Up to this point, developer Q's PixelJunk series of games have stuck with applying simple twists to time-tested genres. PixelJunk Racers -- probably the most traditional of their games -- brought the high-speed thrills of slot-car racing to your television, while the more recent PixelJunk Monsters offered a unique spin on the Desktop Tower Defense phenomenon. This PixelJunk Eden game, though -- it completely defies explanation.
Everything about Eden's gameplay, art style, and level progression feels wholly alien. While the other PixelJunk games fit neatly into predetermined categories, the closest analog I can come up with for how Eden plays is a 2D, psychedelic Spider-Man. You take up the mantle of a tiny grimp -- a Seamonkey-like critter named so for his ability to both grip and jump -- who must tend to a radiantly colored garden full of towering, skyscraper-esque plant life and malicious, pollen-bearing organisms. Using a silken thread to swing into these creatures will allow you to collect their stash of pollen, which in turn enables more plants to grow -- expanding your realm of exploration with each leaf and stalk. As simple as it all sounds, things get really engaging once you get into a rhythm of comboing several enemies in a single swing, bringing the pollen to a nearby seed, and scaling the freshly grown foliage to gather even more.
Each garden in Eden has the ultimate goal of discovering the glowing, life-giving spectra that are hidden throughout the game. There are five in each level, and bringing one back to the Eden hub garden will cause a plant to sprout there -- granting admission to previously inaccessible levels. This advancement methodology is a fantastic idea that fits perfectly with the rest of the game's unique traits, but it ends up artificially lengthening Eden -- requiring you to grab the first spectra in a level, then the first and second spectra, then the first three spectra, and so on. It may encourage skipping around to other gardens more often, but it also amplifies the game's already repetitive nature, as well as forcing completists to play each of the game's ten gardens at least five times apiece.
Climbing to the tops of the gardens in Eden is an arduous task that can take as long as 20 minutes, which is a time commitment a lot of people may not be accustomed to with downloadable games. On top of that, a fair chunk of that time will most certainly be spent falling -- an act that doesn't straight-up kill your avatar, but does make you want to kill someone yourself. Still, landing a perfect, blind leap across a gaping chasm -- gathering loads of pollen along the way -- proves incredibly satisfying.
With its leaderboards and ability to capture video and instantly upload to Youtube, it's clear that PixelJunk Eden wants to be a score-based, competitive game; as far as I'm concerned, it's not. What Eden is good for is just chilling out, and letting the soothing-yet-tense gameplay, throbbing beats, and minimalistic visuals wash over you. It doesn't quite offer the consciousness-absorbing, synaesthetic paradise that Rez brought to the table, but this is about as close as it gets these days; once you start thinking of Eden as less of a game and more of a flashy, techno-filled playground, the experience becomes all the better for it.
Eden also improves dramatically when friends drop in to play with you. Cooperative multiplayer for up to three players allows for some real Barnum & Bailey action, with grimps flying from the clutches of their swinging comrades into distant, unexplored turf -- all without the benefit of a safety net. It's also not without its blemishes, however; the camera seems to have a rough time deciding which player to focus on when someone falls out of the screen, causing a lot of sure-footed grimps untimely deaths while their clumsy buddies hog the spotlight. Also, because the grimps look very similar to begin with and sometimes change colors entirely, multiplayer can be a tad confusing.
Despite a laundry list of minor nuisances, PixelJunk Eden manages to live up to the reputation of its predecessors. It's often beautiful, usually frustrating, and always strange. Fortunately, Eden also happens to be a lot of fun.
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8.0