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Have you ever poured out ice into a sink, turned on the water, watched how the water carves into it, melting it away? How about walking through water and feeling the resistance? PixelJunk Shooter not only replicates these and other experiences of elements precisely but applies them in interesting ways.
[caption id="attachment_3125" align="alignleft" width="100" caption="Come Together"]
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At its core, it seems simplistic. There are the base elements of Water, Magma and an Oil-like substance. There are enemies, you can shoot them. There are survivors, you rescue them. Don’t overheat. But between all these variables and instanced suits to change it up, a multitude of situations can occur. The water can combine with the oil creating gas. The water can combine with the magma to form soft rock you can destroy to reach a new area. The magma can be too heavy for the small amount of soft rock to hold and it will collapse after a short amount of time. The water can touch ice and freeze or the magma can flow over the ice and melt it. These small but complex interactions between the variables give it deep but logical situational puzzles.
[caption id="attachment_3126" align="alignright" width="100" caption="Help!"]
[/caption] The puzzles are how to rescue survivors, who are near or about to be in danger. The elements react with the survivors just as much as the rest of the world. In water they are fine, but in magma, they burn to ashes while letting out a small yelp. Also, the projectiles fired from the ship can also harm them. Even when dead, the survivors still interact as you would expect: floating in water. The ship you pilot interacts with the elements similarly. The heat meter is essentially a life bar, overheat and you explode and you have to restart from the last gate you opened. Heat comes from what you would expect, like magma or taking hits from enemies and, contrarily, going through water will cool you down fully or spinning will remove one segment of the bar. If you are fully overheated, you still have control over your fall and if you land in water, you will cool down and can continue on. Moving through the water truly feels like you are in water as opposed to being in a blue-colored background like most games. The controller gives a subtle rumble and you slow down. It doesn’t sound like much but it is one of the most convincing feelings of resistance without force feedback in the joystick itself.
[caption id="attachment_3127" align="alignleft" width="100" caption="Yellow Submarine"]
[/caption] The water, like the rest of the game, is beautiful to look at but also contributes to the feeling of the elements with small atmospheric details. Moving around in water you see small bubbles shooting out from the back of your ship. Coming to the surface, it bulges and splashes out from the force of you exiting. Everything is presented in a clean but chunky style with equally great, mood-setting, music.
PixelJunk Shooter is a game of details. From spinning to cool off faster to the feeling of the water resisting your ship—there is no part Q-Games has left unpolished. Intricate interactions like this game has are one of the reasons I love video games and why you should absolutely play this game.
Ben
Comments
14 years, 11 months ago
I wish I owned a PS3. I'd be all over this and Valkyria Chronicles.
14 years, 11 months ago
I want to get this, but from what I've read it seems to be really short. I'm worried this is going to be one of those PSN arcade games I buy and are kickass for a time but I rarely replay ever again, like with Shatter. Also, no online co op seems like a mistake to not include as an option. I just feel like I'll get more of my moneys worth more out of the LBP Pirates of the Caribbean DLC next week.
14 years, 11 months ago
Agreed, the game pays attention to every little detail and I had a lot of fun with the puzzles and the bosses. Though it is short, it definitely worth playing both in single player and co-op.
14 years, 11 months ago
nice beatles references
14 years, 11 months ago
Great evaluation School, the game was worth every penny.
Cosmic you are right about this game being very short, it contains 3 areas with around 4-5 levels in each area, however the end very strongly suggests a second game in the series or some sort of DLC, I do feel this game could have strongly expanded on some areas and made for some great puzzles and moments, though this may be present later in a sequel.
I enjoyed this game very much, even if it was short, I left feeling satisfied and thats what counts right?
14 years, 11 months ago
Great job School and nice Beatles references.
14 years, 11 months ago
Worth the ten bucks people, pick this up
14 years, 11 months ago
One of my PSN favorites.Its great fun with a friend, coop makes it really interesting.
14 years, 11 months ago
Can't say I enjoyed this one, Eden was much better.
14 years, 11 months ago
Your in-depth review convinced me to buy this game right now.
14 years, 11 months ago
It's really satisfying to just watch simple interactions play out in this game. Opening a gate and watching water flow out to fill an empty space is fascinating in some primal way.
For right now, I find it an interesting toy, but I'm not sure it'll hold my interest beyond a few more play sessions. In any case, I know I got $10 worth of entertainment out of it.
14 years, 11 months ago
Well written review.
If I has a PS3, I'd definitely look into buying this.
14 years, 10 months ago
[...] As I’ve said before, PixelJunk Shooter is a game of details. The little bubbles behind your ship in water, the way the water bulges as you exit to the surface, the steam of water meeting magma—there are plenty of small details like that. Each of the three main elements react with each other to create deep yet logical situational puzzles that give a wonderful feeling of accomplishment. PixelJunk Shooter excels in its interactions, something that is intrinsic to video games. It takes what makes games great and does it exceptionally well. [...]