Review: PixelJunk Shooter
The latest PS3-exclusive PixelJunk game reviewed.Published 30/11/2009 at 15:30 by nofi
Try PixelJunk Shooter For Free, Now [10]
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PixelJunk Shooter isn’t a shooter, it’s an underground exploration rescue adventure with delicate controls, fantastic visuals and an uncompromising attempt to recreate a small but perfectly balanced set of rules around various elemental mechanics: fire, water, earth and air. Despite the game featuring a fire button (and increasingly numerous ‘weapons’) pigeon holing the decidedly genre-free fourth title in the PixelJunk series is, in my opinion, something of a mistake. Ever since Dylan Cuthbert announced the name it’s smacked of marketing: the path of least resistance and the easy option amongst what must have been dozens of other, more appropriate options.
Still, if you’re prepared to put aside preconceptions of what a digitally downloaded shooter plays like, especially one with twin-stick controls, PixelJunk 1:4 will surprise and delight in equal measure. For starters, there’s a story of sorts, you (and one other player, should you so choose) are tasked in piloting little rescue ships deep under the surface of a mystery planet – one filled with dangerous, nasty creatures and various natural hazards but also packed to the gills with barely hidden crystals for the taking. More importantly, though, there’s also trapped scientists and engineers down there that need your help, rescued by the handy left-trigger extensible cable.
With the left analog tied to your ship’s 360 degree movement, the right stick turns you in any direction. Handy for that man-grabber, then, but also doubles up as your ship’s gun turret, which comes in handy when blasting away at the indigenous life intent on eating you whole and spitting you out into the lava. Handily, your gun can also be used to chip away at soft rock, exposing alternative paths, hidden pick-ups and the odd little waving man who’s somehow managed to wedge himself half way into a tight crevice. Finally, when the need arises, ensuring your right stick and left sticks are aligned provides maximum thrust, useful for time-critical sequences (and scoreboards).
Shooter consists of three areas, each of which play host to five increasingly difficult stages. Within each stage are a number of sequential sections, and each of those house a small smattering of rescuees. Collect them all (or kill a few) and the door to the next section opens up, but don’t dispose of more than five of the hopeful passengers, or it’s game over. This provides the basic ruleset for the game – navigate through each section, complete each stage and thus move onto the next area, the visual style (and various elements within) changing as you go. The video below, shot by Peter last week, shows the first stage of the first area, so you’ll hopefully have some understanding of how the game works.
The clever bit, as you’ll have noticed in the video, is that all of the elemental features of Shooter possess their own physics. The first few you’ll come across – water and lava – behave differently and react to their surroundings differently. Naturally, lava is dangerous (and can cause your ship to overheat if you’re too close) but water, when combined with the vicious glowing red liquid, causes the mixture to harden and thus become shootable rock. It’s the first dynamic interface between an ever growing number of things that help to form Shooter’s clever USP, you’ll come across gas and ice soon enough, but there’s also a tar-like black substance to mix things up a little later on.
The way the game’s physics engine copes with all these is often staggering, with not only intra-elemental mixtures going on sixty times a second but also any collisions with the rocky surroundings, your ship (which is fine underwater) and even your bullets all happen in real time, and as an example of how smart the game gets in its middle section, remember that gases rise upwards and are flammable and you’ll have some idea on the style of puzzles that’ll meet you during your playthrough. For the completists, the map screen (which acts as a level select) shows you your best time and score for each level along with whether you’ve managed to find all the scientists and crystals hidden away in each.
It’s all very good as a physics based puzzler, but there is some element of shooting there too – your default guns are good for most of the enemies you’ll meet in your mission, but holding down the right trigger causes missiles to fire from your ship instead, much more powerful but gradually cause your craft to overheat. A quick dip in water will fix this, or you can wait it out – it’s a smart way to get around the issue of unlimited firepower but if you can find yourself a waterfall to sit under whilst firing consider yourself cooled for the duration. Temporary ship upgrades come in the form of dockable stations which transform the characteristics of your craft a little, especially the weaponry.
