Axel & Pixel review

It’s been said that nobody makes wacky games quite like the Japanese. By the same standard, nobody comes close to Eastern Europe either. In weirdness stakes Eastern Europe runs a close second: Eerie, Indiana to Japan’s Twin Peaks. The latest slice of down-the-rabbit-hole bonkersness comes courtesy of Axel & Pixel: a point and clicker following French artist Axel and his friendly dog Pixel as they pursue an evil key-thieving rat through four seasons of nightmarish worlds clearly inspired by free PC favorite Samorost.

Like many point and clickers its solutions range from the forehead-slappingly obvious to the unfairly obscure (such as coaxing a young bird into the mouth of a giant tortoise to use its head as a ladder). What is impressive, however, is its use of QTEs and minigames to bolster the adventure and inject fresh ideas into the predictable template. The adventure’s a bit short, but a decent selection of collectibles will drag you back once you’re done.

Nov 11, 2009