Messing with the Fluids... The Pikeljunk Shooter Review

Note: The gameplay footage consists of me playing utilizing the YouTube upload feature.

Pixeljunk Shooter is the fourth title in the franchise that started off with Racers, Monsters, and Eden. These are some of the better downloadable games out there on Playstation Network with consistent sense of providing original and unorthodox gameplay experiences. Shooter continues Q Games' notion of providing that same experience by taking a similar concept, the twin-stick shooter, and then mix it in with interacting with water, lava, ice, and toxic to make it feel original. The two concepts combined together make Shooter one of the better downloadable titles to come out on PSN this year and if you're a fan of the Pixeljunk franchise, this game should not missed for the ten dollar purchase.

There is a sense of story in Shooter in which you are a ship sent to the underground of a planet to rescue survivors and explore the depths of such planet witnessing any diversions that you affect the experience. The controls in Shooter are not exactly like a normal twin-stick shooter as there is still a button to shoot, but the ship does indeed maneuver like such games. There is also a grapple button to rescue survivors, attain gems to unlock more levels, and pull switches. These survivors can be killed if they are not saved in time or if they are accidentally killed by your shots, which happened to me in certain situations. Having five survivors killed will end your game and you have to start over from the beginning of the level you started, but extra lives can be gained easily by gathering a hundred coins from the levels or killing enemies. Your ship does not technically have a health meter, but instead a heat meter at its normal state as being close to lava does heat up your ship and you have to let it cool down by water to replenish. Being shot by enemy fire also does not result in an instant death as it will raise your heat level up to the warning state, but bumping to them sure does. Other than playing it alone, there is an option for local co-op as well with two ships transversing the underground depths.

The big idea of Pixeljunk Shooter is interacting with the water, lava, ice, and toxic in the three worlds that consist of five levels each with the last level ending in a boss battle. This interaction basically makes it somewhat a puzzle game along with the shooter figuring out how to navigate through these levels alive. It is common sense how these fluids interact with each other affecting the levels from water on lava turns to rock, the lava dissolves the ice, water and toxic = gas, gas and lava = explosions, and so on. You get a sense of satisfaction seeing them interact with each other to make certain areas open as the level design is top notch. These puzzles are not that difficult to figure out as I rarely had a hard time navigating through these levels. Speaking of difficulty, this game is among the easiest of the Pixeljunk games as it is more forgiving to beat the game, there is no harsh penalties, and it is not as frustrating as say the later sections of Eden. Shooter is however a short game being downloadable as it takes a handful of hours to beat as each level for the first time takes 15-20 minutes to beat, but longer to 100% everything rescuing all the survivors and finding all the gems/hidden areas. It does also leave the door open for the inevitable Encore expansion.

Graphically, Shooter retains the same style of the Pixeljunk franchise with its use of colors, which still works and looks beautiful. The thing that strikes me is the water, lava, and toxic physics, which do matter in a game like this where they interact with each other. The soundtrack is also awesome as it fits the tone and theme of the game even though it may be a departure from previous Pixeljunk titles. Like Eden, Shooter does have YouTube support in which you can upload your recordings to YouTube, which is a neat idea and the quality of the videos are great. It will be interesting to see how the community utilizes this feature from high score runs, speed runs, getting 100$ tuns, or any random turn of events.

Pixeljunk Shooter is another superb game in the franchise as Q Games manages to innovate yet again with combining a twin stick shooter and puzzle elements with the fluids into one. These concepts together truly make it feel original and unorthodox as you don't experience games like these every day. It is definitely a game to relax to playing compared to most games out there as there is not as much frustration unless you are trying to find everything in the game or you accidentally killed a survivor by firing like a mad man. There is enough replay value to keep playing even though it can be beaten in a few hours, but the door is clearly open for downloadable content or the inevitable "Encore" expansion. For ten dollars, Shooter is worth your time and money being an unique experience only on the Playstation Network.

Score = 9/10

Pros:

• Unique concept of throwing an environmental twist to the twin stick shooter
• More forgiving than previous Pixeljunk games
• The various fluids interacting with each other turn out great as the physics are truly astounding.
• Great soundtrack fitting to the tone and theme of the game
• YouTube upload feature works

Cons:

• Yeah, online co-op could of worked as it is local only as teamwork and voice chat is a necessity.
• Over before you know it, but leaves the door for more with the "Encore" expansion

SF Bar Fights at Hooters Megapost!!!

