A lonely pixel from a game of Pong loses its way and get’s upgraded to next generation tech. Apparently, it’s your destiny to save the system from an evil OS… with the help of a teleporting hat? If you’re ready to learn more, be sure to read our A Pixel Story review!
A Pixel Story Trailer
A Pixel Story is a devious, old-school, 2D puzzle-platformer that charts the evolution of video games from the very beginning. You embark on an epic quest to the core of The System aided by the mystical powers unlocked by your Magical Teleportation Hat. As you progress through the four graphical generations, your world becomes increasingly detailed and complicated, and your journey through video game history becomes ever more perilous.
You must explore a colourful and diverse world, unlock the awesome power of your snappy Magical Teleportation Hat, traverse 6 large free-form zones, interact with a diverse range of NPCs, stop the evil OS and, of course, save the world.
A Pixel Story is a solid and cute puzzle platformer from Lamplight Studios and Rising Star Games that features fun gameplay over four generations of graphical upgrades. It condenses the evolution of gaming in an interesting way, so you’ll learn a thing or two along the way.
It all starts with a game of Pong. All was going well until the system suddenly glitches and the ball is lost to the computer. The ball is transformed into an 8-Bit character and you are told it is destined to save the system. Very soon after you start the game and it shows you the ropes as it introduces to you the big feature of the gamea.. a teleporting hat! You can drop the hat and instantly teleport back to it from anywhere. As you can imagine, this makes puzzles very interesting.
The game soon starts to use your hat in inventive ways as you teleport around the level to find the path you need to follow. However, it isn’t until you do a graphical upgrade into the next gen that the game starts to play tricks with teleportation. When your character turns into a 16-Bit version, your hat’s powers get an upgrade as well. This opens all sorts of new gameplay possibilities and really makes you think as you play. In fact, this is where the game started reminding me of this little game I played before called “Portal.”
A Pixel Story is split into six very different and large worlds with lots of areas to explore. At first, I thought the game would just require me to get from point A to B and carry on. But when I looked at the map after finishing a level, I realized there are several places left to explore. The map is full of collectible diamonds that restore your memories and fill the game’s backstory, not to mention side quests to help the other characters in the system.
Since as you progress the game will upgrade from 8-Bit to 16Bit to 32-Bit.. and beyond, you’ll see how each style has its own distinct feel and play style. The one thing I didn’t like is that I was hoping I’d get a chance to go back to the older levels and play through them with the new graphical style and upgraded gameplay mechanics, but that is not the case. You can only play in the specific graphical styles for each area. Hopefully, if a sequel is in order we get more of a Metroidvania spin on this great formula!
The other thing I struggled with in the game was how the difficulty spiked considerably during some of the platforming sections needed to complete the main quest. I literally had to spend half an hour trying to nail a specific jump, and after 100 tries I gave up that night and came back to play the game in the morning. After another 30 minutes, I finally managed to get past that tricky area. I’m pretty good at platformers, if I do say so myself, so this spot really got on my nerves.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
A Pixel Story is a fun puzzle platformer that pays homage to past gaming ages. I loved the game’s many graphical styles, Easter eggs, and story. The puzzles were neat and creative, but never impossible. Other than some particularly tricking platforming segments, which thankfully are few and far between, I definitely recommend that you give this game a try on PS4.
Disclaimer
This A Pixel Story review is based on a PS4 copy provided by Rising Star Games.
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