Visually it’s another 2-dimensional treat from Q-Games. It’s all very sharp, very colourful and almost cartoon-like in art style packed with oodles of character and small touches – there’s aspects of Monsters dotted around, which is a good thing, and the music, provided by The Orb’s Alex Paterson, ebs and flows with the onscreen action and is easily the most accomplished soundtrack to a PixelJunk title yet. Shooter is a distinctly smart game, it’s not the longest though, and the relevation that Shooter is just ‘part one’ was a surprise on first boot. Still, there’s stacks of fun here, some wicked boss battles and a great co-op mode. Not as good as Monsters, but still rather tasty.
Pros:
- Looks sumptuous, with 60fps visuals and some wildly impressive fluid physics.
- Controls perfectly, as if the team have spent 12 months on the ship’s handling alone.
- There’s more to come – this is just part one.
- The difficulty curve is wonderfully smooth.
Cons:
- It’s not very big, and you’ll get through it rather quickly.
- There’s more to come – waiting for part two might be quite tough.
Verdict: Being a massive fan of the PixelJunk series I couldn’t help but wish there was a little more to Shooter. Sure, what there is is great fun, but the experience is over rather quickly and replaying the game is for purists only. Whilst the game mechanics are solid and the visuals rather beautiful, two things taint the overall feeling of Shooter: the first is that it’s episodic, so you can’t help but feel like you’re not getting the full game, and the second is that damned name. Shooter, in a rather bipolar state of eponmy, isn’t a shooter at all, but a gentle, considered homage to Exile, Thrust and voyages into the unknown. With that in mind, hopefully you now know whether it’s for you or not.
Score: 8/10
Comments
Please note that all comments are the opinion of the individual author and not TheSixthAxis.
ii3illy | 30/11/2009 15:36
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“With that in mind, hopefully you now know whether it’s for you or not.”
Sold! Is this on the store on Thursday?
nofi | 30/11/2009 15:36
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No. Maybe next week: http://www.thesixthaxis.com/2009/11/30/pixeljunk-shooter-coming-soon/
ii3illy | 30/11/2009 15:37
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Yep, I just read the previous post!
Great review – always a pleasure to read.
djdustb | 30/11/2009 15:39
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Is this something to sit alongside Gravity Crash, or If you own Gravity will you not have a place for this in your collection?
BrendanCalls | 30/11/2009 15:51
Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc - YOHIMBÉ!!!
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Was just thinking the same thing there
urbankiller14 | 02/12/2009 11:16
* Banned *
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lol same here lol
Erroneus | 30/11/2009 15:53
Wanted "Trophy Hunter" but was too late.
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My thoughts exactly. I’m going to get it though and I have Gravity Crash, which is pretty oki, but not THAT good.
nofi | 30/11/2009 15:54
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Both completely different games, guys.
djdustb | 30/11/2009 15:59
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Solves that one then. Cheers nofi.
Dunks | 30/11/2009 15:42
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mmm, didn’t know it was episodic? Hopefully decent pricing on the next episodes… still a must buy for me though…
Bilbo_bobbins | 30/11/2009 15:56
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hmm this has made me think twice now. Yeah the first “episode” might be alright but will it be one of these games that makes you think the next episode is just as good, when it’s actually not? Bit like KZ2 DLC
Amphlett | 01/12/2009 13:57
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Not too keen on this whole episodic strategy. It just feels like a way to charge me more for eight 8ths of a game rather than just pay for a single package.
kevatron400 | 30/11/2009 15:42
Don't call him Kevatron400.
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I still think my entry, Pixel Junk: Crust was a great name for this game.. ah well. I am looking forward to this, more than GC, definitely.
shields_t | 30/11/2009 23:27
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Mine was Pixeljunk Elements, but Pixeljunk Crust is ace.
RedStarGlow | 01/12/2009 16:12
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I thought Pixeljunk Elements was a better name.
bunimomike | 30/11/2009 15:43
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Lovely review, nofi.
