PixelJunk Eden Review
- Posted August 3rd, 2008 at 23:44 EDT by Eric Blattberg
- 8,957 views
- 30 Comments
Review Score
- PSU Review Score
- 9.0
- Avg. user review score:
- 8.3
Summary
From the addictive gameplay to the beautiful visuals to the absolute abundance of features, PixelJunk Eden is the best game released on the PlayStation Network this year.
We like
- The original, organic and addictive gameplay never seen before in any other game
- The brilliant audiovisual presentation
- The wealth of features including Remote Play, Trophies, and YouTube support
We dislike
- The slightly irksome camera during cooperative play
- The repetitiveness of the Spectra-attaining process
See PSU's review on Metacritic & GameRankings
Druggies, take notice; I’ve discovered a quicker, cheaper, and legally acceptable way to get your fix of psychedelic imagery. It’s called PixelJunk Eden, and it’s really, really fun.
Developed by Q-Games of PixelJunk Monsters fame, PixelJunk Eden is a revolutionary platformer for the PlayStation Network. In the game, you’re tasked with growing your “Eden,” your home garden, as large as possible. You see, instead of a menu, your Eden is seamlessly integrated as a playable area. You navigate through your Eden in the same way you would one of the ten other gardens in the game – gripping, swinging and jumping off its plants. All the entrances to the other gardens exist upon the beginning of the game, but you’re unable to reach them as your Eden is initially uninhabited by the game’s luminous and colorful plant life.
To grow plants in your Eden, you must visit the ten other gardens and collect their Spectra. Essentially little bundles of energy and light, each Spectra you gather -- there are five per garden -- will further grow plants within your Eden, allowing you to access higher and previously unreachable gardens.
You control a “Grimp,” that can, as its name implies, grip, swing and jump. These basic gameplay mechanics are executed through a simple control interface that becomes second nature after about ten or fifteen minutes of play. The Grimp can spin silk and controls much like Spider-Man might in two dimensions (without the whole running part of course).
To navigate each garden, you must first destroy the numerous Pollen Prowlers that roam the area. Upon touching one of these floating allergen-disasters, pollen will poof out and germinate nearby plant seeds. Once a seed is prepared to grow (as indicated by its flashing color), simply jump or swing into it and a plant will flourish. These plants help you reach higher areas, making it possible to arrive at the garden’s various Spectra.
Also, be wary that to acquire more than one Spectra in a specific garden, you’ll be forced to collect that many Spectra within the garden each time. To clarify, if you seek the fifth Spectra in a garden, you have to acquire all five of that stage’s Spectra in a single run-through, whereas if you’re only going for the second Spectra in a garden, you only have to touch two before you achieve success. It’s frustrating to be forced to recollect Spectra you’ve already attained, but then again, this mandatory procedure of events cleverly elongates replay value and does indeed offer an increased challenge each time.
Speaking of challenge, the game would be effortless if you had all day to lazily navigate the gardens – that’s not the case here. A timer is constantly trickling down, and unless you recharge the time gauge with little gems scattered throughout the level, you’ll be in danger of being booted from the stage. Don’t get the wrong idea; there are enemies in the game, they just don’t kill you. Instead, they waste valuable time by knocking you off of a surface or separating you from your silk. It’s particularly infuriating when you’re knocked all the way to the bottom of a garden (often many thousands of times the height of your poor little Grimp). If you’re adept though, these enemies can be entirely evaded, or even destroyed with a neat spin move.
As for the layout of the gardens themselves, they range from great to brilliant. While I thoroughly enjoyed exploring the early environments, the later levels introduce several new gameplay mechanics that ‘inverted’ my thought process so to speak. I won’t spoil them here, but they undoubtedly contribute positively to the game’s basic formula.
Now here’s the part where I talk about the game’s wealth of extra features, and there’s truly a great amount to cover. First off, there’s local cooperative play with up to three players. Although a slightly irksome camera can irritate during cooperative play, it doesn’t really hinder the enjoyment of roaming the game’s vast gardens as a team. You can choose to power through the levels, but just playing around is fun as well. If you’re really skilled, you can actually trapeze between two other Grimps. In fact, there’s even a Trophy for it. That’s right, PixelJunk Eden features Trophy support. In fact, it’s the first game to support Trophies from launch. And if you’re having trouble acquiring a specific Trophy? Well, that’s not a problem, as somebody has surely recorded the process and uploaded it to YouTube. In another impressive first, PixelJunk Eden allows you to capture footage directly from the game and upload it to YouTube, or save it onto your system’s hard drive. In fact, I’ve recorded some footage and placed it below just to show you how painless the process really is.
Finally, if you ever get the urge to get just one more Spectra on the go (and believe me, you will), PixelJunk Eden is yet another Q-Games title that supports Remote Play. Of course, you need to own a PSP to utilize this functionality, but there’s nothing more satisfying than carrying the Garden of Eden in your pocket.
Separate from all these fancy features lies the game’s astounding audiovisual presentation. Now, I’m not talking astounding from a technical perspective, but rather from an artistic outlook. You won’t find green, swaying grass reminiscent of thatgamecompany’s Flower here (not that there’s anything wrong with that). Instead, you’ll be greeted with beautifully abstract renditions of gardens and growth, with appropriate musical rhythms in accompaniment.
