by BONZO, HSM team writer

Lockwood has been teasing an expansion to the Sodium universe for some time. Salt Shooter was your first taste of what this alternate universe had to offer. Sodium2 pitted you against the speed junkies in Home to race for greatness. VICKIE, your favorite Home android, was duplicated for anyone and everyone who wanted to run in Home as this superlative artificial life.

But we knew of a threat in the Sodium universe. Rogue nanites which infested the scorpions and other machines. While they remained contained thus far, it was only a matter of time before the infestation became an outbreak.

Unfortunately, the outbreak has now affected one of the VICKIE clones as well. Dark Vickie has become sentient and wants to take over the Sodium universe with the aid of the rogue nanites and machines under her bidding. A new cadre of elites from the Iron Fusion force is forming, and the Home user has an opportunity to join the Iron Fusion Falcons and fight the rogue machines and defeat Dark Vickie, repair her programming and purge the rogue nanites from her system.

This new game, like the Salt Shooter game, will allow you access to the first five levels for free, but with the purchase of the Iron Fusion Falcon suit you can join the fleet through the rest of the levels. What we know so far is that the game will be a third-person shooter, but rather than a hover machine in an isolated arena, you operate a flying x-wing jet through linear levels such as the canyons of the Sodium Universe mountains, and this dimension’s equivalent of Lake Mead and attached river.

Little is known of the Iron Fusion falcon suit other than that it will grant you access to the full game and it will be an LMO with a holographic rank display module so you can show off your acquired Iron Fusion Falcon rank anywhere in Home. Completion of the game is hinted to earn you your falcon wings, but Lockwood is staying tight-lipped about what that means. Along with the wings, you can also earn the repair drone which cures Dark Vickie of the rogue nanites.

The third person perspective shooter will allow you to explore more of this expansive universe. The game seeks to combine both the excitement of the Salt Shooter in SodiumOne and the speed and terrain of Sodium2. Sodium Three looks to be a more expansive game, and three times as exciting as previous Sodium games, combining design elements from both preceding games and the Iron Fusion line of the Lockwood brand.

While the purchase of the Iron Fusion Falcon suit grants you access, it still only gives you the standard x-wing jet to play with. Other upgradeable elements include paint jobs, weapons and consumables like shields, repair drones and speed boosters and limited use EMP or Electro Magnetic Pulse to use in very tough situations when you are completely outnumbered and overwhelmed. The EMP disables local adversaries for a limited time, allowing you to make a dent in their numbers and regenerate some repairs to your jet with the repair drones, or escape the danger zone with a speed booster.

As with the original SodiumOne Salt Shooter, you fight a boss every five levels. These stronger and bigger nanite-corrupted robots will truly test your skill and resolve. As with the previous Sodium games, you can also earn resources to trade for Sodium credits with stationary VICKIE in the Sodium Hub. The credits allow you to purchase some low-level upgrades, while the premium upgrades can be purchased at any time through the Lockwood commerce points. No word as to what rewards you can expect to earn other than your rank, Iron Fusion Falcon wings and repair drone companion, but this is Lockwood we are talking about: you know they will have some truly superlative rewards to earn.

The ultimate goal is to rescue the Sodium Universe by stopping Dark Vickie and purging her of the infestation before it spreads to the rest of the machines in the Sodium landscape. This is a mission only the strong will survive, and an exciting interactive experience unlike anything we have seen in Home so far. What will become of the Sodium Universe, should the Iron Fusion Falcons fail? No one wants to know, and failure is not an option. The question is, are you strong enough to survive Sodium Three?

Share

One Response to “Sodium Universe Expansion?”

1. Jayson619 says:

   April 1, 2014 at 2:30 pm

   Lol it’s April Fool’s Day.

   Reply