Those of you with PS3s may have noticed that a demo for the latest game in Q Games’ Pixeljunk series “Eden” appeared this week as part of the weekly PSN update. For anyone who hasn’t had a chance to download it yet, let me be the first to say that the game is absolutely gorgeous. I haven’t seen a game with such a unique visual style since Okami came out back in the PS2 days. It’s a fitting tribute to what developers can accomplish with these modern consoles even without benefit of a gigantic budget.
The game’s audio presentation is also very impressive. I expect anyone standing outside my apartment tonight while I play through the Eden demo again will think I’m having some sort of rave in here due to the game’s pounding techno soundtrack and vibrant colours.
On the gameplay side of things, Eden is sort of a tough nut to crack. The purpose of each level in Eden is quite simple. Players are tasked with collecting a spectra, which is sort of a glowing orb so they can return them to their own gardens and create a personal Eden. Simply touching the spectra will bring the level to an end, but as always, there’s a catch. The spectra will initially be well out of your character’s reach meaning players must burst floating bits of pollen which will then pollinate nearby seeds, causing plants to grow, which in turn makes another part of the level accessible. It sounds a bit confusing on paper, but in practice the game is really quite simple.
Movement is simple enough in the game, you can jump, but you have almost no control of your character once you’re airborn which caused me some frustration initially. If you only tap jump once, your character will stay attached to the surface you launched off of with a piece of silk. Any bits of pollen that happen to cross paths with your airborn avatar or with the silk you’re dragging between your launchpad and yourself will burst. Tap jump twice and your character leaps from his perch without any sort of safety harness making it possible to jump greater distances.
Fortunately it’s not really possible to die in this demo, but it can be annoying falling all the way to the ground when you’ve been climbing for a long time. I rather expected before trying the game that we would be able to launch silk strands while in the air and swing around the levels like Spiderman. That turns out not to be the case, but I suspect the game is better off for it.
Once the initial frustration wore off it wasn’t long before I found myself swinging around the levels like a pro. I think it’s fair to say, based on this demo that the full game will be very addictive as I can’t wait to finish up here and try it again.
If there’s a problem with the game it’s that I can’t quite tell what market Q Games were trying to reach. It has all the hallmarks of a casual game for casual gamers, however, the initial difficulty may be a turn off for some. The real test will come later on tonight when I sit my girlfriend down with the game and see how she fairs.
In the meantime I reccommend those of you with a PS3 give the game a try and let us know what you think. Is it a hit or a miss?
Source: Casualtygamer
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