Review: PixelJunk Shooter 2 (PSN)
Celebrated for its simple yet fun and engaging games, PixelJunk brings us a sequel to one of their greatest hits, Shooter 2. The first Shooter game had you playing as a rescue ship, digging through the planet to save your fellow colleagues lost while researching an alien planet. A simple objective that weaved you through mazes and puzzled with lava, ice, and scolding hot magnetic fluid. At the end of the rescue journey, an alien worm comes up and eats you and all the whole crew. The second game picks up where the first one left off as you continue to struggle to survive.
The first note to take in is the significant difficulty jump in the game. In the first Shooter, I hardly ever found myself dying once. All the puzzles and mazes were simple enough to figure out and get past all the enemies. In Shooter 2, however, the maze of puzzles and enemies jump to new heights. New elements such as acid and bug eggs have you staying on your toes. You really need to take note of your environment and any possible changes. What I do like is that some puzzles will have a sense of urgency, where unlike the first game you could slowly plan all your moves and execute as you liked. A new array of enemies also puts a great deal of pressure on you. Enemies tend to roam around the mazes a lot more while still dealing with stationary enemies as well. While the levels are more difficult, the game is just as long as the first, containing only three episodes. Gameplay is still the same as a twin stick shooter, but the difficulty of the puzzles do keep you going forward.
Another feature that has been added on is Online Versus mode. The game plays similar to a capture the flag type. Two players take turns switching between being offensive and defensive. When on Defense the main objective is to go around the map and collect Survivors, then bring them back to your location to score points. The Offensive scouts around the map and looks for the other player, doing their best to gun them down and prevent them from scoring points. As you win games and climb up in rank, you can purchase new items to upgrade your weapons and defenses.
Like before there is a Co-Op mode for the main story, where you and a partner can navigate through the mazes and fight enemies together. Sadly, there is still no Online Co-Op so you need to have a friend present with you. One would think that with Online Versus mode, you would have the same with Co-Op, but once again the ball was dropped on this aspect. I would also have liked to see different types of online modes, be it in Versus or possibly Co-Op. The game itself opens up various windows for multiplayer gameplay, but it is mostly kept to a single-player format.
Visuals are still much the same. You have the simplistic art style rolling throughout the game having Shooter maintain its simple charm. The soundtrack was done by High Frequency Bandwidth once again. The electronic chill tracks play very satisfactorily and are more abundant compared to how many tracks were in the first game. Overall, the game holds up to its predecessor adding a little more here and there.
PROS: Harder difficulty. Satisfying soundtrack and visuals. Easy to pick up and play.
CONS: Just as short as the first game. Lack of online Co-op and different game modes.
Bottom Line: Shooter 2 is a great game to pick up and play game. An easy game to chill out to with enough difficulty to keep you back for more.
Verdict: B+
