PixelJunk Shooter Review

The PixelJunk franchise, made by Q-Games, has grown from strength to strength in recent years as people have come to love the innovative art style and gameplay experience that the Japanese developer is now expected to create. PixelJunk Shooter is the fourth iteration into the PixelJunk franchise and like its predecessors, it's absolutely nothing like anything that's come before. This time, players take control of a subterranean ship, which is trying to rescue scientists, while traversing caverns and various liquids.

Somehow, it's got to the point where resources in the entire universe are starting to run out, so humanity is desperately trying to find more. With the situation starting to look grim, corporations embark on extremely risky missions to try and reap huge rewards, not entirely aware of the dangers that lie in wait. PixelJunk Shooter takes place on the planet Apoxus Prime, which has approximately 87% mineral deposits. It seemed like the perfect place to try and gather the much needed resources, but shortly after the mining operation began, a distress call was issued. Cue the arrival of Ers Pinita Colada, to try and rescue the stranded scientists from their impending doom.

The story is very bare, but it does help to set the scene. There are also special scientists dotted around levels which give a little bit more insight into what exactly has been going on, but it's nothing more than a bit of filler here or there. Skipping their dialogue won't really have any bearing on the gameplay experience, or a player's understanding of what's going on, and why.

The gameplay is ultimately very simple. Players control a subterranean craft, that they can fly through the various caverns and industrial areas found on the planet. The left analogue stick controls movement, while the right analogue stick controls rotation. It's very easy to pick-up and instantly feel at ease, as on top of that, there are only two other buttons necessary - shoot and retrieve. The purpose of the ship is to try and rescue all of the scientists that are stranded throughout the level. This involves rescuing them from their hiding place, but sometimes they're in very precarious positions, so something the player does might ultimately lead to their demise. It's often important to plan ahead, as roaming around the levels without a care in the world can often lead to an untimely death for the people the player is trying to protect.

What really makes PixelJunk Shooter stand out though are the obstacles that are found throughout the levels. There are various types of liquids, such as water and lava, but there are also gas and slag that the player must navigate through. What's great is that all of the different elements interact with each other. When water is combined with lava, it creates slag. When gas is combined with lava, it creates an explosion. It means that there is a puzzle element to the gameplay, but it's not that deep; there's enough of a challenge without it becoming an arduous task to try and figure things out. To further add to the mix, the player's craft can also receive modifications to make it become resistant to lava, or so that it fires water instead of its typical cannon. They help to enhance the experience, but one disappointing facet is that when a section ends, the modification is removed. It means that some of the more fun modifications, such as the anti-magnetic suit, aren't used that much throughout the game.

The ship has a health bar, but it's actually a temperature gauge. If the ship takes damage from an enemy, or a liquid, its hull temperature will increase, and if reaches maximum it's essentially game over unless it fortunately lands in a liquid that can cool it down. It's one of the slightly annoying elements to the gameplay, as sometimes what leads to death can be an extremely tiny drop of a certain liquid that just happens to tip the balance. Upon death, the levels also completely reset, so everything has to be collected again, which can be quite annoying. Graphically, the game has an adorable art style, as players will have come to expect. The way all of the different elements work together is just great, with the metallic liquid probably being the most impressive when combined with the anti-magnetic suit. It's simply a joy to fly around, and watch all the liquids slosh around everywhere. One complaint though, is that it would have been nice if there were more. There are essentially only sixtypes that players can interact with: water, lava, slag, ice, gas and a metallic liquid. The music is ok, but it's not really a defining feature - it's simply just there in the background, but it has almost no relevance to anything. It just doesn't have a feeling of uniqueness, it feels like it could really be associated with anything and still do an ok job.

As previously mentioned, there are only a few elements to interact with, but the length of the game stops it from become too monotonous. However, that's not necessarily a good thing, as the game can be completed in around 2-3 hours. Levels are generally around 5-15 minutes long, and there are only 15 levels. The bosses which can be fought at the end of each stage (every 5 levels) do help to mix things up a bit, the challenge they pose isn't a great one. Having said that, there is an added incentive to go back and play though, as the final level can only be accessed if a certain amount of gems have been collected, and there are PlayStation Home awards to unlock too. Leaderboards are also present for those who wish to try and be the best, and finding all of the secrets and all of the gems will keep players busy for a considerably amount of time. If it's too difficult though, there's also the option to play all of the levels co-operatively with a friend, but the levels are still the same as they were before.

8

Great

PixelJunk Shooter has buckets of charm, and the way the elements all interact and flow is just outstanding. It features simple controls and rewarding gameplay as well, but its length might put some people off. Levels can typically be completed in around 5 to 15 minutes and aside from wanting to collect everything, or achieve the highest score possible, there isn't a whole lot of incentive to keep going back - until the inevitable DLC is released, of course.