Manages to refresh the Tower Defence genre with a sizzling array of eye candy and sense of chaos created by movement
The Good:
-Sharp, crisp, clean, striking, colourful visuals
-Hugely addictive, frantic game play
-Stunning environments
-Fantastic tower selection
-Challenging
-Great YouTube support
-Ability to play via a PSP with Remote Play
The Bad:
-Major image burning problem that can ruin your television if not played in moderation
-Aiming feels slow and dim-witted
-Terrible soundtrack
-Trophy challenges fee uninspired
As I said in my Savage Moon review (http://uk.gamespot.com/ps3/strategy/savagemoon/player_review.html?id=686107&tag=all-about;review2) the so called tower defence genre is ruthlessly simple. You plant a few towers here and there to protect your base from advancing waves at regularly timed intervals for a period of time to succeed. There isn't (or hasn't) been a game that has been able to grab the genre by the throat and revolutionise it due to the fact that the only way a new title can differentiate itself from the rest of the competition is an attempt to add new elements but they sometime feel half hearted and more of a gimmick.
At the time of the release the Pixel Junk universe didn't have the reputation then as the lauded one it has today so this title didn't have the burden of expectation to carry on its shoulders. It's first game Racers was visually stunning and great offline multiplayer fun but the novelty and depth wore off all too quickly.
This tower defence title is a single or two player offline only experience and isn't story driven by any stretch of the imagination and nor does it need to be. No attempts have been made at a half hearted story and credit to the team, it wouldn't of added anything and just made the game cringe worthy.
We are on a beautiful forest and beach covered island with a huge volcano stretching up into the sky dominating it's landscape and take the control of a Tribal leader (I'm going to be honest, I have no idea what he is called and my attempts to track it down have only resulted in me being able to find 'Tribal Dude') protecting the villagers from the islands insect like creatures and miniature colossus like brutes.
The ultra sharp, crisp and quite incredibly rich graphics that where present in Racers is back in Monsters. They have been worked on and don't stray from the originals in look or art direction but they also manage to look new. Sort of cell shaded anime and showered in colour, every last green and blue looks fantastic and the often scarce use of yellow in video games is used with tremendous effect. I'll be honest, I don't make a big song and dance about the grey palette games thriving for realism but the colour vibrancy completely washes out everything and refreshes your passion for gaming.
Some people on Racers complained about the Pixel Junk on the bottom of the display lead to image burning on their television sets. Image burning occurs when the image remains on screen for a prolonged period of time and it 'burns' that image permanently into television set.
I have seen this on a television set when a friend left Sky Sports News on when he rushed to work one day and forgot to turn his box off, 8 hours later when he returned and turned the channel over he always sees those stupid information boxes that clutter the screen on such channels. The worst thing about this though is that it only occurs in plasma and LCD televisions which don't come cheap and rather than remove the logo all together to avoid this problem they are stubbornly trying to work their way around it by adding a image burn protection option and it does work to an extent but make no mistake there are still horror stories on the net where this game has ruined some unlucky gamers expensive television.
Back to the island. You have an aerial view of your home land in live action and navigate to the different levels from pre set paths, to get to the next level/ area you must complete the prior one to get past, it is nothing dissimilar to how you navigated the world on Super Mario 3. It is split up into three sections; the easy, medium and hard ones to be exact (which is quite odd considering you select your difficulty prior to playing) with special stages that can be unlocked by achieving rainbow clears (protecting all your villagers for an entire level) and offer more of a unique challenge and all of this is promoted by giving you power ups to assist with your progress.
As for the game play mechanics, you don't have free range to plant your towers wherever you would like, instead they can only be planted where trees are sprouting through the ground. Each tower has their own task (shock & awe!) and never feel as though they duplicate an others role. You have your utility ones that can slow the advancing waves down but there is an extraordinary array of offensive ones at your disposal. Canons to inflict large amounts of damage, Arrows to hit the quicker ones, Lightning to hit the little buggers that have shields and a devastating Mortar tower that inflicts damage around a large area to name but a few. You don't have a limit on how many you towers you can summon, just how much money you accumulate by your collected funds and all are upgradeable to inflict higher damage over a greater area and it is a novel way in which you must do so by having to stand in front of them and perform a sort of dance to increase the progress bar, the towers gain experience when they kill an enemy but leaving them to do so themselves can't really be recommended.
Sadly however the towers are also the games Achilles heel. Where Savage Moon rained devastation with rapid firing turrets backed up by intelligent aiming really added a sense of chaos that was joyous eye candy and here it is the cold hard opposite with no compromise. They feel as though they are making the ammo in the tower before they actually fire, it takes an eternity. What are they doing? They have one job to do, such a lazy civilisation doesn't deserve to be saved and the woeful AI only controlled aiming only adds to the anguish. For example a tower will lock on to an enemy and takes that long to shoot the foe has left its firing range so it turns its attention to another target and the shot time clock resets to zero annnnnnnnnnnnd repeat.
The magic in the game is found in the chaos at ground level. You don't have a cursor you can quickly manoeuvre across the map free of harms ray. You dash through the forests to plant your towers and have to collect gems and coins dropped by downed enemies whilst avoiding the other attackers while at the same time having to upgrade your towers and get back to your base to use your acquired gems to unlock the ability to buy stronger ones in between all of this. It is superb for the immersion and replaces the franticness lost by the slow firing towers and is tremendously fun.
It does feel as though it goes back to the birth and roots of gaming with its simple mapped controls and pick up and play nature that can be played by everyone with their being a hardcore challenge at its heart for those who want it. If you do rate your skills on the game you can show them to the world with the built in game recorder and ability to directly upload it to YouTube.
Some people love the music but on a whole it does drive you up the wall. Sure it is unique, sure it is fresh and sure it is a upbeat one that compliments the game perfectly but the continual ringing and beeping from the electronic triangle like in sound has you reaching for the mute button or playing your own custom soundtrack. The only thing that is more ridiculous than the soundtrack being available for purchase from the PlayStation Store is the people who actually buy it.
If you chase perfection in the levels you will most likely spend the rest of your life there but now there is the added trophy challenges that pits you in a level and gives you a completion stipulation in how to achieve success (such as only using a specific tower or not upgrading any).
With its relatively small asking price Pixel Junk Monsters is an incredibly addictive game with its simple mechanics and raw endless charms and manages to freshen up the tower defence genre despite not necessarily revolutionising it in the process and for all those with a PSP this great gem of a title can be enjoyed anywhere via Remote Play. When this generation eventually comes to a close and you look back at your digital downloads this will be one of the best purchases you made.