The thing I’m liking the most about the PlayStation VR right now is the wide variety of games that the headset has launched with. Oasis Games is one such developer who is supporting PSVR early on with four different games. Pixel Gear is their second game for PlayStation VR that released this past week.
Pixel Gear is a first person shooter albeit it’s a basic one at that. True to its name the game is a pixel art wave based shooter. You’ll use a single PlayStation Move controller as your gun to point and shoot at enemies. It’s really hard for me to say more than that as that is basically what the entire game consists of and that’s alright. You’ll blast your way through three worlds and will fight all kinds of monsters such as skeletons, ghosts, bats, and more. Some enemies will have armor that you’ll need to pull off headshots to defeat. Then there are boss battles at the end of each of the three worlds that will challenge you.
Because the game is in VR you have to always be on the lookout for enemies whether it be on your sides or even up above you. There are bats that carry bombs up above that if you time it right can be shot so that the bomb falls on other enemies instead. The weapons you’ll be using include the pistol that you start off with and others like a machine gun, sniper rifle etc but to unlock them you’ll need coins obtained from killing certain enemies. All of the guns are fun to use especially the sniper which lets you actual look through the scope if you bring the Move controller up towards your face. Once you finish the game which took me only a few hours you can go back and play on higher difficulties for a greater challenge. If you want to collect all of the trophies (including a Platinum) you’ll need to do this. If you have no desire to play on the other difficulties than there isn’t much here for replay value. Also if you’re only wanting to play in short bursts keep in mind that the game doesn’t have a very good checkpoint/saving system.
Presentation wise the game looks good with a bright, colorful, and vivid art style complimented by some pretty good sound as well. The music is nothing special but the chip tune soundtrack fits the rest of the game and the guns sound alright too. The resolution isn’t the best for things in the distance but it doesn’t really hurt the overall experience.
Oasis Games has crafted a pretty good wave based shooter in Pixel Gear and set it a nice affordable price. The game isn’t really long and doesn’t have any replay value outside of some higher difficulties. What is here though is fun for the few hours that it lasts and since there aren’t a lot of other shooters on the platform yet and it’s cheap I recommend it if you’re interested in some mindless shooting fun.
*Review copy of Pixel Gear provided by the publisher
Pixel Gear
$10.99
Pros
- Fun Shooting Gameplay
- Colorful Pixel Art Style
- Great Price
Cons
- Short Run Time
- Not Enough Variety
- Questionable Checkpoint System
