Pixel Gear | PSVR

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For the most part, consuming games in a virtual reality space makes them immediately more intuitive, but that isn’t always the case. Pixel Gear is a colourful, pixelated shooter that often struggles to convey directions to the player.

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by Sam
​Sant

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@SlamShotSam

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Developer: Geronimo
Interactive
Publisher: Oasis Games
Platforms: PS4 (PSVR)
Players: 1 

Upon reaching the main menu you’ll stumble across options menus to either of your sides, be required to look down towards your feet and select single player - which would suggest there are other modes, but there aren’t - and then discern the sweet spot at which you’ll need to ogle the first of the game’s three short levels in order to launch into the action.

Whilst gameplay is self explanatory - you look around to spot encroaching baddies, then use a PlayStation Move motion controller to blast ‘em - the communication issues persist as you wonder about more granular elements. Do I have a health bar? Is this boss taking damage? What are those translucent ghosts carrying, and what defines whether I can or can’t shoot them? This vital information is all there, as becomes clear in time, but a brief tutorial would, should and could have soon set things straight.

Pixel Gear is undoubtedly aimed at a younger audience, but there’s a real chance the target demographic won’t spend time navigating these issues and will instead dismiss the game as broken.

​That’d be a shame, because brilliantly accurate motion tracking makes the core gameplay loop good fun whilst it lasts. The player remains stationary and enemies spawn in the 180° area immediately ahead of them, in what’s a pretty simplistic shooting gallery all considered. What elevates it beyond that, is the fact you’ll routinely execute strings of pinpoint headshots over long distances to feel like a hotshot sharpshooter in the process.

Despite the impressive level of control, Pixel Gear ultimately feels quite amateurish.

Killing enemies in quick succession is the name of the game, incrementally building a score multiplier as the body count increases. Unfortunately, Pixel Gear seems determined to hinder your success: enemy AI is incredibly stupid and semi-frequently gets stuck outside of your line of sight, spawns can be excruciatingly slow and leave you with no targets, whilst angels (innocent bystanders that should be avoided) can appear in your crosshairs and inevitably get hit to reset the combo. It's annoying to be scuppered through no fault of your own, but without local or online leaderboards scores are basically redundant anyway.

At the conclusion of each offensive wave smooth, 2D ghost sprites that betray the otherwise blocky, 3D graphics (which both contradict the realistic gun models) spawn. Some carry coins, that can be spent on new weapons and upgrades after shooting them down, the latter of which we’d recommend first and foremost. That said, the sniper rifle is worth a try for the novelty value of physically looking down the scope to aim alone.

With the help of these purchases you’ll quickly fell the game’s three imposingly large bosses, allowing graduation to hard mode where the game flourishes by posing a more legitimate challenge. Once hard difficulty has been bested crazy mode offers a repeat round, but this time without laser sights to assist with aiming. The fact we were still quite naturally able to combo headshots while subconsciously judging depth and positioning speaks to the quality of the technology on show.

Be sure to pick up "bullet of a gun" to remain well stocked. Oh yeah, it has translation issues.

Despite the impressive level of control, Pixel Gear ultimately feels quite amateurish. There's a constant and distracting artistic incohesion between the game’s disparate visual assets, which paired with some obnoxiously repetitive stock sound effects create a Frankenstein's monster of a game. If you’re desperate for a child-friendly shooter, or find Until Dawn: Rush of Blood a little too intense, the asking price is at least about right for a night’s moderate entertainment.

Pros

• Responsive and accurate motion controls
• Makes you feel like a skilled shooting practitioner
• Hard difficulty is a balanced challenge

Cons

• Just three short levels with no leaderboards to draw you back
• Disconnected mass of jumbled assets
• It really doesn’t want you to maintain a multiplier
• Could’ve done with a tutorial, some important information is easy to miss

Score 5/10