PixelJunk Shooter 2, the sequel to Q-Games' inventive PlayStation Network game, adds more than just light and acid to the list of new fluidic matter the developer is playing with. Bugs, bubbles and bullet hell also join the updated liquid arsenal.
We've already experienced how PixelJunk Shooter 2 plays with the corrosive acids that spew forth from the belly of a beast and how Q-Games used its fluid technology to dynamically render light in pitch black caves.
But there's another substance filled the guts of the massive creature you'll find yourself exploring in Shooter 2. A green, sticky goo will fill some organic caverns. Touch it and you'll become attached. Upon freeing your ship, the goo will grow.
Combine that goo with water and those goo balls will birth tiny green bacteria. They'll mess with your flight path and that of your missiles, should you fire through their swarms. They're more of a nuisance, it seems, that the rest of PixelJunk Shooter's lifeforms.
In this organic world, we got a peek at the game's Hungry Suit. It attaches a pair of mandibles to your ship, which let you chomp through hard deposits like Pac-Man. You'll only be able to move your ship in four directions, sticking to the X-Y axes, and your ships missiles will be inaccessible while wearing the Hungry Suit.
After players clear the fourth world of PixelJunk Shooter 2, which runs from worlds four through six in the series, they'll enter a cool, spaced out environment. Q-Games president Dylan Cuthbert calls this the bullet hell level, because of the creatures that inhabit it.
Bizarre flora-fauna blended creatures will spit out a stream of bullets in patterns that invoke Cave shooters. The flow of bullets is not nearly as relentless as those hardcore scrolling shooters, but it's a nice homage and reflective of the more challenging difficulty level in PixelJunk Shooter 2.
The sixth world is the previously featured Dark World, which plays with darkness and light in incredibly clever ways. Don't miss our previous coverage for more details on how light flow will add a new layer of complexity and creativity to the sequel.
Q-Games' sequel is clearly that, adding an impressive level of depth and new features to an already inspired game.
PixelJunk Shooter 2 will be coming to the PlayStation Network "soon," according to Cuthbert, featuring all-new tracks from musical outfit High Frequency Bandwidth.