Pixel Junk Eden Demo Impression

So, I bought PixelJunk Monsters when it came out on the PSN, and I really enjoyed the game play, although, I didn't finish it (Burnout Paradise took over and Gaming ADD). I'm planning on getting into it again soon, but it may have to wait. I downloaded the PJ-Eden demo on Thursday, and so far, I've played through it twice. It was on my list of games I'm curious about from E3 and I was glad to see a demo.

The game is essentially a platformer that gives you control of a character and lets you loose in a garden (level) with the objective of collection "Spectra". These Spectra help to build your Eden and progress to other gardens. You collect pollen to grow new plants to attach to and climb, etc. The demo only lets you collect 5 (of the 50) spectra, but if you play it right, you can play all the way through Garden 1, or play 3-4 spectra of Garden 2 or 3 spectra of Garden 3. This is a game that is very different than other games I play (shooters, racing, sports, action) as it is very mellow, but it is also a platformer which puts it right in my wheelhouse so that is a cool contrast. The mix of the visual style and the music is really cool as I can't see how the game would have any other music. The only problem with the demo is that you can only play through it once without deleting your save game.

Some cool features of the game include: up to three player co-op locally (too bad I only have two controllers), Remote Play support (haven't tried this yet, but I will...), Trophy support (I can finally get trophies), and the ability to upload captured video to YouTube. With all of these features for a cost of "less than 10 dollars", I'll definitely be buying this game when it comes out on Thursday. So obviously my impression was you should play this demo if you have a PS3 and I think you'll want to download the game too.