Commander Pixman

Gah! Argh! Gnnnh! And other assorted angry noises. We’ve been playing Commander Pixman and it’s not easy. It’s easy to explain: guide a tiny spaceman through tiny levels, blasting tiny aliens and avoiding tiny gun emplacements. It’s easy to play: move left and right, tap buttons to jump (hold to hover for a bit) and fire your weedy weapon. What’s not easy is survival, because the game is borderline sadistic.

Having bludgeoned our way through a number of levels, we’re not sure if Commander Pixman is on the right side of frustratingly difficult. It’s the kind of game where you must be able to laugh off myriad cheap deaths and battle again and again until you succeed (whereupon you’re treated to a simultaneous replay of up to your last 40 deaths). So if you finished the likes of League of Evil and Mos Speedrun (see Tap! four and five, respectively) at your first attempt, this is tougher, but platform-game weeds need not apply. (Sob.)