I'll cut right to it, if you liked the first PixelJunk Shooter, you're going to like PixelJunk Shooter 2. I never played the first game, but I read several reviews of the first installment to prepare for the sequel. The problem I ran into is that each review I read sounded like it was a review PJS 2. I read our own Mike "pheriannath" Katsufrakis' Co-Op Review of the first PJS and it was like he was reading my mind (while using a time machine back in 2009). Pretty much everything he stated in his review applies to the sequel. The setting has changed, but the gameplay remains the same, with one horrible exception, which I'll get to later.
For the uninitiated, PixelJunk Shooter 2 is a twin stick shooter that charges you with flying a tiny spaceship around hazardous environments while rescuing scientists and miners on the planet Apoxus Prime. Your ship is armed with bullets and homing missiles. Tap the trigger to fire, hold down the trigger for full-auto homing missiles. Be careful, though, as full-auto can quickly overheat your craft. Once you overheat, you burn, then crash. You have a grappling hook that can pick up survivors, treasure, and power-ups. Your hook can also be used to intact with the environment, like pulling plugs and switches. There are baddies to blast, as well.
Co-op buddies using water to cool the liquid hot magma.
If you played to the end of PJS you probably have a good idea where the second game takes place. Since I'm not ruining anything that you won't see in the first thirty seconds of PJS 2, you begin the game by getting swallowed by a giant creature. The creature's gastrointestinal tract is the first area of play. The game is comprised of three areas divided into five stages each. Each stage has several rooms or maps to play through. I found that later stages could take anywhere from twenty to forty minutes to complete the first time through, depending on how bad I was flying or how tough the enemies were, but I'll get to the difficulty later.
Here's a solo player using the grappling hook to rescue survivors. How do they all fit in there? Oh, and he's in what looks like a stomach. Gross.
What really separates the PixelJunk Shooter franchise from other twin stick shooters is the liquid physics and puzzles. The first game used water and lava to great effect for puzzles and environmental hazards. The sequel has some new tricks up its sleeve, with stomach acid, green and purple goo, and black magnetic liquid adding to the mix. Each of these liquids behave differently when they come in contact with each other. Much of the game's charm comes from using them to your advantage. Adding water to a lava flow creates a layer of breakable rock. You may harness the magnetic liquid and pull it over your enemies. When water touches ice it begins to freeze, forming new barriers. There are a handful of suits for your ship that change the gameplay. The Hungry Suit, Water Suit, and Anti-Magnet Suit are just a few. You'll see ports in the levels if a suit is available, simply fly into it and you're ready to go. The environments have a lot of things to play with -when they are not trying to kill you.
These enemies can be absolute bastards.
Yes, everything is trying to kill you. Enemies can fill the air with bullets, rockets, or little stars as seen above. Don't get me wrong; this isn't a "bullet hell" title. The fire fights come in short bursts, punctuated by fluid dynamic puzzles and hazards, and they can be punishing. This is my biggest gripe with the game: PixelJunk Shooter 2's difficulty ranges from cakewalk to soul crushing.
Enemy spawns are triggered by different events. As you pick up that last survivor you may hear a little shriek, and these tiny little sentient shurikens may come spinning at you while you have no room to move. Boom, you're dead. Now you get to play the map all over. You have limitless space crafts, so you can die all you want, but if you lose too many survivors, it's game over. You then have to play the whole stage, which comprised of several maps, from the beginning. For every one hundred stars you collect the game un-kills a survivor, so it is pretty hard to actually see the fail screen. You'll be turning this game off due to frustration long before you run out of survivors. Oh, by the way, your weapons can and will kill the little guys, too.
Prepare for awkward controls in multiplayer glory!
There is a competitive multiplayer mode titled Online Battle. In this one on one mode you take turns playing defense and offense. One player tries to rescue survivors while the other tries to blast him out of the sky. You earn points that can be used to upgrade your vehicle. The odd thing is that your ship controls differently than in the game. Each shot fired has a recoil and makes your vehicle unwieldy. I tried it once, and somehow won. I then retired, undefeated.
If you make it to the light and dark areas, congratulations, you are a masochist!
The co-op in this game is identical to the first. Two players share a screen and follow one another through each level. If you enjoyed the co-op in PJS, you'll find more of the same here. The addition of a second player offers a nice safety net, since if one player dies and the other survives, the crashed player will respawn after a time penalty. Manipulating the puzzles can become a chore, as one of you will inevitably be left off to the side while the other gets to play with stomach acid. Asking your partner to cram themselves into a corner while you control the flow of liquid hot magma does not make a good co-op game. The difficulty will turn off casual gamers, and hardcore gamers won't want to sit and wait while someone else handles the puzzles. PixelJunk Shooter 2 is a fun, solid, title if you can look past the frustrating challenge. The harsh difficulty becomes even more apparent with a second person.