Reviewed by Brandy Shaul
While the idea of a new and clever point-and-click adventure may seem entirely impossible given today’s movement away from the genre’s slow-paced gameplay ideology, Silver Wish Games has created just that with Axel & Pixel, a throwback to the titles of yesteryear on the XBLA.
Axel, a painter, and his dog Pixel live in a secluded mountain cabin. As they sit for an afternoon nap, the pair awakens in a dream-world of sorts, where an Ice Giant and his troll-like minion are out to trap our heroes in a never-ending winter, thus ruining Axel’s hopes of adequately representing the other three seasons on canvas.
The overall gameplay here concerns Axel’s wish of capturing the fleeing troll who has stolen the key he needs to return home. As any good villain should, however, the troll escapes every time Axel gets too close, and generally blocks the path behind him. This leaves each level with a simple goal of getting from one side to the other by removing the obstacles in the way.
Axel & Pixel is viewed from afar, with each level being comprised of a combination of two vastly different graphical styles. The first is a beautiful array of scenic vistas (a la the paintings of Bob Ross or travel postcards) that makes up each level’s background and large interactive structures, while the other is more along the lines of basic clipart, with Axel and Pixel, along with the tools Axel utilizes along the way, taking on a cartoon appearance that helps them stand out against the highly detailed backdrops.
As you would expect, your interaction with the environment is achieved via an on-screen pointer. As you hover over tangible objects, the pointer turns to an ethereal circle of yellow orbs, and a symbol appears within the circle that corresponds to whether the object can be picked up or otherwise touched by Axel, if it is something Axel can create a drawing of in his sketchbook (more on that later), or if it’s an item that Pixel must interact with.
There is a time limit for each level, along with a hint system that will help you identify which object to interact with next, but since the pointer changes so dramatically when hovering over an important object, along with eliciting an audible chime if you happen to miss the visual cue, the game isn’t vastly challenging. That is, you will inevitably come across every object you need to complete a level, even if you haphazardly fling your cursor around the screen.
The trick, then, is figuring out the order in which to click on items to trigger the series of events that will open access to the next level. For instance, on one occasion you are met with the image of a very large pinecone hanging from a tree branch. Due to its size, it’s blatantly obvious that you must click on it, which releases spores to the ground below. You can click on the pinecone for an eternity, simple because you are allowed to, but you will never actually activate anything with it until you first use a gear to engage the pulley system that will move the pinecone into its final and proper position, thus allowing you to distract the piranha / worm hybrids swimming in the lake below and eventually flush them down the drain.
The last bit is one of the finest examples of the game’s creativity. It would be wrong to call the title random, as random normally equates to thoughtlessness, and it is clear that attention has been paid to every detail here. Each level has a (albeit sometimes abstract) theme, whether that is nature, industry, or so on, and the items within each reflect that fact.
Even though the majority of Axel & Pixel may be more reliant on trial-and-error than any real skill, there are a few instances that require in-depth thought from the player. On these occasions, you’re asked to complete a jigsaw puzzle, take part in a sequence akin to “Simon Says,” and even create a network of pipes through a sort of underwater maze.
In addition, there are three unique levels that ditch the point-and-click mindset altogether and instead place Axel and Pixel into a hot air balloon, a dune buggy and a sailboat in mini-games that see you racing from one end of a set course to another before continuing on.
Unfortunately the game is incredibly short, with its 24 levels being easily beaten in one sitting if you so choose. To add content to an experience that otherwise lacks completely in replayability, infinite versions of the three aforementioned mini-games are available to play outside of the story mode proper, and there are hidden items in most levels like dog bones and tubes of paint, along with structures that can be uncovered and then sketched in Axel’s journal in order to create his ultimate masterpiece once the game is complete.
Regardless of the fact that there is no actual spoken dialogue in the title, the game conveys a real sense of humor through small bits of jumbled audio that Axel or Pixel express throughout, like a frustrated grunt when Axel tries to interact with something without first having the correct tool in his possession, or Pixel’s barking at the troll.
When everything is combined – the clever sound effects, the truly unique and beautiful graphics, and the highly enjoyable gameplay – you are left with an undoubtedly worthwhile experience, despite the game’s brevity, that is well worth every one of its 800 point asking price.
Special thanks to Jim Redner and 2K for providing a copy of this title.