RCMADIAX's latest eShop title, Pixel Slime U, attempts to create a simple, addictive experience by distilling gameplay down to one button and playing around with level design. The good news is that its one-button gameplay is reasonable and can be quite fun at times. The bad news is that, like many of the indie developer's games, Pixel Slime U feels more like a prototype or proof-of-concept than a full-fledged release.
In Pixel Slime U players are tasked with helping a pixelated green slime character make it to the end of a stage without falling off platforms or hitting spikes. There are 40 stages in all, and the goal is to finish all 40 stages with as few deaths as possible. Players simply press B to make the cute little guy jump as the slime will move automatically. Dying immediately sends the player back to the beginning of the stage, which may remind players of hardcore, tough-as-nails games like Super Meat Boy and Cloudberry Kingdom that rely on pixel-perfect precision when jumping over obstacles. Some stages are upside down, some are altered by a constantly moving camera and some switch up gravity.
There's nothing wrong with the simple and singular design of the stages, but they get old. Fast. Players will experience every variation of platform/spike/gravity long before the 40th stage. RXMADIAX missed an opportunity to make 40 dastardly and different challenges here, instead relying on the same elements for each level. This is likely due to the fact that this is a score attack game; things are kept simple to ensure several playthroughs that can be completed in just a few minutes. But there's no variety here. Also, the hit detection can be wonky, with the slime often getting unfairly killed by spikes or bad jumps; there was more than one occasion where we were sure we had it timed correctly, but the physics didn't behave as expected.
Another quirky issue is that the game is super sensitive to other buttons. Pressing A brings the player back to the menu, where they can continue (which feels like a bit of a cheat for a game that is supposed to rely on twitch reflexes and be completed as fast as possible) or start over. We ended up pressing A one too many times, resulting in accidentally starting over more than once.
The game employs a cute 8-bit visual style, but the background and platforms remain the same throughout the game, with an unappealing background and drab purple [not grey as we originally stated] platforms. The looping music is generic and boring, though it can be turned off on the main screen.
Conclusion
Pixel Slime U needs variety and polish, but the core gameplay is fun if you're a fan of reflexed-based games. The presentation leaves much to be desired (as many Nintendo Web Framework games do) and gamers will likely play through two or three times and never pick it up again. If you're absolutely starved for something to do on your Wii U, Pixel Slime U offers a few minutes of diversion, but it's unfortunately too bare bones to garner a full recommendation.
Comments 14
That's too bad, but I do enjoy me some precision platforming.
I'm honestly just surprised this isn't called PIXEL SLIME U.
There can be only one.
As always, it seems the developer's philosophy is, "Put in the least amount of effort required to qualify the product as a 'game,' release it at the lowest possible price point, and hope enough people impulse buy it to turn a profit."
The quality, and i use the term lightly, of these products are little better than those of first-year computer programming students.
I want to add that Pixel Slime was already a HTML5 game, developed by "Bilge Kaan." The product was made available for licensing, which is apparently exactly what RCMADIAX did. As they also seem to have done it with "Don't Crash" (originally: "Stay on the Road".)
http://td2tl.com/available-for-licensing/
Just shovelware indeed.
@AirElephant @Azikira The desktop version is free, you might as well want to play that and save yourself 3 bucks.
@AirElephant Stay on the Road is a different game (don't be surprised if he releases that next though)
@AirElephant WOW SQUARE GO RIGHT HERE RIGHT NOW😂 First year computing student at Abertay University and I must say, some of the games I have seen are quite a bit better than this shovelware drivel.
@AirElephant That sums of the reputation of RCMADIAX pretty well actually.
@Inkling
Inkling, you're absolutely right. They are different games. How could I have gotten that so wrong? Sorry. In fact, "Don't Crash" is a game that also appears on silvergames.com. It appears that it's one of those HTML5 games, just like Pixel Slime, that a more capable programmer licenses to various mobile companies. You can therefore play it all you want for free.
http://m.silvergames.com/game/dont-crash/
Still, neither are RCMADIAX's games. It should have been clear when the quality went up sharply from what he'd vomit...er...produced before.
@AirElephant TD2TL has actually taken Don't Crash off of his site. It might have something to do with the negative reception it got after being released on the eShop.
I actually like Block Drop U...sorry folks...
There's lots of room for new ideas and designs. This game would have been ok if it had been extended to maybe 120 or 150 levels; just played through the browser version, it took me literally 20 minutes to beat.
i finished it once with 18 deaths and then deleted this evil game.
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