For anyone who has not played the PS3 version (where have you been?), Pixeljunk Monsters is a tower defense game in which you are tasked with saving your little ones from the incoming monsters. The twist here is that you can only use trees of the forest to build your towers, therefore the placing of your towers is restricted to where the trees have grown. Once you have decided where to build your tower you simply walk to the tree and then you can knock it down and build your tower in its place. Of course you can upgrade, sell and destroy existing towers should you wish to change your strategy for the various types of monster that you will face up to.

 

 

Building a tower isn’t free and will cost you coins, these are found spread around the forest. The towers included in the game vary allowing you to fire all sorts of nasty things at the monsters such as canons, ice, fire, arrows and even exploding bees. Since you usually know what type of monster you are about to be facing it is best to use some tactics and choose your towers wisely. As mentioned you can upgrade each tower which is done by collecting the various gems you will earn each time you take out the monsters, the towers also upgrade themselves if used enough, meaning if you have many of the same type you can then knock them down and earn some cash.

 

Graphically the game looks absolutely stunning on the PSP screen, somehow the developers have managed to capture all of the wonderful character of the PS3 version and cram it into the handheld. All of the action seems to run very smoothly and it really is hard to fault the effort here.

 

Personally I would have been more than happy with just Pixeljunk Monsters and Encore being included in the Deluxe Edition, however there is also a new map which includes all new levels and a new enemy and as if that wasn’t enough there is also a rather exciting multiplayer mode included too. Eat that PS3.

 

 

The online mode is without a doubt the biggest treat in this latest version of the game. Including both a local and online mode there is enough here to justify the price (whatever that may be) alone. Surprisingly the online multiplayer includes a friends list and chat which will no doubt work flawlessly (I was unable to try as no-one else was available online at the time of writing).

 

Pixeljunk Monsters Deluxe is without a doubt one of the best PSP Store games that you will be able to get your hands on this year, I have no doubt that people would pay a full retail price for this such is the value here, although I get the feeling that you will be able to pick this title up for a rather generous price come its release date. Put simply this is a must buy for anyone who owns a PSP.