PixelKiller is a challenging little shooter platformer developed by mystery person “buddrick” and is new on Xbox LIVE Indie Games this weekend. You find yourself alone on an alien world, your only possession a gun, oh and when I say the game is challenging, what I really mean is that PixelKiller’s job is to kill you and it really loves its job.
Gameplay
This ones a straight up 2D platformer with a traditional forward shooting mechanic. Within it you will find that there are coins to collect, bad guys to shoot, and turrets that fire projectiles at you that warrant evading. The game breaks no new ground and really doesn’t seem that it had any intention to, which in my opinion is better than breaking no new ground and pretending to.
The coins are scattered throughout the game but seem to serve no real purpose other than to fulfill the hopes and dreams of completionists. They’re often hidden in areas that, to obtain, require you to go through secret walls, some of which you just stumble onto blindly and others you’ll need to do a little hunting for. This secret wall mechanic is used pretty extensively in the game and while it can surprise you when the ground suddenly gives way, you fairly quickly become accustom to the idea of it.
Posing the greatest challenge in the game, the canons operate in three unique ways; some fire simple projectiles in one direction at a regular interval, others will track and fire directly at you, while others yet fire heat seeking missiles that will chase you down until they collide with something or are shot. The canons are all over the place, easily outnumbering the creatures who largely provide limited opposition.
The game is pretty difficult, fortunately the death mechanic isn’t overly punishing with a built in checkpoint system that drops you relatively close to where you just died. This really saves PixelKiller from being an easily written off game as many situations would have constituted jettisoning the control at dangerously high velocity.
Audio Video
WYSIWYG, and the audio is just as simple. PixelKiller picks up no style points. Oh and it’s not full screen, wtf.
Summary
Good little platforming shooter it’s challenging in difficulty but isn’t going to keep you from progressing through the game thanks to its forgiving death mechanics. It is an indie game, and thats an easy cause to get behind, but this one doesn’t offer up anything particularly imaginative visually or mechanically. Fortunately, it clocks in at 80 Microsoft Points and that’s really where it should be. This all said, I can’t put a strong buy recommendation on this game. Fans of the genre will appriciate its gameplay, but there are better options at the one and three dollar price points. However, if you have played all those and are looking for something new, PixelKiller is worth checking out.
