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POSTED
1/11/11
PIXELJUNK SIDESCROLLER
Sony
PS3/PSN
Ow!
Quit it. Ow! Quit it. Ow! Quit it. Ow! Quit it!!!
Yep, like Bart Simpson to an electrified cupcake, we kept going back
for more despite the pain... and kept going back, and kept going
back, and kept going...
This latest assault of Pixeljunkiness is an evolution of a bonus
from Pixeljunk Shooter 2, but don’t let that put you off. Let
its bastardality put you off, but not its origins. It’s basically a
mutant hybrid of early arcade hit Scramble and later sideways
shooters like R-Type and Gradius, with a choice of
three upgradable weapons of various types in various situations,
plus a half-arsed sonic headbutt kinda thing. Like those games it’s
based on, PJSS is also quite unforgiving (well, save for
unlimited continues).
It’s the sort of shmup where you progress a certain amount, get
whomped by something unpredictably whompy and then get whisked back
to the last checkpoint. Wrong! Do it again! The initial three levels
of each of three four level stages aren’t too bad, but get to the
fourth one – the inevitable boss battle - and attention spans way
beyond what MTV taught us was acceptable are required. Buggles, why
have you forsaken us?!
OK, so it’s often tough and it’s short. But PJSS is also
quite wonderful-looking. Made to resemble a classic arcade machine,
we’re talking cathode ray imitation – rounded screen, scanlines and
a neon glow reminiscent of vector titles like Tempest and
Battlezone. Get to the final, final stage and it even starts
glitching out, just like the majority of the ‘Spacies’ in Melbourne
in the early 1980s. The sonics eschew such classic nods for a
chilled, trip-hoppy soundtrack. It’s a bit incongruous, actually.
Is PJSS fun? Nes, or yo. Umm, yes and no. We advise padding
your room in case of flying DualShocks. Ow! Quit it...
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THIS!
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