Reviews

As a 1987 type-in for YS magazine, this one is quite an enjoyable little game. Clearly, the quality of BASIC type-ins had improved since the very early days of the speccy. The game whilst predominantly BASIC is at least embellished with some small machine code fragments.

You play the part of a single pixel. This eponymous player-character at once definitively answered the forum-posed question "Which is the smallest player-character sprite found in a speccy game?". At one pixel by one pixel, I don't think this record is any imminent danger of being beaten. (unless someone was to write a game where you play something of zero pixel dimensions, i.e. invisible - but that would just be plain silly, Right?).

Anyway, the main advantage of the single pixel "Pixy" is of course a reasonably fast game refresh rate, even in a BASIC main loop. Since all that moves in the game is yourself and possibly a guardian sprite or moving barriers, the speed of play is pleasingly swift and responsive and you can quite easliy forget that the game is mainly a BASIC affair.

The goal is to move around the flip-screen rooms, avoiding crashing into walls, guardians and barriers whilst collecting a few items in order to escape. This is made more difficult by the fact you impart a "thrust" onto the microdot via Q=left, W=right, SPACE=up and you are also under the influence of both gravity and a sort of friction, or drag. Some of the screens are very contrived being quite tricky and challenging to navigate around. This is not a game for the impatient. The game map is overall quite small and as it happens, was significantly bettered by the sequel, which was released around five years later, sporting even more varied graphics and a bigger map.

This original game however stands up on its own and is reasonably fun to play. A short tune plays on the intro screen, but the in-game sound consists mainly of clicks and low frequency rasps. Graphics are well drawn and have a professional sheen to them. Overall, an original type-in with a polished feel. The first room can initially appear quite tricky until you get the knack of escaping it, after which it starts to seem relatively easy - don't be put off by this! Pixy the Microdot is certainly worth a look, for some free-flowing single-pixel action. Groovy.

The idea is nifty but that's all I can really say abot it because the game itself is pretty poor in execution. I suppose I shouldn't have expected much from a type-in freebie but the pixy dot has a complete mind of its off that works more against you that for you. As a type-in alone it's a step-up and plays considerably better than some of the others I've played in my life, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's a good game because it isn't, it's just not gut-wrenchingly bad. Instead it was a mightly frustrating experience that I'd rather not relish again.