GOONL!NE

Developer: Q-Games
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Also on: N/A [PLAYSTATION 3 Exclusive]
Console Played On: PLAYSTATION 3
Rating: PEGI 3
Price: £4.99 @ PlayStation Store

Q-Games have made some of the best games for the PlayStation Store since it’s launch with the PLAYSTATION 3 in November 06 with PixelJunk Racers and its most popular release, PixelJunk Monsters. But PJM has a little competiton to remain top PixelJunk game from its new kid brother, PixelJunk Eden.

So just how does PixelJunk Eden play?

Quite simply, put it like this. Racers was a frantic little game, Monsters was a cute game which you could even play with your girlfriend (If the storys on the PS Blog are meant to be believed) but PixelJunk Eden is simply put none of the two. Dylan Cuthbert and his team this time has produced…a relaxing game.

You get get 10 gardens to play in such lovely looking HD graphics. Your basic objective is this, get enough seeds in each playthrough of the garden. For example, when you first play a garden, you only have to look for one, then when you decide to go back to that same garden when you unlocked other gardens, you go for two not one. And when you get all the seeds from that garden, it is complete (But you can go back to play through it again) and you get a Trophy.

Yip.

PixelJunk Eden has Trophies built in from release, only the 2nd game to include trophies alongside Super Stardust HD (Uncharted: Drakes Fortune been the 3rd and also the 1st Blu-Ray game to include trophies FYI) but the first game to have them in from release.

PJE’s trophies make this game a very difficult challenge, let me give you an example.

Combo Fifteen
Pollen Prowler combo x 15

I think you’d need to get 3 Player’s doing that one because quite simply in 1 Player, it’s simply impossible. And thats the great thing about trophies in PJE, unlike SSHD, they are a challenge. And while SSHD’s trophies are pretty much the same challengeable trophies, they arent as difficult as PJE’s.

There is also a couple of more great features in the game then just trophies. The game includes 3 Player co-op from your PLAYSTATION 3 which look’s great (Multiplayer would have been nice). I haven’t tried it myself yet me and my cousin will surely play 2p at least very soon.

One other great feature is recording your gameplay. Now, what do I mean by that exactly? PJE has a video recording feautre which can be started and stopped in the Pause Menu by pressing Select at the main menu (or Start in a Garden) as well as Pausing it at anytime by pressing R3 (press it again to start the footage as well)

When you are done recording your footage, you chave two options.

1 – Save your gameplay video to the XMB (Handy for montages, will get a couple of videos together to make a video review this week)
2 – Upload the videos directly to YouTube.

From PJE, you can upload your gameplay videos of PJE from the game when either you stopped recording or if you have gone past the limit (Limit is 9:59) to YouTube if you have an account. It is not only the first game in the West on the PLAYSTATION 3 but also the first game in the West to have such a feature in any game on any platform but it aint the first ever in the world (That goes to some game on the JP PS Store, I cant remember what it’s called XD)

Here’s a couple I uploaded to the GOONL!NE YouTube channel when I got the game late Thursday night.

And here is a couple I uploaded onto my personal YouTube channel:

[BEWARE: Should you wish to see my YT Channel and see my Radiohead videos, you will be left 80% deaf. You have been warned]

Quite simply, this feature is simply very innovitive and if it doesnt get nominated for a couple of awards for that, it may just be a crying shame.

Also helping out on the game is Multimedia Artist and DJ, Baiyon, from Kyoto, Japan who has put some very serious input into the game with some great music as well as helping out on the artistic flow of the game itself.

The game visually looks absoutely stunning (With a captial S), Q-Games have really outshone themselves here with their best looking PixelJunk game yet, it is something you really need to see for yourself.

So, is PixelJunk Eden better then the PJ games before it? A resounding yet, the game just looks absoutely superb. It handles absoutely well and it plays like a dream…literally sometimes. The graphics just looks absoutely amazing, truly great looking graphics that you’d expect for a retail Blu-Ray game for £34.99 and it only costs £5. And the music by Baiyon is top notch, it goes from garden to garden with brand new stuff everytime you unlock a garden just for it.

If you have a PLAYSTATION 3 right now, your best recomendation for your next PS Store game is PixelJunk Eden, just truly amazing.

Gameplay: 8.8/10 – It’s a unique way of playing the game. Think of Spiderman meets the new Bionic Commando but in a more relaxing enviroment. Plus, the YouTube uploading is a stroke of sheer genius.

Graphics: 9.3/10 – For a £4.99 game on the PS Storem they truly look amazing. With Baiyon having a hand in it, it shows that his input was worth it.

Sound: 9.0/10 – Each garden has a Soundtrack unique to that garden and it shows with a very unique and great OST by Baiyon.

Longtivity: 8.9/10 – Trophies should extend the lifespam of the game by a fair stretch plus 3 Player Co-Op should help a little as well.

Overall: 9.0/10 – PixelJunk Eden is one of the finest games to be released from the PlayStation Store to date on the PS3. It’s simple, innovitive and relaxing. Have a fiver to spend? Spend it on Eden, you wont regret it.