Monsters Madness
PixelJunk Monsters brings tower defense to the PS3.
Published: March 16, 2008
I'll fully admit that I wasn't really sure Dylan Cuthbert and his Q Games crew were quite up to the task of delivering a handful of simple game concepts to the PlayStation Network after the generally solid but otherwise unremarkable slot car distraction PixelJunk Racers. Luckily, I couldn't be more wrong, because PixelJunk Monsters not only avoids being another Racers it manages to port your basic Tower Defense game type to the PS3 and does it to insanely additive effect.
If you haven't been snared by the Flash game variant that inspired Monsters, count your blessings. A simple little concept that has you darting to any tree in the game and turning it into a variety of upgradable turrets to repel ever-encroaching waves of monsters from reaching your home base, it's easy to see why the game and its clones are so successful: they're easy to pick up, can last upwards of an hour per level and are crack-level additive.
The game's simplicity is it's key; though you can build a variety of turrets, they really only work on air, ground or both types of units to varying degrees. Some towers, like the rapid anti-air turrets, are built specifically to take down fliers, while your garden variety arrow tower hits everything with a modest but fairly slow shot. Cannons are slower still and only work against ground-based enemies. Throw in tesla coils, flame jets and more, and you have a recipe for balancing available resources with proper construction of units to defend against each new wave of enemies.
Doubtlessly the most important aspect of the game is that you're constantly doing something. If you aren't spending money to upgrade your towers, you're using gems picked up from felled enemies to do the same, or you're just dancing near one to slowly power it up or you're scrambling to build new ones in strategic places like choke or entry points to control the next wave. Most maps are fairly lax in how you can tackle them, but the only way to get to the harder courses is to never lose a single one of your home base critters, and this is where the game really snared me. One improperly placed tower or a missed opportunity to upgrade it could spell disaster, often wiping out a good half hour to 45 minutes of progress.
When the game graduated from sending out regular units to ones that were armored or faster, everything went into overdrive and the constant lure of sprinting over to the right tower to upgrade it just in the nick of time or having that liiittle bit of experience that each tower gets for killing enemies push it up a level just as the final enemy fell under its increased range is a kind of tension and release that games don't often offer -- at least not to this degree or this often.
This is of course beating around the bush in addressing the game's main fault. Like PixelJunk Racers it can be absolutely crushingly difficult. Unlike Racers, it never really feels unfair or like the goal is all that out of reach. Perhaps if I'd just placed such-and-such a tower here instead of there, or perhaps if I'd upgraded things differently. Though I couldn't escape the feeling that on some levels there was a very precise order and placement to the towers, for the most part a level usually feels like it could be solved in a couple of different ways and that's exactly why it's so good.
It's also deceptively cute. Your little turtle shelled avatar dances an "awwwww"-worthy jig when upgrading; enemies explode in little puffs while letting out an adorable little squeak, and everything sways and reacts with a languid, relaxed feel that lies in stark contrast to the oft-frantic running around that you'll be doing in most levels. It should also be noted that while it's a little hard to play in standard def, Monsters is nowhere near as bad as Racers. When all of the simple season-specific color palettes, cute little animal noises and plucky, almost ICO save couch-like tunes are pumping through your speakers and TV, the game just feels... right.
Above all else, though, it's the game's delightful sense of balance and ever-present progress carrot dangling just out of reach that kept me coming back. There are few games on the PlayStation Store right now that I would suggest to everyone. This is undoubtedly one of them, and if you haven't had a chance to at least check out the demo, you're missing out on one of the best games on the PS3. Period.
If you haven't been snared by the Flash game variant that inspired Monsters, count your blessings. A simple little concept that has you darting to any tree in the game and turning it into a variety of upgradable turrets to repel ever-encroaching waves of monsters from reaching your home base, it's easy to see why the game and its clones are so successful: they're easy to pick up, can last upwards of an hour per level and are crack-level additive.
The game's simplicity is it's key; though you can build a variety of turrets, they really only work on air, ground or both types of units to varying degrees. Some towers, like the rapid anti-air turrets, are built specifically to take down fliers, while your garden variety arrow tower hits everything with a modest but fairly slow shot. Cannons are slower still and only work against ground-based enemies. Throw in tesla coils, flame jets and more, and you have a recipe for balancing available resources with proper construction of units to defend against each new wave of enemies.
Doubtlessly the most important aspect of the game is that you're constantly doing something. If you aren't spending money to upgrade your towers, you're using gems picked up from felled enemies to do the same, or you're just dancing near one to slowly power it up or you're scrambling to build new ones in strategic places like choke or entry points to control the next wave. Most maps are fairly lax in how you can tackle them, but the only way to get to the harder courses is to never lose a single one of your home base critters, and this is where the game really snared me. One improperly placed tower or a missed opportunity to upgrade it could spell disaster, often wiping out a good half hour to 45 minutes of progress.
When the game graduated from sending out regular units to ones that were armored or faster, everything went into overdrive and the constant lure of sprinting over to the right tower to upgrade it just in the nick of time or having that liiittle bit of experience that each tower gets for killing enemies push it up a level just as the final enemy fell under its increased range is a kind of tension and release that games don't often offer -- at least not to this degree or this often.
This is of course beating around the bush in addressing the game's main fault. Like PixelJunk Racers it can be absolutely crushingly difficult. Unlike Racers, it never really feels unfair or like the goal is all that out of reach. Perhaps if I'd just placed such-and-such a tower here instead of there, or perhaps if I'd upgraded things differently. Though I couldn't escape the feeling that on some levels there was a very precise order and placement to the towers, for the most part a level usually feels like it could be solved in a couple of different ways and that's exactly why it's so good.
It's also deceptively cute. Your little turtle shelled avatar dances an "awwwww"-worthy jig when upgrading; enemies explode in little puffs while letting out an adorable little squeak, and everything sways and reacts with a languid, relaxed feel that lies in stark contrast to the oft-frantic running around that you'll be doing in most levels. It should also be noted that while it's a little hard to play in standard def, Monsters is nowhere near as bad as Racers. When all of the simple season-specific color palettes, cute little animal noises and plucky, almost ICO save couch-like tunes are pumping through your speakers and TV, the game just feels... right.
Above all else, though, it's the game's delightful sense of balance and ever-present progress carrot dangling just out of reach that kept me coming back. There are few games on the PlayStation Store right now that I would suggest to everyone. This is undoubtedly one of them, and if you haven't had a chance to at least check out the demo, you're missing out on one of the best games on the PS3. Period.