A Pixel Story is a 2D puzzle/platform game that uses a magical teleporting hat to place a clone of yourself onto other parts of the level so you can use it for puzzle/platforming solving throughout the game.
General Gameplay
The game is a 2D platformer in which you go from zone to zone, using your hat to teleport yourself to solve problems and move to the other areas of the game. The “hat trick” is used in different forms from moving objects to reaching higher platforms and so forth.
Audio
In game audio is a mixture of background music and other sounds that come with a platformer, from enemies, moving platforms and other 8 bit sounds. The game does not have any spoken dialog as it is all done from text bubbles that come from the characters in the game. As the game is not in 5.1 surround sound the game audio comes out fine from the speakers. Parent be assured as the game does not have any spoken dialog there is not type of colorful language, but in the text, there are some comical quotes that are ok for all ages. Also as the game can be played through headphones, gamers please use caution for extended use of headphones.
Visuals
Being in a 2D setting the game used 8bit style of graphics to showcase it game world. As you progress in the game it stats to show the graphics from an 8bit setting into 16bit and so forth. The game is designed to show in a way of the evolution of gaming over the years. During our playtesting, we did see some color issues with the colors in the game but this was easily adjusted in the settings and on your SMART TV settings as well. The game does not support a color-blind mode, however with some setting changes mention before will fix this. The game does not have anything that would be offensive to any gamers out there, if anything the game humor is more towards to be “tongue and cheek” than anything else.
Controls
A Pixel Story controls are very easy to use, a jump button, and a button used to for the Magic Hat Trick (teleporting) the right shoulder button to save your progress within the level and the left thumb stick to move around. The game is designed to be very platform friendly and the controls are design to be as such. A Pixel Story does not need a special controller to play the game, so you should be ok using the standard controller. In our playtest, we did not see any issues with general use of the controller to play the game, however in more detail usage more into the game there were some concerns (see our family friendly section for more)
“Don’t let the game design fool you, in this game is a hardcore platform game that will test you, sad that the game becomes too hard to play after a while.”
Delivery
This is where if you are looking for a hardcore platformer then you will be in luck, either wise best to avoid the game. The game is more for hardcore platformer fans and unless you are a fan of hardcore platform games, you will get more furious with the game. The game is design for fans of platformers and both the controls and design of the game is made as such. So again, unless you are a fan of hard platformers this may be a game that you will want to pass up.
Family Friendly
During our playtest that every gamer from young to old started to have fun with the game but when more challenging portions of the game that required better platforming skills was needed to play, almost all our gaming family expect the fans of hardcore platforming just did not want to play the game anymore. Is that to say A Pixel Story is a bad game, no, but more so for hardcore platform fans. With our special needs testing, our special needs gamers had a hard time after the first level, this caused a lot of frustration with the game and we decided that the test was over and went onto other games. Also, as with any platformer you need to have very accurate controls for the game, during our test we did notice that there were some issues with the controls for the game not moving more accurately for the game. This caused a lot of issues for our gamers to play the game as when they tried to make a tricky jump they were not able to, causing more frustration with the game. If you are in the market for a hardcore platformer then this a great game to get, however for just casual gamers this may be a game to pass up for your digital library.
Closing
A Pixel Story is a hardcore puzzle/platformer that is for only for those type of fans of the series, best to either get a demo to try out to see if it is for your digital library.
Be sure to listen to our podcast about our real thoughts on A Pixel Story!
