PixelJunk™ Shooter Ultimate is a twin stick shooter/puzzle game by Q-Games, ltd. and Double Eleven. It is actually an enhanced port of two PSN games, with redrawn graphics and a seamless transition between the first game and its sequel. It also contains the original graphics as an option, as well as multiplayer modes. (For the purposes of this review, i will focus on the single player campaign.)
Graphically, the game has a very clean, borderless look. everything pops; the things that get lost in the background are relatively few, mostly the occasional enemy bullet. The glow off of lava is particularly nice; less so when you’re covered in it. There are a few times where the physics will cause the occasional bit of graphical oddness, though. Also, small amounts of a liquid can be rendered invisible when simply lying on the floor; dangerous in the case of lava, acid, and magnetic fluid.
Graphically, the game has a very clean, borderless look. everything pops; the things that get lost in the background are relatively few, mostly the occasional enemy bullet. The glow off of lava is particularly nice; less so when you’re covered in it. There are a few times where the physics will cause the occasional bit of graphical oddness, though. Also, small amounts of a liquid can be rendered invisible when simply lying on the floor; dangerous in the case of lava, acid, and magnetic fluid.
The controls practically demand the use of a controller, as that is the original method used to play the game. Keyboard and Mouse controls are available, though I can’t vouch for their efficacy. Almost everyone online recommends a controller, however. Aiming is a simple matter, and flying around is a breeze, so long as you don’t allow your inertia to take over.
Getting to the meat of the game itself, PixelJunk™ Shooter Ultimate is a damn fun game. It lets you play with fluid physics in the most fun way imaginable. It’s very easy to get into, but can get maddeningly frustrating to 100%. The story has you accepting a distress signal and flying down to the planet’s surface to rescue a number of miners and researchers trapped after a nasty earthquake. You can rescue them with your grapple claw. And you’ll have to do so quickly, because these suckers are made of tissue paper. Everything kills them, and there’s nothing more frustrating than realizing that they were in a time sensitive situation that ended with a hot lava bath, or suffocation by hot gasses. It’s even worse when enemy placement causes you to accidentally tag one of the unfortunate bastards with a missile.
Speaking of missiles, you can hold down the fire button to launch a salvo of homing missiles, limited only by your temperature bar. The temp bar acts as something of an elastic life bar; reach the end of the bar and you explode, but you can easily cool yourself down by spinning or taking a bath in some water. being close to lava or flying through a cloud of gas will raise the bar as well. The only protection against those is to pick up a shield; it prevents the temp bar from rising, but will disappear if you are hit. It’s not terribly useful late game, when you’re far more likely to be required to tank a hit or two to get through an area, but it’s always welcome. And it lets you fire homing missiles to your heart’s content.
The game is pretty good about throwing new challenges at you; as such, it never really gets boring or all that tedious. Acid, for example, will slowly kill you if you don’t wash it off, so you need to be mindful of any pockets of water in the area. The game is more than happy to throw suits which change the way you interact with the environment at you. One lets you shoot lava, another repel the fairly dangerous ferrofluid, and another inverts you weaknesses, causing lava to act like water and vice-versa.
I did have a little frustration from the game, though. There are a few levels an bosses that will drive you insane; that’s par for the course, though. Slightly more annoying were the times where the game would completely freeze. It almost always happened right near the end of a level to my frustration. With one exception, I could never figure out what caused the occurrence. Also, the bosses can be fairly punishing compared to the levels before them.
Overall, you can definitely do worse for $10. PixelJunk™ Shooter Ultimate will give you a fair bit of bang for your buck, and it’s a hell of a lot of fun. I can honestly say I’ve paid more for games I enjoyed less than this one. Minor hiccups aside, I really recommend this one. Just watch out for the spiders.
Title: PixelJunk™ Shooter Ultimate
Developer: Q-Games, ltd., Double Eleven
Publisher: Double Eleven
Platform: PC
Price: $9.99
*We were provided a copy of this game for review*
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