Pixel Junk SideScroller

PixelJunk SideScroller – Demo impressions

Pixeljunk Sidescroller takes the Pixeljunk name and transforms it into an old school style neon lit sidescrolling space shooter. If your not a regular on PSN you might not have heard of Pixeljunk Monsters, Pixeljunk Eden, Pixeljunk Shooter or Pixeljunk Racers. To make a long story short Pixeljunk games are popular exclusive arcade style games on PSN. Pixeljunk Sidescroller is a 2d shooter developed by Q Games and published by SCEA exclusively for the Playstation 3. It released October 25, 2011.

I guess i’ll start with the menu screen. Start Game, Leaderboards, Options and How to Play. The button layout (Dual Shock 3): LS-D-pad-move, R1-shoot (hold for rapid fire), L1-charge attack (hold down then release), Square and Circle-change weapons, Start-pause. You can switch between various weapons with L2-R2 buttons. As far as the controls go for this 2d shooter they are decent. The problem lies more with bad level and enemy design. But all in all the controls and button layout were decent. If i did want to get picky they could change the buttons for switching weapons.

The basic premise of Pixeljunk Sidescroller is to guide your ship through waves of enemies. I would advise the most important gameplay aspect is picking up weapon power-ups. You can advance all of your basic weapons five full levels through power-ups. Its simple really, if you don’t collect power-ups you won’t last long in the game mostly due to bad level design and enemy patterns. The default weapons that you can strengthen include: Machine Guns, Laser, Bombs and Charge Attack. Certain weapons are more effective against certain enemies and map areas.

Items you can pick up include 1-Ups, Power-Ups (as discussed above), Secret Crowns, Shields and Coins. Coins and Secret Crowns are more collectible based then power-ups. The problem with collecting power-ups in the demo was the level design hindered me from getting most of them. I can’t say the screen moved too fast left to right cause that would sound silly for a side scroller. I grew up playing these type of games btw so they are far from new. I just thought the level design played a big role in making the demo of Pixeljunk Sidscroller not too fun.

When talking about this game’s presentation some parts do jump out and shine bright. That being the atmosphere and how the music plays into that effect. The music was really good. From the main tittle screen cyber beats to the in-game relaxing melodies i was impressed with the music. The music tried its damnedest to make this game seem fun. As far as visuals go Pixel Junk Sidescroller look like a neon wonderland of soft colors. The visuals do give you a calming vibe even when the level design frustrates you.

All in all i would say Pixel Junk Sidescroller is a mediocre 2d shooter at best. The level design manages to suck most of the fun out of this game. However i did really enjoy the music in the demo. Thanks for reading.