Xbox 360 User Reviews

The art style is definitely a highlight here, as it adds so much flavour to the whole game and without it being so distinct, this would have been a bland attempt. Reminds me of some of the cartoons I used to watch as a kid, hence my fondness of it, that creeps into this review. Some of the comedic undertones work really well and Axel and Pixel's dynamic is the cherry on top and it doesn't overstay its welcome. The minigames are weak, and aren't particularly rich in mechanics or interesting - just serviceable. I would rather have another segment of point and clicking to fill in gaps, rather than the minigames. To me this game represents a certain era in X360 history and by extension my gaming history as well. Pixel was almost a carbon copy of a my dog that I used to have at the time, so I was always very fond of this game due to this reason. I'm biased here, but I genuinely enjoyed 100%ing this short adventure.

Axel & Pixel is a charming point & click adventure game about a painter, Axel & his dog, Pixel who are thrown into a weird dream world after a rat had tampered with a magic record player. Within this dream world, weird creatures appear, and the rat had transformed into an evil demon rat. You have to chase the rat through dozens of scenes depicting the four seasons, spring through to winter. To progress through, you have to solve puzzles using the magic cursor clicking on numerous objects around the scenes in the correct order. The game varies slightly, where some actions will require you to follow a sequence of button presses that appear on screen, usually to climb objects or dodge hazards. At the end of each season you have to control a vehicle, a hot air balloon, car and a boat, using controls to avoid hazards along the way. Graphically the game shows good details showing the different seasons, with snow covered landscapes, blooming flowers of spring, and orange tones of autumn. The characters are quirky, with painter looking like a modern day Picasso, acknowledging the player when he has made the correct choice or not, with mumbles and cheers. With the world being weird, some of the puzzles you need to complete would not make any sense if the objects did not get highlighted. For example, you would not expect hitting a bird to get an egg to crush would be needed to grow a beanstalk to climb on top of a turtle. But with the game being an adventure game, the game makes you feel like a spectator, even though for each scene you are given 3 clues, mostly likely you'll never need them. The magic cursor changes colour and shape whenever the cursor is over an object, so you just have to use trial and error to figure the puzzles out. Most players will find the game too easy, even for young gamers this is aimed at, the story can be finished in a couple of hours. There are hidden objects within the scenes as well are paint tubes, paintings, and dog bones for you to find, which will give some replay value if you missed any on your first play-through. Collecting all the items and solving the scenes with less clues will give you a score which goes on a leader-board to compare with friends. The game features mini-games featuring the 3 vehicles from the story, collecting items and trying to get a high score, but these games don't offer much more of a challenge either. Overall the game doesn't offer much of a challenge considering the price is 800 MS points or about £8, to be played just for a couple of hours. Though the player will enjoy the quirky characters and unique art style of the scenes, this does not feel like a real game as it could have been.

Axel & Pixel is a fantastic games, have one of the most simple and addictive funny gameplays that I watch, is really funny and interesting. This is one of the most better games on Xbox Live Arcade.

--[THE GOOD]-- - The dream world is a thing of beauty, wonder, and absolute insanity - Simple and awesome point-and-click gameplay - Visually pleasing - Beautiful, charming soundtrack - Fantastic mini games --[THE BAD]-- - Pixel hunting is maybe a bit too prevalent (Graphics) - [9] - The key graphical formula in Axel & Pixel is that of simple, hand-drawn cartoon characters against beautifully rendered real-life environments of the four seasons, each with their own special feel, with Spring featuring very subtle colours and a looming tone of that after-Winter feeling, while Winter itself is covered in soft-on-the-eyes whites, light blues and greys, with a strong emphasis on ice itself. It's definitely the most visually pleasing of the four seasons and there's an inescapable feeling of comfort and warmth along with it. In fact, the whole darn place is extremely pretty indeed. Each and every morsel of the dream world has a bit of life, magic and depth to it; some of the stuff around you has absolutely no significance to the game itself â