Arguably the best exclusive title for the PlayStation 4 upon its 2013 release was the fantastic Shooter, Resogun.
An intense but intuitive twin-stick shooter, Resogun exploded off the screen with an impressive display of vibrant color and particle effects.
Now, the studio behind that masterpiece, Housemarque, is back with another foray into the shooting genre: this time with Matterfall.
Associate Producer for Housemarque, Jari Hokkanen stopped by Gamespot’s E3 2017 stage on Wednesday to talk about this developer’s latest creation.
Materfall mixes elements of twin-stick shooting, a genre for which the developer has become synonymous, with platforming action. Hokanen described Matterfall’s influences as a mixture of shooting games like Gunstar Heroes and Turrican, with the platform sensibilities of a game like Metroid.
Players guide their character through a number of platforming levels that appear to play like a mixture of Resogun and Mega Man.
Particle effects still litter the screen after being tossed from their former bodies by powerfully vibrant explosions. Ordinance is constantly discharged in your direction as you try to guide your character to a moment of safety. The left control stick is responsible for your physical movement, while aiming and firing are both done with the left stick.
Housemarque staples like the Overdrive effect, a special metered move that slows down time, allowing you the advantage of actually breathing before reacting to something onscreen, make appearances as well.
You will be able to equip up to three secondary weapons (known as augmentations) at a time in each level. A variety of these items will be available, however, they are only unlocked once you rescue one of the humans who are hidden throughout Matterfall’s stages.
A dash move grants you momentary invulnerability, while also briefly transforming you into a weapon. The demonstration shown required careful timing of the dash move in order to make your way through increasingly impossible walls of bullets being thrown on screen.
Hokkanen also noted that the design team has taken care to craft the game’s levels with the speed-running community in mind.
Housemarque has always had a talent for creating interesting takes on established genre’s, and Matterfall looks to continue that tradition. We will find out for sure when the game releases exclusively for the PlayStation 4 on August 15th, 2017.
Are you ready to blow something up in Matterfall? Talk about it in the comments section below.
Be sure to check out the rest of NerdBacon’s E3 2017 coverage right here!
Written by The Watchman
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