PixelJunk Shooter 2, a downloadable PlayStation 3 game released Tuesday, is a sequel brimming with new ideas and a welcome follow-up to one of my favorite games. I just wish it were as fun as the original.
I was delighted by the original PixelJunk Shooter when it debuted in late 2009. It was an innovative blend of puzzle-solving and shooting, two genres I never expected would work well together. Although it was short, it was fun and perfectly in tune with developer Q-Games’ other creations, PixelJunk Monsters and PixelJunk Eden .
Q-Games later released an “Encore” expansion for each of those games, offering more content to players. PixelJunk Shooter 2, a full sequel, is a departure from that pattern. When I spoke to the developers at last year’s Tokyo Game Show about that decision, they said they had so many new ideas that they had to develop a sequel versus an expansion pack.
It shows. While the first game was largely focused on manipulating simple environmental elements like magma and water, Shooter 2 introduces a number of new hazards and enemies right from the start. The first chapter of the game concerns your escape from inside a giant creature, its body brimming with acid that slowly corrodes your vessel and ever-expanding egg chambers that threaten to envelop you.
Even more exciting is the third chapter, in which the elements of light and darkness are added to the lava-versus-water dynamic. Players must manipulate their surroundings to keep their ship illuminated, or else invincible creatures will emerge from the shadows and attack. It’s often extremely tense and occasionally claustrophobic, when your only chance for survival is a tiny, moving cone of light.
Hand in hand with all these new ways to die comes an increased difficulty level. The first game’s levels centered on puzzle-solving, but Shooter 2 requires quick reflexes. It’s a lot harder to rescue all the survivors and collect all the treasure. Since every death forces you to restart the chamber (although not the level), going through Shooter 2 alone will take a long time. If you can recruit a friend for the game’s local cooperative mode, the difficulty is balanced out — as long as one player is alive, the other can respawn after a few seconds.
The biggest addition to PixelJunk Shooter 2 is an online versus mode where players compete in small arenas. Each player gets two turns on offense (collecting survivors) and defense (hunting the other player). With each victory, players advance in rank and earn in-game cash. This may also be wagered before the match, increasing the percentage gain toward the next rank if you win.
While this new mode is loaded with options, I found it to be completely tedious. Your ship doesn’t control as well as it does in story mode, draining the simple fun out of flying around. The constant swapping between offense and defense grinds the game’s momentum to a halt. Worst of all, you can’t make progress when you play against your friends — you have to play strangers to gain ranks.
PixelJunk Shooter 2 was featured on Wired.com’s list of the most anticipated games of 2011 for a reason: We wanted more of what made the first game so great. Shooter 2 largely delivers in that respect, but it brings a difficulty spike and an unremarkable online mode along for the ride.
I enjoyed Shooter 2 enough to recommend it, but I don’t see myself replaying levels in order to find all the secrets, like I did for the first game. At least not without help.
WIRED Chock-full of new elements and hazards; core gameplay still a blast, especially with a friend.
TIRED Increased difficulty means more deaths and lots of restarts; unappealing online mode.
$10, Sony
Rating: 
Read Game|Life’s game ratings guide.
All images courtesy Sony
