Q Games have been creating quite a name for themselves thanks to the PixelJunk series on the PlayStation Network. The latest game, PixelJunk Shooter has just released, and despite its short length, its a fantastic, original game that's easy to pick-up-and-play, and has a visual style that keeps the series high benchmark in place.

It's hard to say whether Shooter is a bit of a misnomer. While there are a handful of relatively un-challenging enemies, and you do plenty of shooting throughout, your main concern is the various liquids and gasses that interact with one another as you progress. In total there are four substances; lava, water, gas and a magnetic oil-like liquid. Until you play the game it may be easy to wonder why having four simple elements can have such a large effect on a game, but it's how they interact with each other that makes the biggest difference.  If lava is blocking your path to the next area, you'll need to find some water to mix with it. When water and lava mix they create a solid rock that you can shoot through, and voila, exit stage right.

It would be easy to get caught up explaining how each substance works with another, and how that plays into puzzle solving, but experiencing that yourself is half the fun. 

In order to progress through each stage you must clear the room of all scientists, whether that be save them or kill them (but be careful, too many deaths and you'll have to start again). You also need to collect gems to progress to new levels, which can be more difficult than it sounds. Gems are hidden in lava, rocks, water or in secret areas that you'll need to do some exploring to find.

While you're playing, the gems can be a bit frustrating to seek out, but they're ultimately one of the biggest reasons to keep playing the game once you're finished. As mentioned the game is quite short. It has only three levels each with a handful of stages within. To play the game through from start to finish it only takes about three or four hours, but the core gameplay is so good you'll want to keep playing when it's all done, at which point you'll want to challenge yourself to make it through again finding all the scientists and hidden gems. And for the PlayStation Trophy collectors out there, you'll be likely get around to doing that anyway.

Given the game's length, it's a big tease when you defeat the final boss and a "To Be Continued..." sign pops up. This should hardly be a surprise for those who have played previous PixelJunk games, which have received "Encore" expansions, but at least it means there is more to come.

There are bosses at the end of each level, and all three are very well designed. The developers have done a good job of giving subtle explanations of how to defeat each boss, by having you interact with them in some way at the beginning which will give you a hint as to what to do when things really heat up. The subtle explanations don't only limit themselves to boss characters though. You're not really given much of a tutorial when you start playing the game, you're just left to your own devices to figure things out (unless you read the How to Play section, but who does that?).

You're also able to play PixelJunk Shooter co-operatively which changes the experience quite a bit. In some stages you're given suits that give you new abilities, such as to shoot lava, water, or fly through otherwise impassable substances. Co-operatively you're not always both given the same abilities though, so you have to help each other to make it through. A great example of this is the anti-magnetism suit that repels, and allows you to fly through the oil-like liquid. If one player has this, they have to make sure the second player stays very close, otherwise they'll be covered with oil and explode. 

The effects that each substance gives off is quite impressive, as is the overall visual design. Previous PixelJunk games have been quite minimalistic when it comes to visual design, and this is no exception. That's not to say there is no detail though. Each level has a new look and feel to it, and you know they must be doing something right when you find yourself flying in and out of water or oil just because it looks cool.

Equally effective is the games soundtrack, which is done by UK group High Frequency Bandwidth. There are a handful of tracks that repeat as you play through, but they're simply fantastic, and it's not entirely uncommon to find yourself head bobbing as you play through. It's even worth turning the sound effects down from time to time just to listen to the music. A PixelJunk Eden soundtrack was eventually released, and with a bit of luck they'll follow suit here. The music doesn't integrate into the game so much in regards to your movements, but it helps make the game one you can just relax on the couch and play.

PixelJunk Shooter has some quality elements both in terms of design and gameplay, which keep you coming back for more. The promise of extra content on the horizon is very appealing but it would have been nice to see this download with a bit more substance. Hopefully that wait for more PixelJunk Shooter won't be too far off.