Pixel Junk Shooter (PS3) Review
A BrutalGamer.com review.
The guys and gals over at Q games have earnt themselves a great reputation for off beat downloadable titles that offer great gameplay as well as unique visuals. Pixel Junk Shooter does not disappoint on this front at all. Pixel Junk Shooter was named by the community via a competition on the Q Games forums. A snappy title indeed but it does not do justice to the actual game in hand. Sure there is plenty of shooting involved but it is used as a mechanic to solve the intricate natural puzzles of the caverns. I shall elaborate further later on but for now let us deal with the scant scant story behind the game. You have been sent on a mission to find out what has happened to a group of colonists sent to a far flung planet. On receiving the SOS signal from the planet you head down to see what is going on. You discover the scientists all stranded and in need of immediate rescue from caverns of fire and water. You set about rescuing said individuals (Who all signed a waiver no doubt and were happy to get the pay until the thing went south – feck them I say, their on their own but I digress). And that is pretty much the story.
Graphically the previous Pixel Junk titles, Monsters, Eden etc have all had a very distinct styling. Shooter is no different with very muted yet colourful pallets used throughout. The animation is really the star here and it is the minuscule animations of the helpless colonists or the majestic surge of the water that really steals the show. Everything looks clean and unique and that counts massively in these days of 101 games looking like the Unreal cookie cutter just churned them out. The graphical style and animations on the lava, ice, magnetic gunk all look fantastic and make the screen spellbinding to watch at times.
Audio wise the game more than stacks up with lots of quirk tunes and beats that stick in your head. Coupled with that the spot on sound effects of that accompany the action and the game just gels in the audio/visual department. The sound design is a little more “generic” than the unique gameplay or graphical approaches but it still out weighs that of many a full release title by lengths and the music is just excellent throughout.
Gameplay is where previous Pixel Junk titles have excelled and this may just be the best example yet. I am no great fan of this style of game, you know, the cave navigating twitch gaming from back on the Spectrum days BUT Pixel Junk Shooter controls nothing like I expected at all. Rather than employing the free falling thrust game play mechanic Q have just made the whole thing directional. True things do have weight against your craft and you need to compensate but you don’t spend 80% of your time just trying to navigate the terrain. You also do not die or lose shield when you collide with the landscape (well not to any great lengths anyways). This was a major plus point for me.
Now I said that PJ Shooter was not really a shooter but a puzzler above right? Well that really is the case – sort of. Sure you have small turrets and lava spitting this and that but what is truly being tested here is your puzzle solving abilities. You have to plan ahead what colonists to rescue first, when to release the water or lava to best help you rescue said colonists. It really is a neat little brain tickler and some of the later levels are seriously tricky to master. Each area is broken down in to several sub missions that can be undertaken in a fairly random manner. Once you collect enough crystals from the levels the next level is unlocked. Simple, tricky, addictive and packs a huge amount of “one more go”. There are obviously the odd annoyances and despite the one more go nature you can get sick of the repetitive nature of the levels after a while. The sudden death at the slightest touch of an enemy (where as their shot will increase your ship heat) is a little unfair at times as several enemies rush out of debris you are clearing and can be on you in an instant. To be honest very little is broken in PJ Shooter and that is a feat in itself with games like MW2 just flat knobbed on release.
You can come unstuck if you don’t read the tutorial screens to work out that collecting the gem stones hidden around the levels is what makes you progress episodes. Basically x number of gems unlocks the boss battle and once you defeat said boss the episode is done. You may need to revisit levels from time to time to collect some of the gems you missed and this can be a bit frustrating and add to the repetitive nature but it all pans out. There are 3 episodes to play through and each has it’s own theme. The first is lava and water, the second uses ice and the third a magnetic kinda gloop. This helps to change things up a bit but the game never really seems to challenge you particularly. You are always waiting for it to thrown a spanner in the works but it never get crazy – apart from possibly the end boss battle.
Longevity is good too with each level making you want to play it more and more to chase the faster time, better score, more crystals and leap up the global leaderboard. As mentioned repeated gaming elements to get to on your nerves a little on extended plays after a day or so but this is just a niggle rather than a real issue. Lack of overall difficulty makes PJ Shooter quiet a mellow experience when compared to a more frantic paced title like Gravity Crash. Two player adds some longevity but is split screen local only and the screen does not draw back when you move away from your partner so seeing the level can be a little fiddly at times. Also, this brings out the same feelings that play Super Mario Bros Wii did, which is to say you will just want to hose down your partner with the lava guns rather than play the game properly. Still good fun can be had from this mode and playing through in co-op is fun, if a little too easy.
Final Thoughts
For just over £6/$10 this is a total no brainer! That is less than 2 pints people! Perhaps Pixel Junk Elemental Puzzler or PJ Fluid might of been a better title but it sure would of sounded crap. This is a real time sucker that draws you in with it’s simple premise but keeps you chasing those hidden crystals or trying to complete the level faster and more effectively to try and spring you up that online leaderboard. Truly I have not enjoyed a Pixel Junk series title more than this – give yourself a little treat this holiday season and pick this gem up, Yule love it!
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News
02 Feb 2010, 3:50 pm
[...] hours. The Demo weighs in at just 55Mb and is very much worth your time and effort. Check out our review to see why or watch our hands-on video [...]
23 Feb 2010, 9:30 am
[...] who has completed PixelJunk Shooter will know that a sequel was planned, so Dylan Cuthbert’s announcement a week or so ago that [...]