Mega Dead Pixel is a bit of an uneven ride. It has its moments, but it never quite manages to really spark into life in the way the very best arcade twitch-testers can.
You'll push on for a while, chasing scores and completing missions, dodging and weaving through the black blocks that bar your path.
But in the end there isn't quite enough substance, and not nearly enough of the teeth-grinding compulsion of the very best, to keep you playing for more than a few hours.
Nervous twitchYou play as a dead pixel that drops off a monitor. You fall straight down, and can tap on the left or right of the screen to change your trajectory. There are block blocks of pixels in your way, and you can dodge them, paint them, or smash them into pieces.
The screen is broken into lanes the width of one pixel, and you slide along these with your taps and swipes. To paint a shape you need to pass next to its edge as close as you can. To smash one you need to have increased the size of your dead pixel.
You can do this by picking up white power-ups, or by painting enough shapes to become a mega pixel. This giant white block ploughs down the screen, smashing anything it touches and shrinking as it goes.
There are coins to collect, awarded for completing the challenges the game sets. You can use these to buy new hats for your pixel, new shapes to paint and smash, and a variety of power-ups that change the way the game plays.
Flat screenEverything is well put together, and there's a smoothness to the experience that makes it easy on the brain, but there's nothing about Mega Dead Pixel that really captures the imagination. It's fun, but it's ultimately forgettable.
There's a solid game here, but it's nothing more than that. There are no moments of crushing defeat or explosions of joy. Mega Dead Pixel feels a little flat, and that's not something a twitchy arcade blast can really get away with.