I’ll be getting it for sure and future DLC as well (assuming it’s DLC and not a stand-alone second parter). Either way, sign me up to it all.
oMega-W | 30/11/2009 15:45
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There’s no time-limit on levels, is there? Pixeljunk Eden was ruined by them…
nofi | 30/11/2009 15:49
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No.
yogh_wayne | 08/12/2009 22:35
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Ah, I’m so glad to hear this! I agree with oMega-W, PJ Eden was completely spoiled by the time limit idea. It could have been an awesome game without that.
Watchful | 30/11/2009 16:22
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Really looking forward to picking this up on release. Still think my submitted suggestion of PixelJunk: Elements is way better than Shooter.
nofi | 30/11/2009 16:27
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I agree.
Gamoc | 30/11/2009 16:47
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I had something latin that I can’t even remember now it’s been so long. It was an awesome name.
RealBigGuns | 30/11/2009 17:33
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Pixeljunk: Sombrero?
mynameisblair | 30/11/2009 16:24
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I’m confused as many people are on whether to get this or Gravity Crash.
Both look like brilliant, original games, but in the end I think it will come down to the price.
Watchful | 30/11/2009 16:55
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Price? Surely it should come down to which type of game you’ll enjoy and play more? An HD update of an ‘old skool’ Lander-type game with level editor (Gravity Crash) or elemental puzzler where the tool you use to affect the game’s environment to solve the puzzles, and perform self-defence, just happens to shoot projectiles (PixelJunk: Shooter). As has been said many times, two different types of game. I think that ‘Shooter is a misnomer that is leading to some of the confusion.
Disclaimer: I’ve only played the Gravity Crash demo and have seen no more of ‘Shooter than you can see on this site.
mynameisblair | 30/11/2009 18:26
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I want them both as much as each other, so price is like a random factor that will do it for me.
Fleech | 30/11/2009 16:28
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Fairly short and episodic? That’s dampened my enthusiasm quite a bit. I was expecting an Encore expansion down the line, but if we’re talking full price additional episodes then I doubt I’ll bother with them.
Still, I’m sure I’ll enjoy this first one at least.
bunimomike | 30/11/2009 16:31
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Full price being what? (genuine question) I think it’s only going to be a handful of pounds (£7-£10 or so). Nofi… any news on price? I can’t remember reading about it elsewhere.
nofi | 30/11/2009 16:40
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No, I have no idea, sorry.
Gamoc | 30/11/2009 16:48
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We don’t know for sure, but I’m guessing at around £8.
Fleech | 30/11/2009 16:54
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I’ve read £6.29 on another review, although it doesn’t say where they got that figure from.
Anything around that will be a fair price and I’m happy to pay it. I just don’t fancy paying it multiple times if the extra episodes only offer more of the same.
Wait and see, I guess.
jacklum | 30/11/2009 17:15
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The other PixelJunk games are very cheap on the UK store – £4.99 for Eden and £3.49 for Monsters I seem to remember. It’d be nice if Shooter was similarly priced (we can but hope…).
carlosfilippsen | 30/11/2009 16:52
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Great review. A definate buy!
pvwradtke | 30/11/2009 17:05
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This sounds fun. The concept loosely reminds me H.E.R.O. on the Atari 2600.
heedbaw | 30/11/2009 17:07
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If this wasn’t a must buy for me, I think that review would have swayed me. Good stuff
spooferbarnabas | 30/11/2009 17:42
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Great review, looks like a great game and i do like my psn games so i may buy this one.
Dave2 | 30/11/2009 18:53
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I can see why you’re at a loss trying to categorise it. It looks, for want of a better word, genius!
parker | 30/11/2009 18:58
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Looking forward to this, nice to see you guys gave it a fairly positive review.
I’ll pick this up regardless of reviews though, looks too fun to pass up on.
nofi | 30/11/2009 19:00
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Fairly positive? 8/10 is a brilliant score.