Review: ARKEDO SERIES – 03 Pixel!

Posted by Curtis H on October 8th, 2011 | 0 Comments | Tags: PIXEL!

Pix’N Love Rush introduced us to Pixel the Cat earlier this year. Despite being one of few Minis that actually turned out quite good I couldn’t let go of the feeling that Pixel the Cat deserved something bigger. As it turns out that game already existed on the XBLIG platform. Now Pixel!, the final game in the Arkedo Series, has finally made it’s way over to the PSN and the world is a better place because of it.

Pixel! follows a nightly adventure with Pixel the Cat as he makes his way back home to his fellow cat-friends. Throughout each of the game’s six stages you’ll jump, dash, solve puzzles and take down enemies with your meow-attack. In the same vein as many platforming games prior to Pixel! you’ll run across levels jumping over spikes and on top of enemies as you progress towards your goal. Killing five enemies in a row without taking damage fills your meow-meter which can then be used to take out multiple enemies at once. Which is especially useful when going up against enemies with spiked heads.

What makes Pixel! different from other platforming games is the twist that it provides. Throughout each level you’ll come across a block marked with an exclamation point. Inspecting these blocks with your magnifying glass reveals a maze to be solved. Doing so will do one of a few different things. You’ll either regain health, open up the pathway to continue through the level or find a ‘useless relic’. The useless relics being hidden collectibles that, you guessed it, do absolutely nothing. Some might find that concept pretty dumb but I think it’s pretty funny and a good way to poke fun at how ridiculous some collectibles in games can be. That being said the mazes in the game seemed to be repeated a lot and most didn’t provide much of a challenge at all. I think inspecting blocks to reveal puzzles is a really cool mechanic but I kind of wish that it was something that they expanded upon as the game progressed.

After completing the game’s six levels you’ll be challenged to go back through and find all of the useless relics. After doing this however there’s nothing left to do besides a little trophy clean up. Unlike the previous Arkedo Series games there’s no challenge mode of any sort. If nothing else it’s a bummer as Pix’N Love Rush provided three great ideas for challenge modes.

At first I wanted to say that the Arkedo Series closed out on it’s highest note yet but I’m not sure I would put Pixel! above Jump!. Pixel! is a perfectly competent platforming adventure and the puzzle mode offers up a decent amount of variety. It’s a game that kept me smiling the entire way through but doesn’t offer the amount of content that I’d have liked. Though at the same time it’s tough to argue content with the price point that Pixel! is at and it’s still something people should absolutely not pass up.

I’m happy I got to adventure with Pixel the Cat but it’s just too bad that it ended so soon.

A copy of this game was provided by the publisher for review purposes. For more info on our review policy click here. This review is for the PlayStation 3 version of the game.