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Hot Pixel Review
Chris Leyton
22/06/2007
Atari dishes up plenty of WarioWare styled action on the PSP...
Unashamedly envisioned to copy the WarioWare rulebook word for word, the only thing that surprises about Hot Pixel is the fact it's taken this long for somebody to muster the courage and try it. As a result, it's easy to overlook such wanton plagiarism, largely because there's nothing like this outside of Nintendo formats and it's certainly the only example of it currently on the PSP.
Featuring 10 themed episodes of fast hitting mini-games followed by a boss battle, Hot Pixel tasks players to race through challenges as diverse as unzipping a leather jacket, to jumping over objects on a skateboard and piercing tongues! With its blend of highly imaginative challenges and games themed around retro Nintendo classics, Atari follows the same formula and is arguably one of the few publishers with such a rich back-catalogue to tap into. Fans of classics such as Battlezone, Breakout, Asteroids, Tempest and many more, can look forward to variations on these, although the omission of numerous other classic Atari titles seems a strange one - Paperboy and Gauntlet seem like perfect additions to the mix. Like WarioWare, some of the challenges are as simple as pressing a button, whilst others provide a far more difficult test of hand-to-eye co-ordination and fast reflexes. Hot Pixel often randomly varies the difficulty and speed of the mini-games, placing obstacles to obscure your vision and distorting the screen to intensify the challenge. The variety on offer doesn't quite manage to emulate the range offered by the WarioWare series, however the critical blend of bite-sized challenges is sufficient and rapid enough to instil a sense of addiction.
Replacing the "Nintendo gone nuts" theme that runs throughout WarioWare, Hot Pixel nevertheless maintains a sense of peculiarity with its urban theme. FMV sequences featuring a wannabe wigger crossed with a computer nerd begin and finish each episode; they're so bad that you just have to hope it's deliberate. Whereas WarioWare's theme is quintessentially Japanese, Hot Pixel is the American equivalent; ZSlide have decided to copy the unconventional theme running throughout, appropriately highlighting the differences between the two videogame heavyweights of the 80's.
Running through the 10 episodes available won't take too long and most of the 140 games can easily be seen within an hour; however, this is merely the first challenge to unlock the full range of game's on offer. The genuine challenge and long-term appeal of Hot Pixel stems from the Playlists, compilations of the mini-games with a range of criteria to suit any situation. Ranging from the bosses to working on your weakest games, players can mould the setup with options such as choosing a certain number of games to complete or a within a set amount of time. Arguably getting one up over WarioWare by providing a greater level of versatility, it's the playlists that will keep you entertained on the bus back home for months to come.
If you just can't get enough of the game, Atari and ZSlide have provided a further 70 challenges to download from the game's website. It seems slightly odd that these are available from day one; presumably, ZSlide just couldn't stop creating mini-games even after the game has been sent for UMD manufacturing. Hopefully it's a sign that both Atari and ZSlide will continue to support the game with further additional content down the line. The inclusion of a multiplayer mode adds further additional length to the game's long-term appeal, though the decision not to support Game Sharing seems odd and disappointing, likely to severely restrict the times you'll play against somebody else.
WarioWare on PSP!
It’s blatantly WarioWare.
bigsal82
Date Added:Mon 25th Jun 2007 17:13
Anonymous
Date Added:Sat 26th May 2007 00:44
james