Saturday 30 September 2017

Greenalink reviews Steamworld Dig 2




Developer and Publisher: Image & Form
Release Date: 
Switch: 21/09/2017
PC Steam: 22/09/2017
PS4/PS Vita US: 26/09/2017
PS4/PS Vita EUR: 27/09/2017
 Price: $20/ Euros 19.99/£14.99
Filesize: under 300mb


Steamworld Dig 2 is Image and Form's first ever attempt at making a sequel as previous projects had different gameplay despite being set in the same universe including Steamworld Tower Defence (obviously a tower defence game) for DSiware and Steamworld Heist (a 2D strategy game) for many modern platforms. This is also the first Steamworld entry where the Nintendo release was made with only one screen in mind because for Nintendo gamers, it's only available for Switch, not the Wii U and 3DS.


Features:
4 Underground sections to dig,
43 Hidden collectables,
1 Robotic crab,
A lot of ore to collect and sell for money


Graphics:

There's a bit of Steamworld vibe when it comes to the motion but it has a notable change in art style, everything looks a lot more detailed than previous entries with extra shades, it is best compared to art style transition from Rayman Origins to Rayman Legends


Sound:

If you're familiar with the first game, most of the sounds are there in the second entry with a few new sound effects used for new tools. The music is a step-up to the original by focusing on a different style many thanks to El Huervo, a talented musician who is notable for creating tracks for Hotline Miami 1 & 2,   The background music New Heights in El Machino played when exploring El Machino is one of the many gems this soundtrack has to offer.  Yarrow starts off ambient and builds up partway through the track.

Trivia: Penny Kettlebottom was named by Andy K250 as part of the Name that Robot contest back in April 2017


Like the first game, each underground will have a certain theme.  Yarrow will have poison-related traps.

Gameplay:

The aim of the game is to find her friend, Rusty. Along the way, she will meet a new companion and some gear to start her digging adventure. You collect ore to sell for cash which can be used to buy upgrades including stronger pickaxes to breakthrough tiles faster, bag upgrades to have more ore to collect per journey, armour upgrades to increase hit points and much more. There's a variety of enemies to encounter and challenge caves to explore for bonus goodies.

Although the structure is a bit identical to its prequel, the progression system has been revamped. You can only earn experience points by defeating enemies and completing main story objectives, gone are the blue orbs which were used as an alternative currency and any consumable tools such as TNT and Teleporters have been removed too,

One of the biggest additions to the game is the upgrade cog system which enables modifications to Dorothy's current gear
Want to increase the light radius of your lamp? Yes.
Want to fill up your water meter faster? Sure

There are some special mods which will make the game harder and rewarding at the same time but it requires finding hidden blueprints which are not always easy to find. One mod enables enemies to explode after dying, another allows the drop rate of bloodstones to increase but in return, Dorothy's will take an extra 50% damage. You can turn these mods off which is great as some of them will become useless later on in the game and should be used for more expensive/higher level mods.

Not paid mods, just find some spinning upgrade cogs and use those instead to enhance Dorothy's tools. 


The level design has a lot more freedom thanks to better gear abilities including the hookshot and the jetpack. The hookshot is one of the more fun items to use in the game because it has a lot of uses to navigate through small sections quickly and can take out flying bugs, while the jetpack does reduce the difficulty in various ways it enables more freedom with the level design as there is a bigger emphasis on platforming outside of challenge caves.

The Jackhammer is like a Drill in the first game but it can no longer be used as a weapon to damage enemies other than pushing them. One thing to point out is that the ore tiles are randomised just like the previous game but the overall map layout is always the same.

There is that feeling that you want to play a few more minutes just in case there is a transport tube nearby. The warp system has been tweaked for the better as it can be used to fast travel to any unlocked tube in the game.

Dying as a punishment varies depending on the amount of collected ore that wasn't sold to Barnacle Jones at El Machino. If you had a lot of pricey gems, then it is very punishing if you lose them all thanks to an unintentional death.

There are a few more boss fights to deal with this time around and only the final boss is challenging if you are aiming for a low upgrade% playthrough with only a few hearts and weak digging tools that are slow to dig through.

Controls on the Switch are decent and responsive, ZL/ZR functions exactly the same as L/R so you can playthrough the game with a Pokken USB controller if you want to. The controls can be mapped to any button such as shooting a Pressure Bomb by pressing ZL or ZR which is a win for everyone.

Version 1.0 only had Normal difficulty which drops a Health, Water or Light orb after killing an enemy, Version 1.1 added multi-language support via options and Easy difficulty, the main difference is that killing an enemy now will drop 2 orbs of either Health, Water or Light, sometimes it is a rainbow orb which will recover all 3 elements and that is done by using the environment (water/falling rocks) or friendly fire from the enemies.

Along the way, you will discover new tools to mess around with.

Value:

The game is notably longer than the first as it took me over 8 hours to complete the game, and a few more hours to achieve both 100% on secrets and completing the ultimate trial.
The incentive to get all 4 gold stars in a single playthrough will encourage diehard players to master the game even more, increasing replay value.

The post-game dungeon is tough and the only real criticism is that a 100% completed file hasn't got much to do afterwards due to every ore being discovered, fewer enemies to deal with, it's better to start a new game instead. A New Game+ that has max upgrades from the start and/or some way to enable challenge mods at the very start of the game would have been great additions.



The game itself had the best opening week for the Steamworld franchise so far!

Is the Switch version hampered at all?:

The Switch version of Steamworld Dig 2 only lacks achievements due to Nintendo logic, that's how good the Switch release of the game is.


Overall:

Steamworld Dig 2 is a digging decent game and a worthy sequel to the series.
It is a very polished game with fun gameplay mechanics, a must have for your 2D platformer collection.

+ Revamped gameplay
+ No two playthroughs are the same
+ Hookshot
+ Mods to buff gear and/or increase difficulty
+ 4 gold star playthrough attempts will increase replay value.
+ Steam related puns
+ El Huervo, Shelby Cinca, Dennis Wedin, Pelle Cahndlerby, DDWIP and Cordayne (additional sounds) did a great job with the soundtrack.

- Post-game content after the ultimate trial is lacking.
- A small HUD alteration which removed the current total value of collected ore. Can only be viewed by pausing the game


Recommended: A


Version played: Nintendo Switch

Review copy was provided by Image and Form

Interesting links to look at:
The timeline of the Steamworld series

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