Pix'N Love Rush (PSN) Review

In a reverse of the Angry Birds review, here we have a fun game that was a bit of a lottery to play on a touchscreen phone, but a delight to play with the firm controls of the PSP. Now, every twitch of your control movement is accurately carried out on-screen, something rather vital in this homage to classic 8-bit gaming.

It is impossible, for older gamers, not to notice tiny motes of DNA from other games; a little Bubble Bobble, some Bombjack, Joust and many others are all, in some way, in the genetic make-up of this simple but fun game. The aim is suitably 8-bit, collect the "+" coins, avoid the "-" ones and shoot any enemies on the screen.

There are three modes to play, classic, cursed (a leaping survival mode) and on/off with various sub-modes. In classic, there's a 5 minute mode for bite-sized travel gaming and the infinite mode for longer plays, all with the aim of maximising your score or beating the existing high score.

The design too is a delight, instead of hearts for lives, you have tiny blocks around the edge of a single heart to indicate your health, the combo meters fill up pixel-by-pixel and for every combo you get the level theme changes into a suitably retro landscape. Music is of the brilliant plink-plonk from the time and fits the pacing perfectly.

Pix'N Love Rush is everything a mini arcade game should be, fast and furious, challenging and with its own unique style. It has found its perfect home on the PSP (ok, and the Xperia Play) and shows perfectly how the past of gaming still applies today.

Available on PSN for £1.74 [Sanukgames]

8.5/10 Bright, breezy and brings back dozens of memories

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