International Mac Podcast

Rolando 2 is the follow-up to Rolando. Rolando was created by Simon Oliver and published by Ngmoco (Next Generation Mobile Company). The point of Rolando 1 & 2 is to all your rolandos to the end of the level by finishing puzzles, dealing with challenges and being awesome. Rolando 2 added more physics features by adding in weight of the Rolando to the equation. Rolando 2 also added water (which the bigger rolandos need to sink in to complete certain puzzles) and perspective 3D.

Rolando 2 starts off with the old sages becoming sick, and you (ALMIGHTY FINGER) must help Sir Richard find the cure. The first set of levels teaches you the controls and off you go on a ship to the island. Once on the island you travel from the beach, through jungles, into the very center of the volcano, and finally you reach summit of the mountain.

The main gameplay mechanics at work are, Platforming, Puzzle, and Twitch. The game features a whole crew of rolandos, from fat ones (like William “Billy” Loutfish), to fast ones (like Sir Richard), to commandos (like Commander Major James Cardigan), royalty (Like the King of the rolandos) and one new character that was introduced and plays a big role, the creature you meet in the forest. Now in the first Rolando, all the aforementioned rolandos would have the same weight, and the same speed. However in Rolando 2, Simon Oliver and Ngmoco, added weight, and speed variables, for example; Billy may be slower than someone like Sir Richard, however Billy will sink in water. This adds a new aspect to the game because you need to use the right character in the right situation, there was a bit of this in the original Rolando, but not to this magnitude. So as you are playing the level, guiding your rolandos through, swiping the screen to jump from ground to pedestal (or whatever you may be jumping to), you can encounter enemies or puzzles to open doors so you can continue.

Puzzles in Rolando 2 can be as simple as pressing a button, or getting enough weight (enough rolandos) on a button to open a door, or as complex as needing to use a commando to go to the other side of the door by using the ceiling, then exploding some TNT, and then your fast rolandos must jump onto a rotating beam. At times the screen can be pretty hectic, and you almost wish you just had 2-3 rolandos instead of say, 11. Yes on one level you need to guide all 11 of your rolandos back to the boat. Hectic, Yes. Fun, HELL YES! Because that is where this game shines, the hecticness actually adds to the fun. Which seems silly but it is the levels with more rolandos that you want to play instead of the levels where you just control the King. Puzzles can become pretty intense, like the level, “The Golden Monkey,” where the entire level is just a puzzle. However you must overcome all this puzzles, enemies, and traps to finish the level and unlock achievements.

Achievements in this game are comprised of ‘talents’; these you will collect by doing certain tasks throughout the campaign. Time based; there is a time limit for every level, complete the level before the time limit expires and you will receive these. Rolando Based; these are given out if you collect every rolando in the level, aka you can’t let any of your buddies die. Yes you will become attached and will not want this little 2D characters to meet their timely demise. Achievements are always cool, but it’s always more fun to rub it into other people’s faces (but you didn’t hear that from me, I’m not competitive ) therefore this game needed Plus+, so you can show your friends and check the leaderboards.

This is the second Ngmoco game to use Plus+, Ngmoco’s social service for the iPhone. You can make friends, send push challenges, unlock achievements (with point values, a new thing from their old games), and check out the catalog of their games. Ngmoco has already expressed two things about their service; 1) All of their old games with be getting updated to include Plus+. 2) This is not a service just for Ngmoco, they want other development teams to add games. For example Rolando 2 has 48 achievements (if I counted correctly) that total to 3000 points.

Unlike the original game I have problems with this one. As I tweeted out the other day (the tweet was actually directed toward ‘Splosion Man but same thing goes);

If you need to add a skip level feature to your game, it is too hard. Or some people suck too much. (via twitter.com/nickmcguire)

A little harsh? Maybe. The complete truth? Yes. The only reason you would need to skip a level is if you are dying too much, and if that is true, the level might be too hard. Unless one part is too hard, and even I get tied up at parts of games. However the fun for me is continuing at the problem in different ways. Because a good game is meant to challenge us, to entice us to do better if we start to fail. However that is a personal opinion for myself, so not really a huge problem. I guess this is not a problem however it is for me, the game ends at the best (and worst) cliffhanger ever! My jaw dropped at the concept for the next game, I currently have my christmas list in hand the only thing on it is Rolando 3. The technology probably won’t be boosted too much from 2-3, unlike 1-2 (Graphics and Gameplay received huge updates) however the story will be enough to get me.

To end on a happy note I’m going to sum up all the big changes from the original Rolando to Rolando 2. Some of these things I would love to cover more in depth, however this review is growing a bit on the large side.

• The graphic update; Rolando 2 boasts an impressive 2.5D graphic engine, where when you start rolling you can see the .5D. Super cool addition.
• More characters; With the additions of the forest beast to the entirely new crew. There was truly a land of rolandos.
• Character classes; With the addition of character classes, puzzles seemed to be increased. Weight and speed really added a new element.
• Boom Finger; A new way to explode bricks and enemies. Quite useful.
• Bow and Arrow; Another new way to kill enemies, and also to hit targets to unlock doors.
• Vehicles; A new way to travel in this sequel, and a lot of fun.
• New enemies; These new enemies challenge the player in all new ways.
• Plus+ integration; Welcomed with open arms. Plus+ is a great way to interact with friends and find out how good you are at Rolando through the leaderboards.
• Two part story; Although I was super bummed to find out I couldn’t play the second part of the story ’til R3. It totally wet my appetite in anticipation for the next one.
• A lot more collectibles; In the first rolando, you could collect up to 4 diamonds. In R2 you can collect up to 4 diamonds and 20 flower diamonds.
• iSave; My favourite feature, when you receive a phone call or press the home button during a level your progress is a saved by iSave.

And I think that sums up Rolando 2, which is currently priced at $9.99 (CAD). I think it’s worth every dollar. I am giving Rolando 2, 5 rolls out of 5.