World's most bland and lethargic twin-stick shooter. This whole series is cursed.
How could the music carry the game so much
Not the best example of a twin stick shooter. It was fine for a bit.
"Funky Junky Fun"
"PixelJunk Shooter Ultimate" is a clever little indie collection that combines the first two "PixelJunk Shooter" games together. These titles focus on physics-based puzzles where you fly around in a little spaceship and blast the environment and enemies to progress. It's a good gameplay loop, generally filled with special upgrades, nice mini-puzzles, solid bosses, and a killer soundtrack to boot. However, it's pretty repetitive and includes some irritating difficulty spikes where it seems that the developers are trying to get you to play the game longer than necessary.
Gameplay here is simple. You control a 2D mining ship and need to save a certain number of scientists from each puzzle stage while surviving enemy attacks, environmental hazards, and collecting hidden gems. There are different upgrades that can let you shoot water, lava, and grapple various types of materials. Lava and steam can destroy your ship while water can cool you down, though a certain upgrade flips this relationship for some unique puzzle sections. There's a solid mix of upgrades and special stages that utilize these interactions, and it makes up the basic gameplay loop.
The music is also really awesome, mixing bits of techno, funk, rock, and hip-hop together to create some addicting loops. The visuals are simple and resemble a flash game (which I assume the original game was based around). These combine together during cool boss segments where the action and puzzle-solving amplify to new heights, and it makes these encounters memorable and exciting.
The game does let down with some repetition, and I feel that it could have been around 25%-33% shorter than it was. Some mechanics just had lesser staying power than core ones like water and lava (light/darkness, bone chomping), and these levels suffered from poor pacing and higher difficulty. I especially noticed that the second portion of the game (technically PixelJunk Shooter 2) had much higher difficulty spikes originating from cheap enemy placement and annoying physics puzzles, which dragged the experience down a bit compared to the great first half (PixelJunk Shooter).
Overall, the game is a good time but could have had some fat trimmed off of it. The core gameplay loop mixed with its great soundtrack leads to an addicting bite-sized experience, but the cheap difficulty spikes and repetition ultimately dragged it lower than I had hoped it would end up. I could still Recommend this one to fans of physics-based puzzlers and those who enjoy great soundtracks, though it is much better to divvy this into chunks rather than blasting through it in a short period.
Final Verdict: 7/10 (Good)
"PixelJunk Shooter Ultimate" is a clever little indie collection that combines the first two "PixelJunk Shooter" games together. These titles focus on physics-based puzzles where you fly around in a little spaceship and blast the environment and enemies to progress. It's a good gameplay loop, generally filled with special upgrades, nice mini-puzzles, solid bosses, and a killer soundtrack to boot. However, it's pretty repetitive and includes some irritating difficulty spikes where it seems that the developers are trying to get you to play the game longer than necessary.
Gameplay here is simple. You control a 2D mining ship and need to save a certain number of scientists from each puzzle stage while surviving enemy attacks, environmental hazards, and collecting hidden gems. There are different upgrades that can let you shoot water, lava, and grapple various types of materials. Lava and steam can destroy your ship while water can cool you down, though a certain upgrade flips this relationship for some unique puzzle sections. There's a solid mix of upgrades and special stages that utilize these interactions, and it makes up the basic gameplay loop.
The music is also really awesome, mixing bits of techno, funk, rock, and hip-hop together to create some addicting loops. The visuals are simple and resemble a flash game (which I assume the original game was based around). These combine together during cool boss segments where the action and puzzle-solving amplify to new heights, and it makes these encounters memorable and exciting.
The game does let down with some repetition, and I feel that it could have been around 25%-33% shorter than it was. Some mechanics just had lesser staying power than core ones like water and lava (light/darkness, bone chomping), and these levels suffered from poor pacing and higher difficulty. I especially noticed that the second portion of the game (technically PixelJunk Shooter 2) had much higher difficulty spikes originating from cheap enemy placement and annoying physics puzzles, which dragged the experience down a bit compared to the great first half (PixelJunk Shooter).
Overall, the game is a good time but could have had some fat trimmed off of it. The core gameplay loop mixed with its great soundtrack leads to an addicting bite-sized experience, but the cheap difficulty spikes and repetition ultimately dragged it lower than I had hoped it would end up. I could still Recommend this one to fans of physics-based puzzlers and those who enjoy great soundtracks, though it is much better to divvy this into chunks rather than blasting through it in a short period.
Final Verdict: 7/10 (Good)
It has some cool ideas like the water and lava mehanic but the rest of the game is just dull
It was fun playing this with my wife for a bit, but I never think about it and will never revisit it.
chill little twin-stick i guess
Can't believe I came back and got this plat. I'm shocked I gave up in the first place, sure it was a bitch on some levels but it wasn't impossible. Regardless it felt good to get this.
