The Rolando 2 For Iphone

While Rolando 2 has only been out for a few days, an official review of the game seems to be more a formality than a necessity for much of our audience. It seems clear that fans of the original title scooped up the new release the moment it arrived, and the early response has been overwhelmingly positive.
The strength of the originalRolando title was clear. It was one of the first original iPhone-native platformers designed specifically for touch and tilt controls. Rather than mapping existing controls to some strange virtual D-Pad equivalent, Handcircus sat down and imagined how a true iPhone-platformer might play, and… they did it with style.



The music, art, and humor throughout the original production were really amazing. From our original Rolandoreview:

The most striking part of the game, however, is the level of polish and production of the entire title. The style, music, and humor that is delivered adds as much to the experience as does the gameplay. The Rolandos will frequently address you at the beginning of each level to progress the plot, and you will genuinely feel bad when one gets killed.

Rolando 2 takes all that was great from the original and expanded on it, making it bigger, better, and Rolando-ier. The same charming art style is preserved while adding a modern flare with some 3D level-effects. Mr. Scruff returns to provide a wonderful soundtrack that is also available for individual purchase via iTunes. The game offers larger levels and expands on the individual Rolando characterization while introducing new Rolandos throughout the title. The overall package results in an amazing experience that rivals franchises on other platforms.
Rolando 2 also adds a number of new elements to the gameplay with the introduction of underwater scenes, vehicles, new weapons and new Rolando skills. Weapons include the bow/arrows, laser beams and the all powerful "boom finger". Levels are larger, and in many instances, you have to coordinate a large squad of Rolandos to successfully navigate each level.


Based on our impressions, the gameplay of Rolando 2 seems slightly easier than the original. As best as we can remember, there appear to be the fewer purely dexterity-based levels which required avoiding a number of enemies while navigating around treacherous levels. Understandably, these levels could cause some frustration for more casual players, so we suspect this shift was intentional. Simon Oliver had told us at WWDC that other design changes had been made to make it more accessible to casual players. This includes the ability to choose to a number of different levels at any given time as well as the ability to skip particularly frustrating levels.
While there are puzzle elements to the game, it'd be hard to call this game (or the original) a real puzzler. It's unlikely you'll find yourself stuck not knowing exactly what to do next, as most level solutions are pretty straightforward. The long term joy of the game does not come in the difficulty of the levels, but in your ability to navigate them completely and speedily.


Ngmoco has integrated their Plus+ network into Rolando 2 which offers global leaderboards as well as a nice new system to challenge your friends. I've always been of the opinion that online components to games are what make them the most interesting, and this online head-to-head competition adds a lot of long term value to the game. In addition, Ngmoco also announced in March that Rolando 2 will receive up to 20 more levels in subsequent free updates, much like the original.
In terms of negatives to the sequel, there are very few objective ones. There have been reports of Rolandos getting stuck in certain parts of the level requiring a level restart. While a few other minor bugs reported here and there, nothing that greatly impacted gameplay. As in the original, there can still be some control-system frustration with the Spikey Commando when navigating sideways and upside down, though, again, less-so in this sequel.
All in all, we are really impressed with Rolando 2 which does justice to one of the few classic iPhone originals. Like the original, the art, style and music come together in a wonderfully immersive package. And with the addition of Plus+, you'll find yourself working to perfect your scores on individual levels in order to challenge your friends.

Game Details Name: Rolando 2 (v1.0) Price: $9.99 [Buy] Developer: Ngmoco Size: 56.1 MB Device: Tested on iPhone 3G Rolando 2 offers a really well rounded iPhone platformer experience from music to art to controls. Fans of the original will be particularly pleased with the upgrades to the franchise which still retains much of the feel of the original. The sequel comes highly recommended to both old fans and newcomers.

Platform Puzzler 'Toki Tori' Finally Arrives For Iphone

Two Tribes' long awaited iPhone version of Toki Tori [$4.99] has finally arrived in the App Store tonight. The game was originally released for the Gameboy Color back in 2001 and has since been updated for the Wii and now the iPhone (published by Chillingo).


Toki Tori is a puzzle platformer in which you control the actions of a cute chick across 80 levels. The goal of each level is for Toki Tori to free his siblings who have been mysteriously kidnapped. Each level has a number of eggs that much be rescued and a certain inventory of tools to accomplish that task. The levels consist of a side-scrolling platformed environment with ladders, obstacles and enemies. Solving a level involves finding a way to collect all the eggs without getting stuck or killed by an enemy. Judicious use of your special tools is the only way to succeed.
Tools come in a variety of shapes and sizes including: a telewarp, bridge builder, freeze-o-matic and more. You are only given a subset of tools and a limited number of each to solve the levels and you will find yourself starting them over to get it right.
The game is beautifully animated and offers a wonderfully polished experience. I found the controls to be very well adapted to the iPhone touch-screen. Simply tapping on a location will move Toki Tori to that spot. The final version's controls have seen significant improvements in sensitivity over the early beta version we looked at in February. In the end, the controls stay out of your way and let you focus on the game itself.
In the past, I've criticized iPhone puzzle games for being too easy and too short. Balancing level gameplay is an art and Toki Tori clearly benefits from being a long established game. While I haven't yet completed the 80 included levels, I found the difficulty ramped up nicely and provided some particularly imaginative challenges. Unlike some games the solutions to the more advanced levels weren't always immediately obvious which make for a much more enjoyable and rewarding experience.
This gameplay video shows two levels: an easy and a more difficult one.

[ Full HD version | Low Bandwidth version ]

The game is divided into four distinct worlds. Once the normal levels in a world are complete, you may proceed to the next world. Meanwhile, a number of "hard" levels from the completed world are also unlocked and can be played at any time.
Overall, Toki Tori is a wonderfully challenging puzzle game that has been very well adapted to the iPhone and comes highly recommended.
App Store Link: Toki Tori, $4.99