Take classic 2-D platforming action, throw in cute creatures with flashy visuals and you have a recipe for beautiful 5 minute gaming.
Pix’n Love Rush is essentially your typical run and jump gameplay, but the beauty of this game doesn’t lie in the gameplay even if it is good gamplay. The actual brilliance comes from the superb art direction and nostalgic references. If you don’t get the nostalgia it doesn’t matter because it is still some great eye candy to behold in action and timeless gameplay to revel in.
There are only two game modes to speak of and one is locked to start with. Now the one you start with is aptly named 5min Mode. As suggested you play for exactly 5 minutes and your goal is to achieve the highest possible score you can by collecting little yellow gems, saving cutesy little angels and shooting little purple bats. I say little a lot because you have a few seconds in some cases to complete your task which makes things seem tiny even if they are not. Our little friend, whom I’m naming Chomp, has three abilities, move, jump and erm spit? (or whatever it is your doing to destroy the evil bats).
As our dear Chomp, we can move left and right with two buttons on the left side of the screen, on the right we have an A and a B button allowing us to jump and spit. Some levels we control the camera as we move along, but in other levels the camera is stationary or chasing you, forcing you forward. The direction of play is constantly changing, sometimes going from left to right, then down to up, then right to left or perhaps up to down. You collect + gems by simply touching them, making Chomp eat it. However if you hit a – gem it ruins your streak as does hitting a bat or shooting an angel. What is your streak you say? Well it is your standard collect specific amount to get a multiplier, but each multiplier holds a delightful surprise, changing up the visuals and adding to the difficulty.
As a whole, Pix’n Love Rush is a superb platforming game, it’s tense, fast and fun. The various elements all come together well and there aren’t any really disappointments in the gameplay apart from it lacks anything extra special (aside from the multiplier visuals), we have been running, jumping and shooting since the original Mario games 25 years ago. Mario may be great, but it’s not as beautiful as this, it’s like Mario and Tron had a child and this was the creation.
Pix’n Love Rush is a superb game to look at with its flashy, colorful and loud Bit styling. It screams at you with the bright neon colors used to create everything you see. This is what makes the game unique and gives it some personal style. As you rack up your multiplier, you will be greeted with a new style which alters all the graphics involved. From rainbow switching blocks to classic game and watch black with non backlit screen. My favorite is the brilliant laser like graphics of yonder year. In the second (infinite) secret mode there is a completely new set of graphics for the multipliers, creating an entirely different feel to the rush of 5min Mode. With its fresh set of levels it proves to be a worthy extra mode that I would say isn’t needed, but is nice to have.
The game has full local leaderboard support, as well as Game Center integration including achievements. There are no other special features to speak of apart from the fact that you can have different user profiles, but I doubt that is a necessary feature for many.
In Conclusion
Pix’n Love Rush is a simple romp through a 16-bit world of chaos and color and chip tunes. Sure it is simple, but fun and frantic gameplay is what makes this a brilliant game when you have just a short time to play. There are very few feelings that are like going for a high score with little time left and that rush will keep you coming back for more.