To conclude, imagine flOw with more “game” elements. That’s PixelJunk Eden. Although that’s a gross generalization, my point is that PixelJunk Eden can absorb and relax you while still providing wholly organic and addictive gameplay. Not everyone will feel the same way as I do about the game; in fact, PixelJunk Eden may only appeal to a select group of open-minded gamers. If you aren’t one of those people though, you should feel saddened, as you won’t have the privilege to experience the best game released on the PlayStation Network this year.
Comments
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CHRISBOSH |
tatti- 11:49pm BST - August 3rd, 2008
- 1
"Druggies, take notice; I’ve discovered a quicker, cheaper, and legally acceptable way to get your fix of psychedelic imagery. It’s called PixelJunk Eden, and it’s really, really fun."
I hope so, cuz my munchies have gone of the charts.
Theres no more food left!!!!! lol
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HeartAttackSilv3rback |
- 12:50am BST - August 4th, 2008
- 5
ive ben playing this game alot since i bought it and its truly addicting and awsome.. i would give it a 9.5 for a psn game (out of all the ones they got now).. so far.
definently a soothing game if your pizzed at getting powned on COD4,but can get agrivating if your attempting one of the trophies and fail continuously. (trust me,ive had my day yesterday lol)
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StoneDogAiel
- 6:06am BST - August 4th, 2008
- 12
you mustve never done LSD if you think this takes its place. ;) Anywho, amazing game! Lovin it.
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marronthered |
MarrontheRed- 9:11am BST - August 4th, 2008
- 14
"best game on psn this year". you must be on crack mate, the game is shlte.... no amount of trophies would change that.
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Eric2929 |
Eric2929- 9:54am BST - August 4th, 2008
- 15
@11 - None taken. Keep in mind that you must be at least 13 years of age to register for the site. We try to keep things PG-13 around here so to speak - mentioning "druggies" and "psychedelic imagery" (being vague) lies within that rating.
@7,10,14 - You're absolutely right. This game isn't for everyone. Try the demo first.
@12 0 No, I can't say I have ;).
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Krankor
- 4:58am BST - August 5th, 2008
- 19
It's ok in small doses, but far too repetative. Pixel Junk Monsters imho is the better game. As for....
- + Original, organic and addictive gameplay never seen before in any other game
Pixeljunk Eden owes a lot to Wizball on the C64, it's hardly original, lets just say re-invented.
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GOD_OF_CHAOS_KRATOS
- 11:53am BST - August 5th, 2008
- 20
This game is innovative and owes little to Whizball. there is little similarity besides the player's avatar and only because they jump around. Pixeljunk lets the player grow a garden explore it and lets the player tether themselves to a platform and build momentum to reach higher platforms.
This is clearly a platformer not a shmup
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Stoffinator |
Stoffinator- 11:31pm BST - August 6th, 2008
- 21
This game gets hard. But pretty much all of the PixelJunk games are.
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bilbo_bobbins |
bilbo_bobbins- 5:31am BST - August 7th, 2008
- 23
Personally I don't think this anything special. The youtube recording is cool, but other than that, it doesn't grab me. Also have to say the Demo put me off buying the full game.
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speeddragoon |
speeddragoon- 1:18pm BST - August 8th, 2008
- 24
maybe ill get it after the new ratchet and clank
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caveman7
- 7:36pm BST - August 8th, 2008
- 25
I actually really hate this game. I just downloaded the demo to see what the excitement was about and just got angry. Why is this game fun? I dunno, because it has groovy music I guess. That was it's only plus. Original yes, simple yes, addicting or enjoyable no. You just jump and swing over and over and over and over again, and if you're lucky, you won't fall and have to redo it again. I say 3/10.
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JstuFly |
JstuFly- 2:42pm BST - August 9th, 2008
- 26
I actually really hate this game. I just downloaded the demo to see what the excitement was about and just got angry. Why is this game fun? I dunno, because it has groovy music I guess. That was it's only plus. Original yes, simple yes, addicting or enjoyable no. You just jump and swing over and over and over and over again, and if you're lucky, you won't fall and have to redo it again. I say 3/10.
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rexdeath |
rexdeath- 9:56am BST - August 11th, 2008
- 28
I don't like this game, after playing the demo it was too repetitive which I didn't like and the game doesn't deserve 9/10, more like 5/10. It reminds me of Fl0w, games that are mean't to be relaxing just end up being boring because what you are really doing is just walking around the level. I guarantee you that when people who bought this finish it they'll rarely go back, PJE will be forgotten completely in a month!!!
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SteveB72 |
Corvette_steve- 11:00am BST - August 11th, 2008
- 29
I downloaded, and found it pretty much fun!. You have to spend a little time to master all the small 'nuances' of the game. Haven't played the multi-player yet, but the single player had all the age groups in my house wanting a chance to 'play' it. I'll probably buy the full version.. It was pretty entertianing.
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Bob-Con-88 |
bobcon88- 5:04pm BST - August 11th, 2008
- 30
good game great fun, u can but videos from playing it right to your youtube page
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