Actualized Love Pixels

I've been a bit busy these days.

Not too long to game, however. Well, portably.

So inbetween the cracks of my daily life, I find myself checking the APP store weekly, and I happened across a retro ditty by the name of Pix'n Love Rush.

It's pretty cool.

Clocking in at a fine .99 cents and featuring no narrative, clear objective, or goal, you're tasked with guiding this funky creature (think a Space Invader who sprouted legs through an endless gauntlet of random platforming challenges set to the best of pixel lore.



If you read that last sentence and started scratching your head, let me explain. Via running and jumping, you have one objective: Collecting coins. As you collect more, avoiding enemies and obstaces, your multiplier goes up. As your multiplier increases, the entire visual makeup of the game morphs (along with the music) from a high definition, almost Geometry Wars like aesthetic to a look more inclined to a GameBoy Advance. Collect more, and it switches to a Virtual Boy like display, with Tetris-esque imagery and a red, pixilated tone.



This continues until you're at your most basic, which starts looking more akin to a 1989 gameboy. Not only is the visual effect extremely cool and seamless, but with each change, the stages get tougher and more varied, with red herrings like disappearing platforms, and vertically scrolling stages ala Ice Climber It almost feels like you're going backward through portable console generations, and with only one hit required for you to lose momentum (and one multiplier), it quickly turns into a frantic twitch affair, both in its 5 minute and endless modes.



The package is pretty barebones, yes, with little to unlock other than the aformentioned infiinite mode, but it doesn't change the fact that what little you do get is addictive. There's a certain charm in its old-school feel, and things get just frantic and shaken up enough in the later levels to keep things interesting. There are also Game Center achievements, and leaderboards to extend the frenzy a bit, but really, this is the kind of game that doesn't need to bribe you to come back. After all, who doesn't miss the times when our sole purpose was either running or jumping?




Oh yeah. It's also a dollar. Seriously. :)