Tremendous old school shooter fun, so close to greatness.
With the Pixel Junk series Q-games has been positioned as one of the top tear downloadable developers. There latest entry Pixel Junk Shooter is no exception. But falls ever so short greatness.
Containing some of the best and most fun to play PSN titles to date the pixel junk series is a favorite of many gamers. Classic game play with cutting age 2d graphics and a stylistic sense of art. Shooter continues this tradition. Set in the distant future players take control of a small rescue vessel sent from the ERS Piñata Colada, a strange whale shaped spaceship. Tasked with rescuing the doomed mining personnel deep within a planets core.
Twin stick shooter controls that we all know and love are here, with a few new addition that make for a fast and responsive voyage. Face the ship in the same direction as flight and get a boost of speed, spin the right stick and a temporary shield forms; doubling as a rock cutting tool and drawing points in. Your health here is based temperature get to hot and you die, hit the water to cool off. Fire with R1, hold down for a homing missile, but beware as this will over heat the little craft. Water and lave little the stages and provide cleaver physics based puzzles. Release water to cool and solidify the lave, or send the heat to melt away ice. The magnetic element introduce near the end is a great show peace and provides for some very cleaver puzzle design. But the game is over before it can be used to the fullest.
A puzzle based shooter at its core. Shooter has us hunting out stranded workers, rescuing them from certain doom. Enemies are fairly standard fare, small turrets, bats, and various insects but it is the elemental enemies that show off what the physics engine can really do. Spewing lava and other elements with wonderful effects. Ship upgrades are introduced later on and provide a twist on the puzzle formula, get in the water ship and you can spray water and rip ice from its place, the lava variety works similarly and is quite interesting since the heat it showers is the very thing that will destroy our ship. Farther in more ships are discovered but since they only last for a single use, there true potential is only scratched.
Styling is great as with Q-games previous titles, cartoony and with a Retro HD ascetic. Small touches are the key here, thrusters fire intermittently keeping us up right, wisps of dust and ice spin of surfaces as the craft zooms by. Water and lava effect amaze and really shine in 1080p, all the fluids react very nicely with a slightly over the top feel.
Three bosses stand in the our way, immersive very old school shooter battles. Elemental and physics add a new level to very classic boss battles. As impressive as they are, there just isn’t enough of them. This goes for the entire game. Over in a scant few sittings, and only after being forced to retread and dig up hidden gems to open the way ahead.
Pixel Junk Shooter impresses with its style humor and over all tight controls, fluid and element based puzzles are a joy and only during the backtracking for jewels was I ever frustrated. The action old school mixed with state of the art and given a crisp HD coating. If only it were not over too soon, just as the puzzles are ramping up and the elements all coming together (literally) it ends. Left with a massive cliff hanger. All the pieces are here for a truly great game, I could see this as a metroidvania. The deluxe edition or full-fledged sequel is surely on the way, hopefully Q-games is listening. Cause I for one am not done with the ERS Piñata Colada!