So last Friday I was at Hooters for my first time ever in my life not just to get my grub and drink on, but also play in another Bar Fights event hosted by Gootecks. This time, he decided to hold an actual 64-man tournament rather than have main event matches with the big players of Street Fighter IV. Still though, the best players from SoCal (both LA and San Diego) showed up for the Street Fighter shenanigans from Alex Valle, Mike Ross, Ken I, Keno, Shady K, and Yeb the Gen master from San Diego. Before actually mentioning how much the tourney went, I might as well break down the night in order.

I got to Hooters early at Anaheim (its by the 57 Freeway exiting Katella) to actually eat dinner before things actually got started. As my first time eating at Hooters going through the experience everyone knows about, it wasn't that bad. The Hooters girls were surely there in full force and I don't know if they were ready for such madness as Street Fighter Bar Fights. Good thing there was a 2 entrees for 1 deal for that night only and spent five bucks only on 10 Garlic Parmesan wings and tots. At least I took my time with the food (which I didn't mind eating because I was hungry) eventually tearing through those wangs since Gootecks, Cami from GTFO.tv and Get Your Tournament, and the rest of the crew were setting up. Good thing there was that deal, so I can also get my "drink" on too later in the night. After pre-registration was held, the 64 players were divided into four pools of sixteen. I was in the last pool so I had to wait a while before I play, which is probably a good thing because I was able to have some beer with my friends from the Street Fighter scene providing good times. Of course, it is always good to hang out with all my friends that were there from Luka, Duralath, Colin, Mike Ross, KillerKai, StarSlay3r (had a good chat with her about Tekken 6 and how that game makes us less salty compared to Street Fighter IV), Sanchez, and others. Even there was an appearance by East Coast's, but moving to LA in a week or two, Justin Wong as well as Empire Arcadia's leader, TriForce, as they were in town for Spike TV's Video Game Awards. When the last pool started with me playing, I already consumed a Corona and a Guinness, so pretty much it was game on.

My first match was against OnlineTony, a known Seth player here in SoCal. Yeah Seth has a low health meter, but once he gets things going, he cannot be stopped, so as long as you can catch him since he has so many options, you can win. Before the match, Sanchez, fellow Bison player, gave me some words of some encouragement (basically to f*** him up). I was able to win the first game by that gameplan and plus Tony's execution wasn't on lock till the second game where he got things going with the link combos and the head stomps. Eventually I got "downloaded" and lost to Tony 2-1, but it was a good match being my first time against a legit Seth player that knows what he is doing. With that, I was right away in the losers bracket even though the pool I was in stacked with Yeb and Shizza, the best pad player in SoCal using Chun-Li (or as the scene calls him the Pad Warrior Princess). My next match was an easy victory against some Abel player as I made short work of him as he only knew some basic Abel stuff compared to the better Abel players I have seen from BustaBust and Combofiend (that's his main now). Then I lost a nailbiter against a Ken player as it went down to the last round of the match as I screwed up in the end. Oh Ken, why do I have to lose to you? At least, the Ken player knows his stuff with link combos and SRK FADC to Ultra. With that, I got peaced out of the tournament, but at least the drinks sort of helped as I played my best with limited practice of slowly going back to this game.

The main highlight for me of the tournament was the rise of some 15-year old C. Viper player named Jason going deep in the tourney making top 8 upsetting Keno, the Arcade Infinity Ranbats Season 2 Champion, hearing the hype in the room. He then peaced out Shizza in top 8 in arguably the match of the night going down to the last round clutching it out when it matters. Eventually he lost to Shady K (the best Akuma player from San Diego and a fighting game veteran) even though he took him to the limit as well. The crowd was surely behind him since we all love the underdogs achieving the upsets as I was in pure shock when beat Shizza. Now we all know he is a player in the scene doing big things with Viper as if he is the future. I saw him getting interviewed by Get Your Tournament's Glenn after the match and Gootecks giving him match of the night honors as well as a Mad Catz Marvel vs. Capcom 2 Tournament Stick (oh I want that for Christmas). Other than Jason's success at Bar Fights, the rest of top 8 was Alex Valle, Ken I, Shady K, Yeb, ComboJack, and Hugo101. In the end, it was Alex again winning it against Ken with his Ryu even though Ken I did take grand finals to a second set.

The whole night in a nutshell consisted of great times throughout. It just feels good hanging with the good people of the Street Fighter scene as always especially not seeing them for about a month because of school and other things. I gotta hand it to Gootecks for another successful event getting it done and I look forward for the next Bar Fights event. The top 4 of this tournament (Valle, Ken I, Shady K, and Yeb) will be also in LA Riots II next month, also hosted by Gootecks, along with Combofiend, Keno, Kai, and Shizza, which should be another interesting event with only the top players. Once again, it was nice being around great company that were there and I'll be around next time (I guess I can now play both SF4 and Tekken 6 at a competitive level).

