PixelJunk Shooter Ultimate (PC) Review

Sony’s PixelJunk Shooter lands on the PC with an Ultimate edition.

PixelJunk Shooter Ultimate is a 2d Multidirectional shooter with either single player, multiplayer coop, and online multiplayer. Developed by Q-Games and Double eleven, and published by Sony, it had an initial release of late 2009. It is multi-platform, and the recently released PC edition has controller support as well. I haven’t dabbled in the multiplayer yet, as queues are quite long when I play, but the single player is very enjoyable.

The premise of the game is that you’re saving miners from their almost certain demise. And you do that by flying around in a craft equipped with a grappling hook to give ’em a ride. You also have lasers to kill dirt, and missiles to kill anything else. Each level contains a certain number of miners, and once you have them all (or as many as possible if you let any of them die), the door opens to the next.

Each level also contains a number of gems, and gems unlock further levels and boss fights. Leaving a fair amount of replay value as you may not get (or instance) all 3/3 gems, 5/5 miners, et cetera. Boss fights are very challenging as well; the first one I did took me almost half an hour or more to complete, with lots of fruitless and unsuccessful attempts.

The music in the game is decently well done, but it does get repetitive after several hours of play. Personally I had turned it almost completely off during my last session. Sound effects are about the same, of course this being a 2d side view shooter, audio isn’t really a focus.

Graphics for PixelJunk Shooter Ultimate fit perfectly for what they are trying to accomplish in this title in that they’ve gone more for the ageless cartoony feel. There is a bit of a storyline to the game, but I haven’t been closely following it.

Every few missions you’ll find a special miner (in a green suit as opposed to blue) who will advance the plot. During missions you also have to keep an eye out not only for turrets and other enemies, but on your ships heat. Overheating can cause you to fail the mission.

Power ups and abilities are a thing! There is a 1-up, which will give you another miner, beneficial if you’ve lost one of course. You’ll also find a shield which makes you immune to heat, but is gone if you take a turret hit, or touch lava.

As previously mentioned there are two forms of basic attack you can do. Either a laser shot, or missiles, but be careful as they can also generate a lot of heat! Some missions feature different ‘suits’ for your ship, which changes its characteristics to help you complete the task at hand! Don’t want to spoil too much.

Final Thoughts

For the low price of only $10.99 CAD PixelJunk can be youuuuuurrrsss! But is it worth it? I suppose that’s why you’re here, right?

I’m going to say ‘yes’, especially if you’re a completionist who is going to play it until you have rescued all the miners and can gladly say “all your gems are belong to us.” It’s a good puzzle/shooter, fun for all ages.

Aside from the music being repetitive and the lack of people to play online (right now at least), there really isn’t anything negative to say about this game.