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Hot Pixel - Hands On Mini Preview
Jon Wilcox
09/05/2007
TVG takes to the streets with Atari's urban interpretation of the WarioWare series...
Nintendo's WarioWare series has carved itself quite a successful niche in recent years, appearing on the likes of GBA, DS, and Wii - but for obvious reasons never likely to feature away from Nintendo's platforms. Which is where Hot Pixel from Atari steps in.
Announced over twelve months ago and demonstrated at E3 2006, the game takes an 'urban nerd' pixel-based visual style, where an almost quintessential geek (glasses an' all) reveals every day events at the top and tail of each section. Splitting up the gameplay across a multitude of themed chapters each made up of a dozen mini-game rounds and a single Boss round. Does the structure sound familiar?
Anyway, key to the success of the WarioWare franchise is the variety of the fast-paced mini-games and their ability to cause a brief heart-stopping sense of panic when a new game is attempted. The brief "What the hell do I have to do?" moments have certainly helped to create the occasional adrenaline boost in the long-running series, and it's something that Hot Pixel has to strive to replicate if it's to generate even a fraction of WarioWare's success.
Like its inspiration, the ten chapters in Hot Pixel will all feature a selection of mini-games themed around a certain word; for instance, the Awareness chapter has players dodging pixelated 'traffic' in a brief nod to Frogger, and the peeping tom 'spot the girl in the window' mini-games. The game is also the perfect opportunity for Atari to dig some of their past glories - Battlezone, Asteroids, and Breakout, are just three that spring to mind. The only real difference to WarioWare is that the speed of the activities doesn't seem to increase mid-way through the chapter, and that failure to beat the Boss will mean gamers will have to start from round one all over again - which we hope will be changed before release as it bogs down the gameplay a bit.
Besides the rapid-fire games, Hot Pixel also offers nine extended games, which hark back to a simpler age; chasing pink squares around a plain white background whilst coloured "Sony Bravia" balls fumble around the screen may not sound particularly compelling but it may just be enough to satisfy during a short playing session. Another of these 'Xtended' games includes guiding the title's protagonist-like blue square attempt to reach a pink square on the other side of a moving maze. Again, such basic concepts can all too easily be dismissed, but if they prove to be fun and entertaining, does it actually matter if the game looks like it could have been programmed in 1979?
Several options on the menu point towards online support of the game once it's on shop shelves, with additional games and playlists apparently being prepped for download, and the gratuitous advertising of the website - due for completion later in the summer. The idea of downloadable content on PSP is far from being new, WipEout PURE did it two years ago, and whilst the idea of additional mini-games is certainly appealing we can remember the last time that Atari pushed downloadable content with the stuttering roll-out for Test Drive Unlimited - let's hope that the same won't happen here.
Hot Pixel is shaping up to be an unashamed facsimile of Nintendo's quick-fire mini-game series in a pseudo-urban style. Nevertheless, imitation is a sincere form of flattery (though we'd dispute it as the most sincere form), and at the very least you're guaranteed that Mario's rival won't be appearing on PSP anytime ever. That said, there are one or two issues with the game, most notably a lack of increasingly frantic gameplay - something that WarioWare is synonymous with.
bigsal82
Date Added:Mon 25th Jun 2007 17:13
Anonymous
Date Added:Sat 26th May 2007 00:44
james