Photos by Get Your Tournament's Kelly "Xensin" Bracha

Stepping to the Gates Below... Quick Hands-On with the Dante's Inferno Demo

Warning - This is indeed a mature rated game and it contains some nudity (even in this demo) in the videos.

Yesterday on the Playstation Store, a demo for Dante's Inferno came out and I decided to give it a try. In case you don't know about this game and wandering why this game is a big of a deal, Dante's Inferno is billed as a God of War ripoff among the gaming crowd and it is true from what I played so far. Being a ripoff can be both a good thing or a bad thing pending on how you spin it. The good thing is that it is another God of War style action game with blood, gore, and nudity. On the other hand, the developers clearly ripped off some things from the God of War games and actually God of War still does it better. The controls are similar, the combat is a little mashy, but still satisfying beating things up, the story is about Dante getting revenge for those that killed his wife after making a deal with the Grim Reaper, and so on. Graphically, Dante's Inferno looks okay at its demo state, but you can tell there is unoriginality with the look as if you seen this before. Some of the cutscenes are in CG and cartoony form, which are not bad but still an interesting decision by Visceral Games how to take these scenes in a certain direction. I also felt like they tried to go toe and toe with the God of War III Demo of what to put in it to show off before the game comes out from having mini-boss battles to riding a big creature around destroying the opposition. The magic and upgrade systems are also similar to God of War as well gaining souls as you progress through the game. All in all, Dante's Inferno is a solid ripoff of a better game and it is nice for 360 owners (this demo for them is out on the 24th) to have something like this, but for PS3 owners, there is God of War III to blow it away. Still though, if you enjoy these type of action games, then give Dante's Inferno a shot.

Mega Music Roundup for 12/9/09

Lots to cover for this music roundup as I start with something different which is some EuroPop. First up is a new UK pop artist Cheryl Cole and her debut album, 3 Words. I somewhat enjoyed it for what it is being pop music from the UK and nothing else. Black Eyed Peas frontman Will.I.Am is in a quarter of the album lending his voice and producing skills to the table especially the title track, the main single. If you are interested in some new artists, she is worth listening to, but who knows she will have any American presence what so ever considering how popular she is in the UK.

Now off to the new releases of the week (I'm skipping Chris Brown since I don't like him) starting with the long awaited new album by Clipse called Till The Casket Drops. This one is truly worth the wait filled with good stuff to blast from "Kind of Like a Big Deal" with Kanye West, "Popular Demand" with Cam'Ron, "I'm Good," and "Door Man." The Neptunes provide most of the production as always and they still got it maintaining their style of sound and of course the Clipse guys' spitting of the rhymes still deliver. For hip-hop fans, this one is worth checking out being one of the better releases of the year.

Next up is Snoop Dogg's latest, Malice N' Wonderland. Of course, Snoop has been around the game for a while and this one is another solid one by the boss dogg. The album starts off right with "I Wanna Rock" as I didn't like it at first, but it started to grow on me listening to it more and of course I gotta give props to the video featuring Quest Crew, ABDC season 3 winners, and Jamie Foxx. With the good start, its nothing like enjoying the good life with "Gangsta Luv" featuring The Dream, "That's The Homie," and "Upside Down." Overall, I enjoyed most of the album as there are some very good songs while others didn't click with me, so this is worth a listen too.

Looking ahead to next week, the big release is the highly anticipated album by Alicia Keys called The Element of Freedom. Now we all know how awesome she is over the years and her latest continues her awesomeness. This album has a different take to it as she tried some different things, but it is still purely an Alicia Keys album. I didn't mind her first single, "Doesn't Mean Anything," as it sounds like all her other big songs, but I think the standouts for me are "Try Sleeping with a Broken Heart," "Like A Sea," "Empire State of Mind II." About Empire, she just kills it and I rather listen to that instead of Jay-Z's "Empire State of Mind" as now I think he just ruins the song the way it is meant to be heard. Then again, I guess there is room for both since how popular the song is on the mainstream radio to the point you're sick of it and for New York City in general. Basically "Empire State of Mind II" is one of Alicia's best songs ever and as good as "If I Ain't Got You," "No One," and "Fallin." The only cameo appearance is Beyonce for "Put It in a Love Song" which is another one of those ladies anthems they would love. Still though, this album is great from beginning to end every time I would listen to it and definitely one of my favorites of the year.

