PixelJunk/PixelPrize
Originally posted at my blog
A while back I bought a game on faith of the company alone, PixelJunk Racers. The company is Q-Games and the slogan for the PixelJunk games are "High Quality Casual Game (1080p Play Style)". Cute, catchy and full of Engrish, who wouldn't bite. The main reason I have faith in the company is more to do with the founder Dylan Cuthbert. He's probably best known for the work he did for the Super Nintendo with Star Fox, but that's not really why I like the guy. When the bit Generations games came out for the GBA back in 2006 all but one game was developed by Skip ltd.: Digidrive. Most of the other titles followed a similar design aesthetic, but few followed through with gameplay beyond the initial level of being just a puzzle. The style and complexity of Digidrive stood out as unique, modern, and multidimensional.
With the dearth of games on the PS3, I was happy to give a new (downloadable) game a shot with a company I mostly liked. (Honestly, my wife wanted that LocoRoco game and since I hate navigating the PSN store I kind of need more than one reason to go there in the first place so Racers would have to do.) Now my definition of casual games usually entails both simple and easy to pick up. This usually turns into monotonous and/or gameplay that's too easy. Not all of them mind you, but a good amount. Either way, Racers is neither easy or simple. The only thing similar from race to race is the slot-car-esque aesthetic. In one race you could have to hit every car to gain speed, and in the exact next you have to avoid every car to keep your speed. This isn't even including the multitude of wacky requirements. It's a hodge podge of ideas that can be done within the confines of simple mechanics, and after finishing most of the events in the game I still never felt like I knew what was going on. So, when Q-Games' second project came around (PixelJunk Monsters) I assumed it was going to be a similar mess and ignored it.
I actually had no idea it came out so recently, but I was talking with a friend of mine who was telling me how much fun PixelJunk Monsters was. I retorted that I really disliked Racers, so I didn't really care about it. The game is nothing like the other though, and I was informed that it's more like Tower Defense games. Now that's more a concept I can get behind, similar mechanics and character design throughout. Tower Defense is one of those games that's been around for a long time with a lot of different versions created by everyone and their brother. Most are fairly simple and, honestly, a bit boring at times. TD is just the kind of game I'd play to kill some time at work.
Monsters takes the TD design ethos and expands on it by both making it more personal and cohesive than other versions I've played. The player is some sort of tribal chief who must defend the young tribe members. To do so he can (somehow) turn trees into towers which will attack the oncoming enemies. There are both ground and air enemies and towers that can attack both or either type. The interesting additions are more than just aesthetic though. Each new level allows for unique and varied goals and formations. A personal favorite of mine is where the enemies don't give you any coins and you have to defend the children with only your starting money plus what you earn in bonus.
What really makes Monsters a much better game than their first outing, Racers, is that once you've figured out the first level you know just what to do for the rest of the game. While the obstacles may change from level to level, what you learned and know will keep you going from the outset. There is also another kind of spin on the "casual game" that gives me hope for the genre's future: the game is challenging. After a few levels the kid-gloves come off and the game really puts you in your place. Most casual games don't do this until quite late, if at all, and it's a nice enough change in pace that the game no longer feels casual at all. The level designs become more intimate after a few tries and the strategy of the game type really shines for all the levels. Once you get just about tired of similar looking landscapes the tilesets change up to a snow covered land or a field in the middle of a downpour.
The visual design is something that Q-Games should be proud of as well. A quick visit to the PixelJunk site will show the developers intention and roots in classic pixelated games and style. By following what made the original pixel graphics iconic in spirit Cuthbert and his team have recreated and kept true to the iconic spirit of those days.
"By using a ton of meticulously hand-drawn 2D art instead of 3D modeled graphics, we have tried to re-create the feel of some of those older classics"
-Dylan Cuthbert
Personally I don't know what to think about the future of the PixelJunk line of games. Right now it's a severely mixed bag and the next title is as much a toss up as is its identity. The thing is, I probably won't have anything else to play on my giant black shiny monolith, so I'll pick the game up anyways.
