Pixel Ripped 1995 is the second entry in the Pixel Ripped series, following the original Pixel Ripped 1978 and still following the adventures of Dot and the new player, now in the year 1995. Arvore brings their A game with this entry and makes a fun and well-rounded experience of this game within a game mechanic. If you are looking for a proper VR game that plays well while being challenging and fun, this title may be the one for you with the enhanced port to the PSVR2.
Pixel Ripped is available on Steam, PlayStation, and the Meta Store for USD $19.99
Story – Once Upon a Time There Was a Rip
Playing the Pixel Ripped games means getting ready for some Meta narratives that converge in each other. The gist of the story is that a videogame villain called Cyblin Lord has the ability to escape out of the confines of the game and travel in time to different iterations of it. In this occasion, he makes the jump to 1995 and the new entry on the series, with the ultimate goal to escape from the game entirely and invade the real world.
The game’s heroine, Dot, alongside the always helpful wizard, must give chase to Cyblin Lord and join forces with the best gamer from 1995, a kid named David Keene. So you become David, who is playing the game despite his mom’s anger at him for wasting his time on it.
Who doesn’t love some colorless exposition?
So at this point, you are essentially putting on your headset to become David in 1995, playing games in his living room with your mom yelling on the phone about how videogames are rotting your brain or some of that good old 90s paranoia around games. Or maybe you are playing in your room at night, when you are not supposed to and you have to be extra careful that mom doesn’t hear you gaming. All this while helping Dot beat the levels so she can beat Cybill.
The relationship is symbiotic, too, because Dot and the wizard will sometimes interact with the real world to help you acquire some out of bounds powers in order for you to advance or complete some impossible goal in a game. The 4th wall breaks and the humor are abundant in the game and there’s rarely a dull moment.
But let there be light
Gameplay – Meta at Its Best
VR is still in some respects a long way from being a proper gaming experience, unless you have the space and the funds to include some crazy peripherals like platforms and make it a VR space, as opposed to just being limited to the headset. These limitations are part of the reason why so many VR games feel arcade-y, which is not a bad thing at all, some of these games are great for what they are, but it can get old.
In Pixel Ripped 1995, immersion is the name of the game. Without realizing it I was so immersed into the whole “Playing on a CRT monitor with mom yelling at you to get off the game, sitting with your legs crossed on the floor” that when the in-game door suddenly opened, it actually startled me. It’s been ages since I have been so immersed in a game.
Remember playing in the floor of the living room?
The key to this effect is, I think, both the whole “game within a game” mechanic and the pure, unadulterated nostalgia of the time that Arvore manages to combine so so well. The controls to play the game are basic, just like they were back in the day, so it does not retract from the experience, and actually helps with the immersion.
Besides the world being believable as something a 90s kid would experience, complete with the obnoxious bully, conspiracy-driven mom and try-hard dad, the mechanics in which you help Dot and the wizard to survive and complete the stages are also a great addition to the experience. When the 4th wall is broken and you can interact with the game using real world tools, is when the game is at its best.
Sound & Graphics – Immersive Goodness
Sure, Pixel Ripped 1995 looks cartoony. It may not have the great graphics you can find on other titles, specially PSVR2 titles, I’ll give you that. But don’t let that detract from your opinion. I found the world to be colorful and immersive enough. The sounds and looks of the in-game videogame brought me back to my childhood with the music and the 16 and 32 bit characters and their tropes and mannerisms.
Friday nights at the rental…
If anything, some of the dialogue is too cheesy for its own good. But if you were alive during the 90s, you know the whole vibe was a bit like that. Pixel Ripped 1995 is not afraid to exaggerate, of course, but it being a short game, it lands appropriately. The game sounds does sound like it’s coming from the in-game screens, or if someone is talking to your side or behind you, it also feels like the sound is coming from the appropriate direction as well.
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- You’d wish your game would pop out like this
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- Can’t be a retro love letter without arcades
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- 16 and 32-bit were always lovely
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- Don’t wake up mom, though
Pixel Ripped 1995 was reviewed on PSVR2 with a key provided by Jesús Fabre.
