PixelJunk Monsters 2

Genre: Tower Defense

Players: 1-4 Co-Op (Local, Online)

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Review:

PixelJunk Monsters 2 is a Tower Defense game that follows surprisingly close in the footsteps of its 2007 predecessor. I say “surprising” because while the gameplay remains more or less the game, the visuals… wow…

In short, this game looks absolutely incredible, and the change is like night and day. While the first game used really simple, unimpressive, cartoony graphics, PixelJunk Monsters 2 brings the series into full 3D with a look that’s reminiscent clay stop-motion films. It’s colorful, filled with personality, and the overall look gives everything a real feeling of physicality and depth.

As for the gameplay, as I said, it doesn’t seem like much has changed – you control Tikiman, a little guy who can wander through the wooded areas surrounding paths leading to the villages you are tasked with protecting. In addition to shaking down those trees for resources, you spend those resources to build defense towers in place of any of those trees, with towers to defend against air threats, ground threats, a mix, and also to give status effects.

As each level progresses, you must decide whether to construct new towers, or build up your existing towers (which you can do with resources, or simply by standing still at one and allowing Tikiman to slowly give the tower experience by dancing in place), and you must take into consideration both the tower’s position and the nature of the threats you face, both in the immediate future and in the long-term.

Also like the original, this game can be a bit unforgiving at times. Put one tower in the wrong place and you may be regretting it for the rest of the level, and some hordes and larger enemies seem to take ridiculous amounts of firepower to whittle down.

The difficulty level here may be off-putting for some, but the game offsets this a bit by allowing for 4-player co-op, both locally and online. This makes for a solid co-op experience, as you can coordinate with your friend(s) to have one of you building towers while the other hunts for resources, or you can both rush to upgrade one tower in anticipation of a big enemy it needs to be prepared to take on.

In the end, PixelJunk Monsters 2 makes for an excellent Tower Defense game. It’s a surprising jump in graphical quality from the first game, a blast to play in co-op, and it’s mostly the difficulty level and the feeling that you’re not making enough headway against enemies that keeps this from being truly great.

tl;dr – PixelJunk Monsters 2 takes the solid Tower Defense gameplay of the first game and gives it a wonderful graphical makeover. It’s a bit overly difficult and at times it feels like you don’t make as much headway against enemies as you’d like, but it’s a blast to play in co-op, and overall a solid entry in the genre.

Grade: B+

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