Boktai 2 prepares to rise and shine

Konami has shed a little more light on the sequel to Boktai, Hideo Kojima's solar-powered GBA effort.

Boktai 2: Solar Boy Django takes place directly after the events of the first game. The hero of the title is returning to his home town alongside Master Otenko, having polished off vast quantities of bloodsuckers in and around popular seaside resort The City of Death. But all is not well back in San Miguel, since those pesky Immortals have turned the inhabitants into a bunch of lumbering zombies.

Naturally, Django sets about sorting it all out - but a vampire goes and nicks his precious Solar Gun, would you believe. And so he is left unarmed as he embarks on an epic quest to restore sunlight to San Miguel, release the people from their zombie curse and get them all back working in the beer factory.

As with the previous game, the trick is that Boktai 2 uses a solar sensor to measure the amount of sunlight around you in the real world while you're playing the game. The level of light has a real-time effect on game events and you can make use of it to explore dungeons and fight enemies, dragging them out into the sunshine and watching them burn.

This gameplay element works with the GBA's internal clock, so you'll see a day or night-time San Miguel depending on when you're playing - as you might expect, the vampires tend to be more active at night and easier to stake when the sun's up. You can also store light up and use the special Pile Driver machine to finish off stricken Immortals.

We're promised "stunning 3D environments, greatly extended gameplay and tough challenges", apparently, plus Link Cable play for up to four players. Boktai 2 will be skipping out into the sunshine in May, and it looks like this.