REAL GAMES - ACTRAISER 2

Remember when I said Enix had no middle ground? Well, I may have been jumping to conclusions. ActRaiser 2 takes a perfect game and shits all over it, and the end result is mediocre.

Calling ActRaiser 2 a sequel is difficult to do.  Sure, you still play as the avatar during the platforming sections of the game, but that's it.  For some reason, Enix thought it was a good idea to remove the simulation parts from the game all together.  Remember burning down forests and flooding tiny populations of people just because you could?  Well I hope you took a picture, cause that shit is gone.

Personally, I keep a scrapbook for all of my disasters, both good and bad.  I feel that this is the only way that I can learn from my mistakes, and to grow as a god.

You start off in the sky palace, which is an updated version of the cloud-mobile from the first game.  You travel from town to town investigating and eventually flying down to kick some demon's ass.  Why even have the sky palace parts in the game?  They just waste time and serve no purpose other than to remind us of what Enix has taken away.  If you're going to make a straight side scroller, then cut the bullshit and get on with it.

The worst thing about this game, other than no simulation mode, is the controls.  Our avatar has grown wings in this game, so now he can fly!  Kinda.  Okay, so he really just glides.  And he's pretty bad at that too.  The only thing that has been changed on the controls is also its biggest downfall.  I'm sure you've seen or at least heard about the insane platforming feats necessary for this game.  We're talking pixel fucking perfect jumps just to get past the first two stages.  I lost count of how many times I died in the first stage alone.  Remember when I talked about the difference between fun\challenging and boring\irritating?  This is exactly what I was talking about.

Yep, that about sums up the gliding mechanics of this game.

Another thing that is missing is the amazing soundtrack.  The music made me feel like I should be playing a Star Trek game, which is odd considering none of this game takes place in space.  I can't say that the music was annoying or anything like that, but it definitely felt out of place, and it was nowhere near the amazing music present in the first ActRaiser.

One good thing about this game is the graphics.  They took the graphics from the first game and some how made them better.  Everything in this game looks visually stunning and well crafted.  At least Enix did something right.

Finally, we have the important part: the gameplay.  This game is fucking hard.  The platforming is ridiculous, and the bosses range from hard to punching-myself-in-the-balls-hard.  If it wasn't for the horrible jumping and gliding mechanics, I would say that this game falls under the fun kind of challenging.  Unfortunately, the bad controls put this game right in the middle of fun and frustrating.

I couldn't find a picture of someone punching them self in the balls, but this is what it looks like just before it happens.

ActRaiser 2 is not a horrible game.  It's also not as fun as its predecessor.  I'm forced to give this game a 3 dead angels out of 5 due to the controls.  If they had fixed the jump\glide problems before releasing it, this game would have scored an easy 4 out of 5.  This just goes to show that it's the small things that turns a good game into an unplayable mess.

After a wall of text, the credits roll while the statue of the avatar crumbles.  Then the doves fly in, like it's a John Woo film.  Yeah, I don't get it either.