game while racing against the clock in Time Trial Mode. To unlock Time Trial Mode, you must watch an ad. You can view leaderboards and see how you compare to your friends and global players and receive challenges from friends to beat an achievement or leaderboard score. There are a total of 20 achievements in the game. Some of the achievements are ridiculously difficult such as beating an entire theatre with five or fewer deaths.
Final Comments
Going into this grueling action platformer, expect cruel harsh punishment. You will fail, you will cry and you may even destroy your phone. The best part about this game is that you are welcome to quit at any time and uninstall this game sending it away forever into the black abyss cyber world dumpster where it can sit alongside with other scuzzy games that nobody would ever play. Of course, if you are someone who is fueled by hardcore gamer energy then challenge accepted. The level designs and obstacles create enough variety to keep the player interested.
