McPixel is back for the second time in McPixel 3, the enigmatically named sequel to round out this truly absurd duology. To call either of them an adventure or puzzle game is somewhat missing the point, as they’re best described as visual gag machines with a lovably boneheaded sensibility. Weightless, breezy, and often laugh-out-loud dumb, McPixel 3’s appealing, earnestly stupid toy box world will delight newcomers, but fans of the original will doubly appreciate its numerous quality-of-life improvements.
As before, McPixel himself is a brainless blank-faced avatar inspired by MacGruber/MacGuyver with a penchant for kicking and urinating on most everything and everyone, all in efforts to “save the day.” Classically, this quest arrives in the form of a bomb to defuse, but other goals in McPixel 3 include stopping a runaway train, escaping a disaster, defeating a massive kaiju, or winning a sporting match. To accomplish these great feats, the player will need to click on any interactable objects and characters, invariably in ways that defy logic or expectation.
From a certain vantage, the McPixel games often seem like pointed parodies of classic (and outdated) point-and-click adventure game design, where screens might lead to brute-force combinations of actions and items to somehow progress the story forward. As in the first game, McPixel 3 throws players into sequenced, occasionally interconnected and/or themed sets of micro-levels with a random assortment of characters, many of whom make a higher-resolution return here; grumpy Uncle Frank is a frequent and hilarious costar, as well as a testy snake, caveman, alien, and other old favorites.
Of course, that resolution isn’t super-high-def, which would arguably rob the game of its constantly effective humor. Still, with all its chunky pixels, McPixel 3 looks remarkably better than its predecessor, with plenty of unexpected gameplay twists that outpace anything which came before. There are brief action interludes, timed objectives, multi-room scenarios, and a slew of other surprises. Does it look like the product of ten years’ worth of development work (the original released in 2012)? Not exactly, but a sense of gonzo invention and creative curiosity emerges time and again throughout the six or so hours required to experience the game’s primary content.
Many of the scenes here are solved by simply trying everything, and the currency system may encourage players to "lose" the scene on a first attempt, with larger rewards for 100%-ing each encounter (which can also be conveniently accessed after completion). It’s nothing too trying, with very little locked off to anyone who completes a fair amount of the level objectives, granting the gold coin score a kind of Whose Line is It Anyway weight. In certain respects, McPixel 3 could be seen as a celebration of failure, with a missed goal always leading to new opportunities for nonsense.
Anything and everything are up for interactive parody and mockery here, but here’s an abbreviated sampling: political debates, Atari, 90s-era sitcoms, PC benchmarks, the original Gameboy, the Olympics, and publisher Devolver Digital’s own rascally CFO, Fork Parker. There’s also “Steve,” a standout McPixel 3 creation who exists as a slack-jawed foil to McPixel himself, a drab everyman figure with his own bespoke levels and a tediously hilarious theme tune.
Speaking of music, it’s a joy to experience all the original theme songs from McPixel – in addition to some great new tracks – via McPixel 3’s higher-quality remakes. Don’t expect orchestral recreations, but all the game’s weirdly addictive and repetitive motifs sound better and fuller here, constantly churning along, but rarely if ever outright annoying.
Newcomers should be advised that McPixel 3 shares the general absence of sound effects from the first game. There's an occasional one here or there, but the game mostly keeps all other audio on mute, aside from the looping music. It's a choice which some may find distractingly odd, but it adds a kind of 1930s silent-film sensibility to the inane violence and crude toilet humor which, in turn, ramps up the comedy and comic timing overall.
In practical terms, this sequel is an outright better game than the original. Better-paced, funnier, and drastically improved in terms of design, with smoother animations and an open-world hub. McPixel 3 is the epitome of “smart-stupid,” a game which revels in its base humor with the express intention of making its players laugh at every step, whether that be through confusion, revulsion, meta antics, or just irreverent resolutions. It's a one-of-a-kind experience, and an easy recommendation for anyone open to some cheap laughs in a world where the points don’t matter.
McPixel 3 releases on multiple platforms on November 14. A digital PC code was provided to Screen Rant for the purpose of this review.