11 years in the past, I reviewed a enjoyable little battling sport known as Pixel Ways. With some nice retro impressed graphics, Pixel Ways went on to have a reasonably nice run with a number of expansions and even a Mega Man retheme.
Quick ahead to in the present day, and writer Stage 99 Video games has breathed some new life into this sport with their launch of Tremendous Pixel Ways on Gamefound. Boasting not solely up to date artwork and graphic design, but additionally a storage system and even solo play. Might this be the refresh individuals have been ready for?
Gameplay Overview:
I coated the gameplay intimately again in 2014 after I first reviewed Pixel Ways. If you wish to know the complete ins and outs, take a look at my assessment right here. However the in need of it’s that every participant chooses a pacesetter card and locations them in the course of what shall be a 3×3 grid.
Every spherical is split into 3 waves, the place gamers can take actions with the three playing cards on the highest row of their grid (after which the center row in wave 2 and the underside row in wave 3).
A participant will get two actions every wave. These vary from taking part in a hero, attacking, casting a spell, utilizing an order card, or drawing a card. When a hero takes harm equal to their well being, they’re flipped over and grow to be a corpse, with an motion required to clear that house to be reused by a distinct hero.
The purpose is to cut back your opponent’s chief to zero well being. Achieve this and also you win.
Up to date Sport Impressions:
Even after greater than a decade, I nonetheless discover Pixel Ways satisfying. The gameplay has aged remarkably effectively, with a quick paced backwards and forwards duel between gamers. With that in thoughts, I’m not going to spend a lot time speaking concerning the core gameplay, as you’ll be able to simply learn my authentic assessment for that.
As a substitute, let’s speak about what’s new in Tremendous Pixel Ways. First, it has upgraded card artwork and design. The unique graphic design was nice, however this new look has actually elevated the expertise. The primary sport had a little bit of “icon soup,” the place they tried to make icons for every character’s energy. This was a noble thought, however it simply didn’t work. There have been so many various icons, they sort of misplaced all which means, and I at all times simply referred to the textual content.
The soup has been dumped on this new model for extra streamlined visuals. The textual content is giving extra room to breathe, and the icons have been decreased to a handful that present the overall theme of the ability (assault, spell, and many others). So high marks from me on the cardboard refresh.
However what’s most fascinating to me is the brand new solo gameplay mode. Over the previous few years, I’ve actually gone all in on solo sport play, particularly ones that don’t take a ton of time to setup and get going. Stage 99 emailed over a PnP pattern of their new solo mode, and I sort of dig it.
It turns the sport right into a boss battle, however the boss is split up into 9 or so components, every of which inserts into the three×3 grid of the core gameplay. So, as an alternative of concentrating on a singular hero, you’re concentrating on a part of the monster. The pattern monster has a Plated Stomach, a Defend Claw, and a Heavy Claw in its entrance row. This gave it a little bit of offense and protection. The Plated Stomach solely served to guard the playing cards behind it, however the Heavy Claw might put out some punishment.
Whilst you’ll want to cut off items of the monster to finally kill it, the Trussavore has a coronary heart within the middle of its again row. You’ll want to show that to take it down. Most items on the monster will really regenerate after you kill it, so these Gilded Enamel you chopped off on the best way to the guts will develop again in 3 turns to bother you once more.
Along with assaults and spells from the monster components, the monster additionally has a set of particular talents. At the beginning of every of its turns, you roll a d3 and activate one in all its powers. These will assist it regrow components, harm all of your heroes, or power you to discard playing cards. This helps even the chances of an AI monster preventing a residing participant.
The gameplay usually jogs my memory a little bit of Ashes Reborn: Crimson Rains, the place you’ve a dueling sport shifted right into a solo sport and as an alternative of preventing one other military, you’re preventing an enormous monster with varied components. Whereas this was solely a restricted pattern to check out, I feel it labored effectively, and I actually need to strive the complete mode and another bosses. Including on this mode undoubtedly offers Pixel Ways much more legs.
Remaining Ideas:
Whereas the brand new Tremendous Pixel Ways has come a great distance from its tiny, $15 filler sport field, this upgraded model offers a significantly better expertise (albeit at the next price ticket too). The higher graphics, the storage field, and the solo mode elevate the gameplay into one thing that can see much more desk time.
In case you are fascinated about checking this one out, there may be nonetheless just a few extra days left on its gameound marketing campaign.
