BlastZone2 Gameplay Features Features include: 2D controls, but with hazards moving around in full 3D space An 8 level mission campaign with cutscenes and an integrated storyline of galactic struggle against impossible odds 3 Survival modes, all of which with infinite scaling levels Refined difficulty scaling that accommodates new players up to veterans with years of experience Cooperative multiplayer support for all gamemodes 4 unique gameplay environments 7 selectable ships, each with different stats and abilities Hundreds of different enemy types, each with different behaviors and stats A Turbo mode for each of the survival modes for hardcore gamers An online leaderboard to see how you stack up against the competition Additional levels and content to be released once the full version is available Tools to easily create your own levels, enemy types, bosses, and cutscenes for the BlastZone2 shooter engine Gamemodes Survival – Classic A If you were wondering what the original BlastZone was like, this game mode has what you’re looking for. This gamemode is beam-based and the objective is to destroy all the enemies before they pass by your ship. The one thing you don’t have to worry about is enemies crashing into your ship, since there is no health bar, only lives that are deducted for each enemy missed. The beams at your disposal are very powerful and can kill any enemy with a single hit, but each of them vary in size and longevity of the blast to affect how many enemies you can sweep across with a single stroke. Also, since this is a survival gamemode, the game runs infinitely long until you lose, thus making the primary objective to get a high score. Weapon 1 – Standard Laser The beam you start off with and will use the most is the standard laser beam. This beam is very narrow and can only be sustained for very short periods of time. The main advantage of this beam is that it has infinite ammo, but with a short cooldown time between each shot, which is illustrated by a charge meter at the bottom of the screen. Also, since this beam requires the most skill to use, it has the greatest points potential. Each successful hit on an enemy increases the current hit chain and the higher your chain, the more points you get per hit. However, if you miss with the laser, your chain is reset back to zero, thus greatly reducing the potential amount of points you can gain. An added side bonus for skillful uses of the laser is awarded if you can hit two enemies at once with the very short discharge time of the weapon. Weapon 2 – Wide Beam The second beam you gain is the wide beam which is only available after wave2 in the full version of BlastZone2, but is always available in the demo. This beam is much wider and can be sustained for longer periods of time than the standard laser. This allows the player to sweep across several enemies at once when used properly. Another advantage to this weapon is that it can be used even when the laser charge bar has not reached the top yet, allowing the player to throw in an extra quick shot if the laser cannot fire fast enough. However, there are a few disadvantages to using this weapon. The first is that using this weapon immediately resets your current points chain to zero, so this should only be used in emergencies when the normal laser isn’t good enough for a particular situation. The second disadvantage is that there is limited ammo for this weapon, so each shot should be carefully placed so none are wasted. Weapon 3 – Omega Cannon The Omega Cannon is a marvel of destructive power and can easily wipeout the entire screen of enemies. However, this uses 3 units of ammo, so it should only be used as a last resort when the standard laser and wide beam are not good enough for a fast barrage of enemies. This weapon can only be used starting on wave 5 and is not available in the demo. Survival – Classic B This gamemode plays very similar to Classic A, but with a unique points system. This gamemode offers greater potential rewards over Classic A for each action you take, but has point penalties for making mistakes, such as letting enemies pass by or using high powered weapons too often. What this means is that there is no distinct “Ammo” or “Lives”, as everything do you has an effect on your points tally. The trick to this gamemode is to learn your level of skill and stop the game when you think you have reached your limits. Pushing your limits can either show that you are improving more than you think, or may have a great penalty on your score. Survival – Enhanced This gamemode plays much closer to what you would expect from a common 2D shooter, but has been modified to make use of Survival-based gameplay elements. This gamemode maintains the infinite level gains from the previous two gamemodes and the enemies are spawned in slightly different patterns every time you play. To start off, you can choose from a range of ships, each of which focuses on different elements of the game, whether it be speed to help dodge things faster or more powerful weapons to eliminate enemies quicker. Also, depending on which difficulty you choose, the various enemy types will appear at different points in the game. The enemies you face in this gamemode range from standard enemies with linear movement, but can fire both normal and tracking shots at you, to enemies that fly up and down as they quickly move across the screen, as well as seeker enemies that home right to your position if you’re not fast enough. The weapons available in this gamemode mostly consist of varying strengths of charge shots. The longer you hold the charge button, the stronger the shot you discharge will become. However, the best part comes when you get to wave 7+ and you unlock the “High Power Mode”. This mode takes much longer to charge and leaves your ship vulnerable to attack during that time, but once it is achieved, all the stats of your ship are greatly enhanced for a short period of time, and you have immediate access to various beam weapons and instant fire charge shots depending on the type of ship you choose. Mission Mode This gamemode is closer to the traditional side-scrolling shooter formula, with a set of predefined levels and various bosses and minibosses along the way. However, mission mode in BlastZone2 offers the faster, more intense, and more skill based gameplay elements that the game focuses on. Similar to Enhanced Survival mode, the player can choose from a variety of ship types, each with varying stats and abilities. However, Mission mode has upgradeable stats that are attained by picking up powerups dropped from fallen enemies. Multiplayer An extra effort has been done for BlastZone2 to make its multiplayer a unique experience. As with most shooters, multiplayer consists of turning each of the gamemodes into a cooperative experience so that both players can work together to defeat the final boss of mission mode or get a combined highscore in the survival modes. However, what makes things different in BlastZone2 are the extra teamwork-based elements added to the mix. Most of this is based on the fact that the ships the two players can choose from can compliment each other in different ways. One example of this is if one player chooses a light, fast, support ship, and the other player chooses a slower, heavy gunner ship, using the strengths of each ship to benefit the other. Since the heavy gunner ship takes much longer to charge its guns, it needs the lighter support ship to defend it during that process. Therefore, if the support ship can defend the heavy gunner long enough, the heavy gunner’s weapons will reach maximum potency and deal a tremendous amount of damage.