Pixel’Not’Junk Ultimate
Missions in space are a thing of the future, but if there were rescue missions like this one, they’d be hard to refuse. As for the game, PixelJunk Ultimate is a combined version of PixelJunk 1 & PixelJunk 2 with revamped graphics and the game definitely does not disappoint. The game is a mixture of action and puzzle genres and gives us a good 10 hours worth of gameplay only for the story. If you are one of the competitive types and have your eyes on the high score, the game will definitely keep you engaged for quite some time. We know we are a little late to the party, but yet, no harm is done for those who are thinking of picking up the game right now.
Space Lore
The game is about rescuing scientists stranded in a research facility on planet Apoxus Prime. The game does have the feature of continuing the game by importing the saved file from the previous game which is awesome. It does well in narrating a not so intense story in a simple yet interesting way. The story is moved forward by rescuing the scientist waving the flag, ‘Waving the flag!!??’. Him getting killed is a bad luck if you are continuing the game because the information provided by him uncovers interesting facts. Each bit of data provided by the scientist being interesting, itches us to continue to the next level. Many a times during the gameplay we came across such situations wherein one of the scientists gets killed by either one of the enemies or by the environment which makes us feel guilty and stupid.
Smooth Sailing
There are 5 stages in the game divided into roughly 5 sub-stages and takes about 10 hours to complete which is good and gives us enough content to keep ourselves engaged. As we move ahead in the game we get various suits corresponding to the elements in the game. So basically we get suits like the Magma and Water suit which feel like Batman made spaceships. “With different suits come different grapnel” (hehe) like ice grapnel or rock grapnel which help in changing the environment in various constructive ways. Every stage and sometimes even sub-stage contributes something new to offer, which adds to the spice of the game. The gameplay is smooth and feels equally good with the mouse as well as the controller which is rare in a twin stick shooter. The best part about the game is the combination of the various elements- water, lava, sludge etc. For example, mixing water and lava forms rocks which can be shot at and be broken.The developers have done a great work at mixing and matching elements, and have made sure that you are on the lookout for any new element and what happens when a newly found substance is mixed with a previously available element.The environment plays an important role in gameplay due to the physics involved. The physics of the game make it an exciting prospect for multiplayer and co-op. This is what majorly constitutes the puzzle part of the game. Being a partially puzzle game, you’ll never find yourself stuck in a puzzle for very long and getting tempted to see a walkthrough, as the game never puts you in a very complicated position.
Competent Pixels
Graphics wise the game feels OK, not bad but not very great either. The game looks decent with all the animation and environment but lacks the texture refinement which PC gamers would expect of a game. Just a reminder, that we are not comparing the game’s graphics to the older versions, rather we are pitting it against what most games offer today.