Fire and Rain- PixelJunk Shooter Review

Your primary objective is to rescue as many survivors as possible in each area. Let too many survivors become casualties, and you’ll have to start over.  The creatures, fluids and other dangers found in the mines will add to the challenge. Instead of your ship taking damage from the game’s various dangers, it typically heats up then slowly cools.Spinning or flying into water can help bring the heat gauge back down.On occasion, you’ll find “suits” that enhance your ship with new abilities and alterations. Their use is always constrained to that particular section, but it makes the game feel a bit Metroid-like through a variety of abilities and the need to find and make your path.

As with the other PixelJunk titles, Shooter has simple but crisp and colorful visuals. The music is an excellent mix of classic sci-fi, grungy rock and peppy electronica. It definitely was stuck in my head for quite a while. The sound effects are very well done, and those that stand out are supposed to.

PixelJunk Shooter‘s basic concept alone is brilliant and innovative, and the level designs remain fresh and clever throughout the games entirety. This is definitely the best PixelJunk game yet, and that’s high praise .I only wish there were more of it. (For the most part, that’s a good thing.) The game is relatively short (a few hours, but with some hidden stuff to go back for and online leaderboards), and its difficulty never really surpasses a mild challenge. That said, it’s a decent length and challenge for such a quality game priced at only $10 USD. There is a local two player cooperative mode, but I have yet to try it.

Perhaps online play could be added? It’s probably no surprise that the game ends mentioning that there is more to come. PixelJunk Monsters and Eden both received significant “Encore” expansions, and Shooter seems destined for the same. My hope is more stages, more challenge and more features, and I imagine my desires will be appeased. I know I’ll be getting it day one. I’d love a PSP version (probably with simplified physics), but the game’s support for PSP remote play will probably have to suffice.

DesertEagle’s Take: Allow me to make a confession that may jeopardize my friendship with TideGear: I’ve been somewhat disappointed by PixelJunk’s offerings. Although Monsters was a proficient tower defense title, I couldn’t seem to find gratification within either Racers or Eden. Although I encourage the development of diversions that challenge the designs decisions presented by behemoth publishers, the two aforementioned games proved to lack any lasting appeal.

All that has changed with the developer’s fourth title- PixelJunk Shooter. Games that combine arcade action with gentle puzzle elements rarely get the balance right; many forgo their twitch mechanics just as the cerebral elements begin to dominate. With a lone exception, Shooter’s momentum never became deliberately protracted. This equilibrium is matched by the game’s lively weapons. Beyond the requisite cannon that which blasts through both rocks and aliens with equal aplomb, Shooter allows players to coat the environment with blistering lava or streams of water. Each of these abilities is presented by a suit that fits around your ship, transforming your craft into both a practical vehicle and an absorbing plaything. As a testament to the game’s design, I’d often find myself creating giant ice walls or magma pools for my own amusement.

Shooter’s beauty exists within the game’s myriad of minute details. From the diminutive clouds of steam created when the player’s ship nears ice, to the sensation of resistance created when traveling through falling water, the game’s skillful minutiae merge to forge a fascinating world. Nearly every stage is brilliantly designed, making perfection-seeking replays enjoyable. Accidentally kill a crewman, and you’ll be yearning to go back and correct your misstep.

Most importantly, death to the player comes from carelessness, not from attackers moving at a blistering rate, or being surrounding by a bevy of foes. Players will likely find themselves laughing at their own absent-minded blunders- as I did when I sprayed a stream of magma skyward, and watched as it rained down upon my ship. Some might find Shooter too easy; I find the game a welcome reprieve from Q-Games typical level of challenge.

Like a well-engineered amusement park ride, PixelJunk Shooter’s voyage is exhilarating, yet also regrettably short. For most gamers, their jaunt across the game’s 15 stages and mini-game final credits will last about three hours. While some might object to that duration, realize that nearly every moment of Shooter is gaming bliss. Like TideGear, I’ll be picking up the game’s inevitable Encore the moment it becomes available.