PixelJunk Monsters

Q-Games. PixelJunk Monsters. Sony, 2008. Availabe on PlayStation3. Available on PSP as PixelJunk Monsters Deluxe


Plot Summary

It's up to you to save the members of your small village from monsters. Every monster that reaches your base kills one of your neighbors. Using money, you can turn trees into weapons. Different weapons have different strengths and weaknesses and different costs. The monsters come in waves. Different types of monsters require different weapons so you'll need to buy based on what monsters are headed your way. When you kill the monsters, they turn into coins and gems. Use the coins to buy more weapons. Gems can be used to buy more advanced weaponry or to upgrade your current arsenal. Most of the monsters move pretty slow, but with limited funds and limited places to put weapons you'll be challenged.

Gameplay is fairly simple. Move through the map to get to different levels, unlocking pathways as you go. In each level, use the joystick to move and the other buttons to buy items. You'll acquire special abilities on some of the levels.


Critical Evaluation

Monsters is a fairly simple game, making it easy to learn. It's also really fun! Each level can be beat in only a few minutes, so it's not as time consuming as other games. I like that you can play by yourself, or with a friend. Monsters is also more challenging that its simple layout would suggest, making this game more of a puzzle. On the downside, the music is also simple and very repetitive. Overall, a good game for the price.


Reader's Annotation

Save the villagers from Monsters! Wave after wave of monsters march through your forest home on the way to your base. Strategically place cannons and arrow towers to get the monsters before they get to your friends. Different monsters, different weapons and different forest layouts make every level a new challenge.


Information about the Producer

PixelJunk is a series of games produced by Q-Games, headed by Dylan Cuthbert. Q-Games was founded in 2001 by Dylan Cuthbert and Kenkichi Shimooka. The company is base in Kyoto, Japan


Genre

Puzzle Game


Curriculum Ties

Brain teasers, puzzles


Booktalking Ideas

Describe the game as a play by play – the monsters are coming, I have to build an arrow tower, and a cannon tower, and look out, it's the flying ones! Now dance…


Reading Level/ Interest Age

Grades 3+ The game is rated E for Everyone and has several difficulty levels making it fun and challenging for all ages.


Controversial Subject Matter and Defense of Ideas

Yes, the game does involve killing monsters. But imagine monsters like pac man, not three dimensional beasts. Also, the onslaught of arrows does little to harm the monsters until they disappear in a cloud of coins. I would say that despite the "killing" of monsters, this game is not very violent.

The game is rated E for Everyone.


Why the Game was Included

This is one of my new favorite games.