[h1] The Metroidvania Review[/h1]
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[b]How Metroidvania is it?[/b]
High Fit – While there is no Map, the clunkiness of the controls and the emphasis on breaking blocks actually reminds me of the original Metroid – for better or worse.
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[h1]Full Review[/h1]
For only $2, [i]Treasure Hunter Man 2[/i] (which I will be referring to as [i]THM2[/i] for the rest of this review) actually offers a pretty meaty package. Generally speaking that’s the price point where you would expect a “Mini-Metroidania”, but you’re likely to get at least 3 hours out of [i]THM2[/i], and if you’re going for 100% it’s more likely than not going to take you more than 10. And, for your money, you get a pretty decent game out of it too. The thing that [i]THM2[/i] struggles with is actually standing out in today’s oversaturated market. I’m not going to say that it does nothing unique, but at least in my personal opinion it doesn’t really do anything exciting either.
The premise of [i]THM2[/i] is that your son, the titular Treasure Hunter Man from the first freeware game, has gone missing. You begin your journey with nothing but a compass that points you to your son’s tracking device, but eventually get a hodgepodge of tools to help you on your way. The story is pretty throw-away, it’s a typical mystery hook to get you motivated, and for what it is it’s effective. The game’s real charm comes from the creativity of its locales. You’ll be climbing towers to castles in the sky, diving into the bottom of the ocean, and even crossing over into other dimensions in your journey to find your boy.
The primary gameplay is a mix of puzzle platforming and a lot of forced combat rooms. The combat is, unfortunately, a little clunky. The sword is especially short ranged for its speed and presents a liability any time you attempt to use it. You quickly get a shield however, which ends up being your most effective weapon from the moment you have it. When you jump you can push down to land on your shield, which causes the same amount of damage as your sword and prevents HP loss from when you land on just about anything, including spikes. In fact, your shield is more than just a weapon and defense tool, since you can shield surf down slopes to get a boost in jumping height – which is actually kind of fun. As you Mario jump on everything, your sword’s primary purpose becomes breaking the stone blocks that litter the game.
These stone blocks are very important though, because they [i]could[/i] contain a little green coin that is very necessary for your continued success. Unlike many games that hide things in blocks, there are a limited number of these coins in the world, and if you want to hit 100% completion, you’ll need to find all of them. In my opinion this is where the game falls a little bit from grace, since there’s no other indicator that you’re going to get these coins until you hit the block (unless there’s an item that I missed on my play through.) If you happen to miss any coins, you’ve little choice to scour the world again and again breaking every block hoping that ONE of them has the treasure you’re looking for.
Looking at the game from a non-completionist standpoint though, [i]THM2[/i] is as I’ve said – pretty good… but not great. I found myself getting a little bored near the end when they throw a few enemy gauntlets at you in a row. The final boss (that I faced) was actually hard enough that I had to go and explore some more to power up, but once I broke that power-to-skill barrier, the ending is kind of disappointing overall if you [i]don’t[/i] find at least enough secrets to change it.
If you like the idea of rooting around for coins, then I heartily recommend [i]Treasure Hunter Man 2[/i]. It’s a decent and competent enough game though even if you don’t enjoy that kind of search. At least, for only $2, you’re not going to be bleeding if you try it and don’t end up loving it.
3 out of 5