A while back I bought a game on faith of the company alone, PixelJunk Racers. The company is Q-Games and the slogan for the PixelJunk games are "High Quality Casual Game (1080p Play Style)". Cute, catchy and full of Engrish, who wouldn't bite. The main reason I have faith in the company is more to do with the founder Dylan Cuthbert. He's probably best known for the work he did for the Super Nintendo with Star Fox, but that's not really why I like the guy. When the bit Generations games came out for the GBA back in 2006 all but one game was developed by Skip ltd.: Digidrive. Most of the other titles followed a similar design aesthetic, but few followed through with gameplay beyond the initial level of being just a puzzle. The style and complexity of Digidrive stood out as unique, modern, and multidimensional.
With the dearth of games on the PS3, I was happy to give a new (downloadable) game a shot with a company I mostly liked. (Honestly, my wife wanted that LocoRoco game and since I hate navigating the PSN store I kind of need more than one reason to go there in the first place so Racers would have to do.) Now my definition of casual games usually entails both simple and easy to pick up. This usually turns into monotonous and/or gameplay that's too easy. Not all of them mind you, but a good amount. Either way, Racers is neither easy or simple. The only thing similar from race to race is the slot-car-esque aesthetic. In one race you could have to hit every car to gain speed, and in the exact next you have to avoid every car to keep your speed. This isn't even including the multitude of wacky requirements. It's a hodge podge of ideas that can be done within the confines of simple mechanics, and after finishing most of the events in the game I still never felt like I knew what was going on. So, when Q-Games' second project came around (PixelJunk Monsters) I assumed it was going to be a similar mess and ignored it.
I actually had no idea it came out so recently, but I was talking with a friend of mine who was telling me how much fun PixelJunk Monsters was. I retorted that I really disliked Racers, so I didn't really care about it. The game is nothing like the other though, and I was informed that it's more like Tower Defense games. Now that's more a concept I can get behind, similar mechanics and character design throughout. Tower Defense is one of those games that's been around for a long time with a lot of different versions created by everyone and their brother. Most are fairly simple and, honestly, a bit boring at times. TD is just the kind of game I'd play to kill some time at work.
Monsters takes the TD design ethos and expands on it by both making it more personal and cohesive than other versions I've played. The player is some sort of tribal chief who must defend the young tribe members. To do so he can (somehow) turn trees into towers which will attack the oncoming enemies. There are both ground and air enemies and towers that can attack both or either type. The interesting additions are more than just aesthetic though. Each new level allows for unique and varied goals and formations. A personal favorite of mine is where the enemies don't give you any coins and you have to defend the children with only your starting money plus what you earn in bonus.
What really makes Monsters a much better game than their first outing, Racers, is that once you've figured out the first level you know just what to do for the rest of the game. While the obstacles may change from level to level, what you learned and know will keep you going from the outset. There is also another kind of spin on the "casual game" that gives me hope for the genre's future: the game is challenging. After a few levels the kid-gloves come off and the game really puts you in your place. Most casual games don't do this until quite late, if at all, and it's a nice enough change in pace that the game no longer feels casual at all. The level designs become more intimate after a few tries and the strategy of the game type really shines for all the levels. Once you get just about tired of similar looking landscapes the tilesets change up to a snow covered land or a field in the middle of a downpour.
The visual design is something that Q-Games should be proud of as well. A quick visit to the PixelJunk site will show the developers intention and roots in classic pixelated games and style. By following what made the original pixel graphics iconic in spirit Cuthbert and his team have recreated and kept true to the iconic spirit of those days.
"By using a ton of meticulously hand-drawn 2D art instead of 3D modeled graphics, we have tried to re-create the feel of some of those older classics"
-Dylan Cuthbert
Personally I don't know what to think about the future of the PixelJunk line of games. Right now it's a severely mixed bag and the next title is as much a toss up as is its identity. The thing is, I probably won't have anything else to play on my giant black shiny monolith, so I'll pick the game up anyways.