Keepers is a weekly segment in which I discuss games I’ve played that I’ve seen fit to keep after playing. I generally sell a game that I’ve finished, so the only reason I keep one is because I plan to replay the game some day. Classifying a game as a “keeper” is generally a badge of merit.

Okay, okay. So Pixeljunk Monsters is a downloadable PSN game, and as such I couldn’t sell it even if I wanted. But still, I’m playing the game from time to time even though I’ve had it for over a year. And I still haven’t gotten halfway through the expansion. It’s a great game, and if you haven’t yet read my three part strategy guide, you should check it out.

My first impression of Pixeljunk Monsters was not a good one. I took it as just another tower defense game, this one with a cutesy theme. Oh boy how the game grew on me. It’s probably my most-played Playstation 3 game now.  The layout of the trees on each board and the patterns in which the attacking monsters travel really lends a lot of complexity to the game. There are land-bound and flying monsters, some immune to fire, some immune to cold. You collect gold to buy towers and gems to upgrade the towers or purchase new tower types. Each tower has a different upgrade path, so it’s important to know with each upgrade whether you’ll be improving a tower’s range, speed, damage, or area of effect. I’ve created a pdf guide to help with that.

I finally just got past the “Paku-Paku” level on the expansion by using nothing but arrows and cannons, and one black hive near the end of the game to help kill the boss. I have a feeling that I’ll do with Pixeljunk Monsters what I did with Mariokart DS – take years to finish every last piece.