More than 200 games and a unique sense of style and charm make Hot Pixel worth playing for fans of the mini game genre.
The bulk of Hot Pixel's content is found in its ten "Episodes". Each episode contains a pool of eleven mini-games and a "Boss Fight". You won't face all eleven mini-games in an episode, but a random selection of five to nine of them before taking on the boss stage.
As with similar titles, Hot Pixel's games last anywhere from three seconds to a couple of minutes. As you progress through each episode the games will speed up. You will also see variation of the patterns used, so playing through multiple times isn't always simply a matter of memorization. Playing a mini-game at the beginning and end of an episode are two different experiences. It's a nice touch that helps keep things fresh.
You, the player are given three lives per episode. If you fail a mini-game you loose a life. Loose all three lives and the game is over. You are also given a separate three lives in each boss stage, making the game fairly forgiving in that respect.
That's not to say it's easy though. Most players should be able to get through the game's easy mode in roughly 45 minutes but once you dive into the Normal mode the difficulty ramps up quite fast. You will find yourself retrying episodes much more often, especially if you're trying for a perfect rating. Completing each episode unlocks the next. Completing an episode with the perfect rating generally unlocks some bonus content like the game's video clips. Training mode lets you play any mini-game that has been unlocked. Like in the recent WarioWare: Smooth Moves, you play the same game over and over as it speeds up. Earning high scores will earn you silver and gold medals and unlock even more bonus content. There is also a Playlist Mode that refines the experience, for example giving you all of the boss levels or those which you struggle at.
There are also "Xtra" games to unlock, and more than 70 more mini-games are available to download free from the game's website www.hotpxl.com. The downloadable content requires 22 MB free space on your Memory Stick Pro Duo. All together it should take you a good 4-6 hours to play through everything Hot Pixel has to offer, and that's without even touching the game's ad hoc multiplayer options. Considering most games in the genre can be fully explored in under two hours, Hot Pixel feels almost epic in scope by comparison.
The mini-games themselves feel fresh for the most part. Through simple button, analog nub and d-pad presses you will perform many different tasks. Helping a vagabond find his wine, scratching records like a DJ, or trying to get to the restroom at a concert before you soil your pants are some examples. Of course, there are many, many more as well.
Hot Pixel also makes great use of the fact that it's an Atari game, and borrows liberally from the company's extensive back catalog. Old-School favourites like Breakout, Asteroids, Tempest and Lunar Lander all make appearances here in various forms. Many more games mimic the look and feel made the company famous in the 1970’s and early 1980’s featuring square blocks, solid colours and simple but challenging game design. Quite a few are also done in the more common Flash Animation style.
There are a number of exceptions that feel as though they were lifted from other games, but Hot Pixel separates itself from the pack thanks to its unique audio-visual presentation and strange take on street style. The game's lead developer, Djon infuses himself into every aspect of the game. You are often playing as an 8-bit representation of him, and he also stars in the video clips used as introductions to each episode. His quirkiness, take on street style, love of skateboarding, bad French accent and general cheesiness can come off as annoying at first but you'll crack a smile by the end of the game. More at him than with, but still...
The Atari influence doesn't stop at the mini-game design. The Atari logo is on much of the clothing that Djon wears in the game and even the wood-paneled 2600 makes an appearance or two. The audio design is full of bleeps, swooshes and pops that will be instantly familiar to many old-school gamers. Musical arrangements are always upbeat and light, reminiscent of old synth music like Hot Butter's "Popcorn". It definitely fits with the rest of the game and it's serviceable, but at the same time kind of forgettable.
Hot Pixel is not without its flaws of course. Some of the mini-games' control schemes feel unresponsive or lagging the point of frustration, cursing and wanting to throw your PSP across the room. What is ironic (or challenging depending on how you look at it) is that this is usually only an issue in games that require faster or more precise movement. You can adapt but sometimes it's tough. Another complaint is that a lot of the games are abstract in nature, and require a few trial and error attempts just to figure out what to do.
Perhaps the biggest flaw of the game is a total lack of cohesiveness to the game's episodes. None of them have a solid set of games that portrays the theme alluded to in their respective titles. Because Hot Pixel uses variations on established themes as you go, it probably would have worked better as one giant pool of random games getting harder and harder. There is an Instant Play mode that from what I can tell is endless, but the larger boss levels are excluded.
Mini-Game compilations like this have found a home on Nintendo's ultra-popular DS and Wii systems, but there's far less competition on Sony's underdog handheld so it's easy to recommend Hot Pixel to PSP-only owners. It does have enough of its own style and substance however, that I'd still say its worth playing through for players who also have access to the more mini-game saturated platforms.
--Brian J. Papineau
06/22/2007