PixelJunk 1-4 Hands-On

The aptly named PixelJunk 1-4 is the fourth game in the first series of PixelJunk games, but don't get too attached to the name, because Q-Games is holding a naming contest so that the community can have the honor of labeling this installment. We had the opportunity to play through a few levels of 1-4 for the first time at Sony's PlayStation Gamer's Day in Los Angeles last week, and we were pleased with what we saw. PixelJunk 1-4 is an action puzzle game in which you pilot a rescue ship through a hazardous underground cavern, likely on another planet, to try to save your trapped workers. Armed with missiles and a grappling hook, you use the natural elements in your environment--water and magma--to search for a path to safety.

At first glance, the game looked a bit like a shoot-'em-up, given that you're flying around and firing away at chunks of solidified magma. You navigate a tiny spaceship through hot passageways so that you can rescue your workers with a grappling hook. The left analog stick controls your ship, and the right analog stick is used to aim your cannons. You use R1 to fire missiles, clearing away rocks and hostile creatures. There are aliens and other bizarre residents that are intent on bringing your ship down, so you have to stay alert while figuring out what to do next. Once you locate one of your workers, the X button will drop your lifesaving device, which plucks your friends--who are waving happily while dressed in yellow hazmat suits--to safety. Consequently, the game reminds you somewhat of LocoRoco, with the 2D solid-colored environments and cheery characters.

The environments that we looked at consisted of underground passageways formed out of solidified magma, so you'll have to carefully maneuver your ship to avoid overheating. There's a heat gauge that will let you know how hot you're getting, and if it gets full, you'll lose propulsion and crash. Pockets of water as well as bubbly red-hot liquid are everywhere, and your goal is to find a way to use these two elements against one another so that you can pass through safely.

Your ship is waterproof and so are your workers, so you can always take a dip if you want to cool off. The steaming pool of molten rock is something you want to avoid, but one way to get rid of it is to mix it with water so that the bothersome substance solidifies. Once it's a solid, you can blast it to smithereens to clear the way. Water bombs and spores can be found throughout the level, the latter of which can help with this process by letting you transport water to different locations. The spores act like a sponge, so you can dunk them in a body of water; once they absorb enough liquid, you drop them into the magma. Even once the molten rock solidifies, it still gives off quite a bit of heat, so we found that we still had to move swiftly to avoid overheating. You can snag the stars that are littered all around to gain an extra life, and if you collect a cluster of them in rapid succession, your heat gauge lowers.

PixelJunk 1-4 looks simple, but it's extremely easy to get absorbed in this action puzzler, so we can't wait to explore some different stages. The game retains the smooth, cute, and clean look of the previous PixelJunk games. There's also some impressive fluid dynamics going on with the water and magma, so even though your ship is waterproof, you'll feel the drag when you're trying to go against the current. There's still no word on how many stages will be available in the final build, but right now it is scheduled for a fall release exclusively on the PlayStation Network.