Another day, another apocalypse. Infectious zombies are taking over the world. Enter Paul Pixel. A man on a mission to … flee the city and hide somewhere safe?
Indeed, Paul Pixel doesn’t start as your usual zombie-killing hero. But in the course of the adventure he stumbles upon a way to get rid of the undead and save the world. After you point and click him in the right direction.
If you ever spent time with classics like Maniac Mansion, Zak McKraken or Monkey Island you will feel right at home. Just click on anything you see, grab every item and you are likely to thwart the alien invasion with ease. In fact, any veteran player will just storm through the adventure. You will spot immediately which item may be useful and it is also very easy to decide where you need which item. Playtime will be around 2-3 hours. But if you spread the game over several days it may feel longer.
The game offers pixelated retro glory, mostly logical puzzles, cut scenes and some funny moments – especially for those who played the classics. With a price tag of 1,99 Euro, this is quite alright.
On the other hand, the game misses out on a few things. It may be unfair to compare Paul Pixel with the classics as those games had Lucasfilm Games / LucasArts behind them. But since Paul Pixel clearly draws inspiration from those games any player will notice a few things which could have used a bit more work, most of all: character depth. Sure, you interact with a lot of characters, but more dialogue would have helped. In other games you fondly remember Elaine, Weird Ed or even Stan years later. Here the characters aren’t around long enough to make an impression as you visit most places only once.
Missing is also a veritable Big Bad like a LeChuck or a Purple Tentacle. Since there is a big bad alien in the game this feels like a missed opportunity.
Also, once an item is in your inventory you can’t examine it, you don’t even get the name of the item. If you can’t remember what these pixels are supposed to be the game does not help you with that.
And some animations were done rather lazily.
Verdict: Yes, there are better adventures out there. But for 1,99 Euro Paul Pixel is still a nice little game for any point and click enthusiast.
Website | Paul Pixel on iTunes
