Pixel Ripped 1989 in the PSVR Test

The indie VR title "Pixel Ripped 1989" from the hands of Brazilian developers is a multi-dimensional homage to retro times. In the era of portable 8-bit consoles, you have to save your videogame heroine "Dot" in the game-within-a-game. Something terrible has happened: The Cyblin Lord, a supreme giant with thoughts of invading the human planet, is able to break through your video game. Not only does he infest your favourite game cartridges over time, but he sometimes tears your Gameboy-like handheld apart and invades the real world. This must be prevented at all costs. We have already been able to test the PlayStation VR version extensively for you. The game will be available on Steam (HTC Vive, WMR) and in the Oculus Store on 31 July for 19.99 US dollars.

In the role of Nicola, a second-grader, you dive into various 8-bit game levels. But even in the real - sorry: in the VR environment - you have to complete some tasks and then it happens in the boss fights: The head giant knows different manifestations and also sends evil animals to earth. But it's not the end of the day yet: to make it to the bitter end, you will need a lot of skill, bravery and nerves of steel, because the retro games of yesteryear, to which there are some funny allusions, were not for the faint-hearted casual gamer.

A longer project

In 2014, the retro VR project was still running under the title "Pixel Rift". The main developer Ana Ribeiro, who was still a student in London at the time, actually wanted to release the title much earlier. At the time, she was still working on a first Oculus demo for months. When many journalists and YouTubers reportedly took notice of her project, she resumed her work as a full-time developer. The team even continued to work tirelessly on the project despite the failed Kickstarter campaign of 2015. Of course, it was obvious that this would not happen so quickly with a very small development studio. After more than three years of fine-tuning, the Brazilian developer finally found a publisher and investor in Arvore 2017 to complete the final polish on the VR retro outing with the same game design team. The result is now a final first release that we consider very successful.

Gameplay

During the boring lessons in the classroom, Pixel Ripped is of course played on the Gear Kid under the school desk. The 8-bit jump-and-shoot scroller is fairly simple and reminiscent of tried-and-tested concepts. In the linear platformer, in which you can essentially jump, accelerate and shoot, there are also heaps of hidden references to well-known gems of video game history. True to the plumber's saga, the boss is even told in a lovely rescue greeting that he is in another castle. Funny: Even the boss door opens once like in Capcom's Mega Man series. I was allowed to test the PSVR version in advance, in which the DualShock controller becomes a virtual handheld console thanks to its tracking LEDs and position sensors. However, you must not let the teacher catch you. Sometimes it helps to have a paper blowpipe at hand. By fetching papillons from the ceiling, switching on the overhead projector or messing up the cloakroom, you can keep the professionally tired supervisor at bay - and: continue to gamble calmly.

In the next world, things are comparatively almost leisurely in a tree-hopping passage until the Cyblin Lord sends slavering giant birds to Earth, which you must target with your Gear Kid lest your classmates be carried away from the picnic grounds. For plenty of variety, the boss fights feature dimensional distortion on a large 2.5-D pseude view with giant sprites, followed by nimble bouncing and blowpipe interactions.

As in the 80s, the insight into the pitfalls of the dodging and jumping strategies is based on constant retries. If you want to finish "Pixel Ripped 1989" in one piece, it is better to stay in the respective level section and take a tea break in between. Fortunately, the developers were also merciful to millennials without retro experience. The boss fights extend over several rounds. If you fail, however, the last round of the fight begins.

On the whole, the difficulty level is well balanced, but even octogenarians of my ilk came close to swearing a few times. In one scene, for example, you have to dodge a row of pillars on your Gear Kid with a motorboat quite quickly by pressing the upper and lower direction buttons, which requires a lot of patience. You can play with either the analogue stick or the directional buttons on the DualShock controller.

Graphics, sound and presentation

Refreshing about "Pixel Ripped 1989" is the presentation of the whole retro atmosphere with TV commercials from the eighties. Later in the game, it becomes truly multidimensional. With the modified Gear Kid, you can hack the signal of the school TV and continue playing in large format after the scolding teacher has dozed off. Interludes like the paper boat conversations in the classroom are also entertaining. There are also a few laughs when you later have to rescue another video game hero from the clutches of the invasive Cyblin Lord in a large-pixel retro scene.

The environmental graphics are not highly textured due to the comic world. Your classmates and other game characters are nevertheless beautifully drawn and animated. On the PSVR, everything looked very sharp up close. In the large full-screen battles, where the action is sometimes pretty fast, I did notice a few small stutters, which will probably be corrected with a day-one update. The many voice samples are also surprising. The old teacher with her male voice delivers funny monologues in sonorous British English. And your classmates really cheer you on when it gets down to business before the final boss. This one is a pretty tough nut to crack, by the way.

PSVR version for Europe to follow in a few days

A simultaneous release for PSVR, Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and Windows Mixed Reality was apparently planned for 31 July 2018. In the meantime, however, there has been a slight delay in the European PlayStation VR version, which the developers let me test in advance. The publisher hopes that the PSVR version for our continent will only be delayed by about 10 to 15 days. However, the final release depends on Sony, which is why no exact release date can be given yet. The announced price of 19.99 US dollars can already be seen in the Oculus Store.