One of my first ps4 ps plus games. Had no one to play it with though, think that’s why I gave up on the platinum… also I think it was kinda hard
Includes both Shooter games, great collection.
Pixeljunk Shooter Ultimate is a combination of the two Shooter games. It gives minor improvements to both game's graphics while seemlessly connecting them together. It works fantastically since the second game was a very direct continuation of the first. The games themselves have great gameplay mechanics and amazing level designs that stand strong to this day.
Gameplay:
In Shooter, you play as a ship tasked with rescuing lost scientists trapped deep underground on an alien planet. The player maneuvers around a 2D cavern equipped with blasters and missiles. Each level consists of a set of areas. In order to advance within a level, the player must rescue all the scientists in an area. This is always easier said than done and the game throws plenty of various obstacles at the player. These obstacles range from dangerous enemies to tricky situations involving water, lava, gas, oil, and more. The gameplay is constantly kept fresh throughout by frequently introducing new game mechanics, enemies, temporary ship modifications, and environments. Pixeljunk Shooter never has a dull moment.
Shooter's best game mechanic is without a doubt the various liquids founds in the caverns. They each have their own properties and physics the player must learn about in order to make their way through the levels. It can be as simple as putting water on lava to turn it into rock and shoot through it, or as complicated as pouring water on oil to turn it into gas before setting it on fire so it explodes. The complex dynamics of the various liquids lead to lots of fun and interesting level design and are always used to their fullest potential.
Shooter has quite a bit to collect as well. Every level hides diamonds for players to collect in each area. The HUD has a checklist to let the player know if they've collected all the diamonds in an area. A certain amount of diamonds are required to unlock the final level in each of the six sections but going for 100% is optional. There's also a special hidden scientist for the player to collect in each level. They're pretty easy to find until the late-game.
Music and Visuals:
Shooter's music is from a band called High Frequency Bandwidth and it is superb. Each track is very different from the last but they all fit the game's tone perfectly. It is easily one of my favorite soundtracks of all time.
Shooter's visual style is superb. The original games had a clean lineless 2D style. Ultimate improves upon it by adding in some 3D and throwing in a bit of lighting to make the awesome cavernous environments pop out even more.
Conclusion:
Pixeljunk Shooter is an incredibly overlooked and underrated game. With its 2 in 1 package and slight upgrades, Ultimate is absolutely the definitive way to play these hidden gems. Shooter has fantastic, fun, fast-paced gameplay that I can definitely recommend to anyone.
Gameplay:
In Shooter, you play as a ship tasked with rescuing lost scientists trapped deep underground on an alien planet. The player maneuvers around a 2D cavern equipped with blasters and missiles. Each level consists of a set of areas. In order to advance within a level, the player must rescue all the scientists in an area. This is always easier said than done and the game throws plenty of various obstacles at the player. These obstacles range from dangerous enemies to tricky situations involving water, lava, gas, oil, and more. The gameplay is constantly kept fresh throughout by frequently introducing new game mechanics, enemies, temporary ship modifications, and environments. Pixeljunk Shooter never has a dull moment.
Shooter's best game mechanic is without a doubt the various liquids founds in the caverns. They each have their own properties and physics the player must learn about in order to make their way through the levels. It can be as simple as putting water on lava to turn it into rock and shoot through it, or as complicated as pouring water on oil to turn it into gas before setting it on fire so it explodes. The complex dynamics of the various liquids lead to lots of fun and interesting level design and are always used to their fullest potential.
Shooter has quite a bit to collect as well. Every level hides diamonds for players to collect in each area. The HUD has a checklist to let the player know if they've collected all the diamonds in an area. A certain amount of diamonds are required to unlock the final level in each of the six sections but going for 100% is optional. There's also a special hidden scientist for the player to collect in each level. They're pretty easy to find until the late-game.
Music and Visuals:
Shooter's music is from a band called High Frequency Bandwidth and it is superb. Each track is very different from the last but they all fit the game's tone perfectly. It is easily one of my favorite soundtracks of all time.
Shooter's visual style is superb. The original games had a clean lineless 2D style. Ultimate improves upon it by adding in some 3D and throwing in a bit of lighting to make the awesome cavernous environments pop out even more.
Conclusion:
Pixeljunk Shooter is an incredibly overlooked and underrated game. With its 2 in 1 package and slight upgrades, Ultimate is absolutely the definitive way to play these hidden gems. Shooter has fantastic, fun, fast-paced gameplay that I can definitely recommend to anyone.