Well that is it for the music roundup for now in terms what I have been listening to other than top 10 songs I have been blasting. Now that I'm on Winter Break, more time for blogging I guess or maybe more time for Street Fighter IV (Yes, I'm playing that again) and Tekken 6? We'll see if I'm going by my plans in the coming weeks.

Music Roundup for 12/03/09... aka Alicia Keys Being Awesome + Shock Value 2 Edition.

Today's music roundup features Alicia Keys's World Aids Day performance from YouTube on Tuesday (yes, the whole thing). She performs her hits through the years as well as new songs off her new album, Element of Freedom. I don't want to spoil the ending if you haven't seen it, but I think it ends right. All I have to say is "Empire State of Mind 2" is an awesome song and as good as her hit songs. So if you got a hour to kill with some great music, then enjoy Miss Keys doing work above.

I have been trying to enjoy Timbaland's new Shock Value 2 album, but other than his productions, its just that and the songs are whatever to me. Its probably the random cameos in this album compared to the last one like Miley Cyrus, Katy Perry, the singer from Nickelback, Jet, and Daughtry. At some cameo appearances are still good like his first single "Morning After Dark" with SoShy and Nelly Furtado as well as songs with Justin Timberlake, Keri Hilson, and Drake. I guess it goes to show how known Timbo is now in the pop world being a production genius for so many artists, but you gotta miss his old days as a producer when he produced better songs back then.

That's it for the music roundup for now. Hopefully, next time I can talk about Snoop's new album and maybe some other stuff.

Music Roundup for 11/30/09 aka "The Jay Sean Edition"

This music roundup is all about one of my new favorite artists of the year (while not really new, but new here at the States), Jay Sean. His U.S. debut album, All or Nothing, came out last week and I have been enjoying it a lot. Of course, it has the current smash hit "Down" with Lil' Wayne as I would sing that song like crazy on the car (no joke) as well as his current single that has a video out in the coming days, "Do You Remember" (the video is now up above) with Sean Paul and the crunk master himself Lil' Jon. The album starts off with a bang with "Do You," one of my favorites and "Fire" setting the tone up high with the bangers. Then it is the hit songs I mentioned earlier and then slows it down with "Ride It" (one of a handful songs reappearing in this album from his last UK release, My Own Way), which is my favorite song from both albums. The tempo goes back up again with "Love Like This" and "If I Ain't Got You," but slows back down with "War" and "Cry." Actually the only slow tempo song I like from his new album (if its considered slow tempo) is "Stay," another reappearance from his previous album. The bonus tracks are remixes of "Down" with a piano version as well as a techno version remixed by Jason Nevins, known for his awesome remix of N.E.R.D's Rock Star. All or Nothing is a great album for Jay Sean to start with here at the States and I hope he is not an one hit wonder either, but with Cash Money backing him up and a number one radio hit, he will be around for a while.



Before his new album came out however, I decided to blast My Own Way to figure out what to expect from him from the States and it is actually another solid album too with "Tonight," "Maybe" (video below), and "Stuck in the Middle" (also in the new one). It is also filled with hits that radio would play at a constant rate if he was popular in the States before "Down." The deluxe edition also has remixes of some of the singles, but they are not that different from the original songs. As an introduction to him, I enjoyed the album and I wonder why no one here at the States didn't pick him up then till Cash Money did.

That's it for the music roundup for now. As I mentioned in my last post, expect my top 10 albums and 100 songs of the year posts sometime next month. Out of the new male R&B artists that entered the U.S. gate this year, I think Jay Sean will have the most success out of them, but that's probably a given if you got Lil' Wayne, Birdman, and Drake on the same record label. In the meantime, I think the sky might be falling down now.

December plans for G Unit Ver1's World...

Since Winter Break is approaching soon for me as well as the end of the year, expect to see major blogs here in the coming weeks ranging from:

• My Top 10 Games of 2009
• My Top 10 Albums of 2009
• My Top 100 Songs of 2009
• Retrospectives on some things...
• Whatever else I think of... but then again it is possible I won't get around to any of this too.

As for a holiday list of what I want, let's see... I have lots in my wishlist, but I won't likely get around to all of them.

• Buzz Quiz World
• God of War Collection
• DJ Hero
• Band Hero
• Modern Warfare 2
• Ratchet & Clank: A Crank in Time
• Final Fantasy XIII (Japanese version) - Actually that would be a miracle.
• A Droid phone
• More new clothes

In the meantime, enjoy the videos in this post...