PIXEL RIPPED 1995
Party like it’s 1999 (in four years’ time)
Do you enjoy shooting people in the face with ping pong balls? Silly question; of course you do. You’ll have plenty of opportunities to do so here, although amazingly, that’s not the focus of the experience. You’ll be using PS VR to sit in front of a TV, playing a fake retro game. It’s better than it sounds; let us explain.
You play as videogame character Dot, who connects with real-life player David, who then controls Dot. Remember the fact that you’re doing all this in VR, and things start to go a bit Inception, but it’s all presented in a very simple way. Fundamentally, you’re a child playing a game in his living room/bedroom/arcade, but with a significant twist: the onscreen action sometimes bleeds into the real world.
It’s a little unusual to say, but we recommend that you don’t use PS Move for this game. As you’ll be playing extended sequences of the fake games, some of which require precision jumps, you’ll find that things are infinitely easier and less frustrating with a DualShock and its analogue stick. Not that this will make the first chapter much better. The RPG-style level it opens with is weak, and having to regularly grab a toy gun in the real world to shoot things – this is to distract your mum, who keeps trying to turn the console off – is annoying. Nonetheless, the gentle but effective humour of the game is in play right from the beginning, and gameplay does improve.
PIXEL MIX
The subplot involving an annoying kid who can’t even bully you properly is very meh, but doesn’t get in the way of going “Ooh, this is like Road Rash! That guy’s clearly a Simon Belmont parody! This character’s a bit like Crash Bandicoot!” and so on. There’s plenty to tickle the nostalgia glands. More importantly, there are some cool virtual/ real crossover ideas, such as the boss fight that involves David using a toy spaceship as both weapon and avatar. It’s just a shame that these are inconsistent, and not as regular as we’d like.
Roughly two hours in length (you even get a trophy if you manage to play through in one sitting), and with no unlockable extras, it’s unlikely to last you long. Still, if you fancy something different with a smooth journey to the end, this is a good choice.
VERDICT
The quality is a little uneven, but a good sense of humour and a determination to be inventive takes Pixel Ripped 1995 a long way. It’s rippedjeans-tastic! Luke Kemp