iPhone Review: Rolando 2 – Quest for the Golden Orchid

Developer/Publisher: Hand Circus/ngmoco:)
Genre: Platformer
Price: $9.99
Verdict: Buy it if you were a huge fan of the original or new to the series, but don’t expect it to be as revolutionary as the first one was.
Pros: Fantastic presentation, gameplay still as great as ever, new Rolandos are awesome
Cons: Doesn’t really do much to differentiate from the original

The original Rolando is still one of the defining games on the App Store – it was truly one of the first games to sell gamers like myself on the iPhone and iPod touch as actual gaming systems, as developer Hand Circus and publisher ngmoco:) leveraged the platform’s capabilities into a platforming experience that stood up with anything on the PSP and DS while being unique to the iDevice platform. Now the sequel is available, and while it’s not a bad game by any means – it is no where as revolutionary as the original was.

Democracy was instituted shortly after this picture was taken.

Rolando 2’s gameplay will be familiar to anyone who’s played the original Rolando – you have your little gangs of spherical Rolandos that you must select and roll around to get to the exits, manipulating the environment and navigating hazards along the way. The game still controls as well as it once did, utilizing both the touch screen and accelerometer to control the Rolandos. Most of the new elements to the gameplay are in the level design and some of the character abilities. For example, the Rolandos will act differently in water based on their size (lighter Rolandos float, heavier ones sink), and there’s a new Rolando who can float like a balloon when he eats a chili pepper. It’s not really anything completely revolutionary compared to what the first game was for the iPhone, but it’s all still great fun nearly a year later.

Just as long as they don't fall over on top of me, I think we'll be cool

The other 2 big elements in Rolando 2 are the new graphics engine and branching path level progression. While the Rolandos are still 2D sprites, the levels and environments are now rendered in 3D. The effect actually works really well, and the game rarely ever suffers from a Paper Mario-esque 2D sprites in a 3D environment effect although when the camera adjusts, you can notice the edge of some of the sprites, but the effect is rare. The branching level progression is of more note. It’s not entirely non-linear as you still have 5 worlds to advance through in order, but you’ll be given multiple levels to choose at the start of each world and the paths will branch off and come back together, so if one level is giving you trouble, then you can beat other ones first and come back to it later. It’s pretty cool, but given that it’s still seemingly mandatory to beat every level, it doesn’t really do much more than give you the illusion of free will that you decide how the game progresses.

Based on all the skeletons, my money's on the big dude with the fierce teeth

If I seem like I’m down on the game, I’m not – it’s just a trek through the familiar at times, and given how the original was THE game that sold me on the iPhone as a viable gaming platform, it’s just kind of disappointing for the sequel to feel a lot like the same. The art style and music are all still great, and Hand Circus did a fantastic job at creating new Rolandos for the game and individually characterizing them through their look and sound effects for each character. It’s just that the game doesn’t give you that same feeling of wonder that the original did, being not just a great platformer, but really selling the iPhone as a gaming platform instead of just a cell phone with media capabilities that can play some kitschy games on the side. Maybe expecting that from Rolando 2 is being too harsh on the game, as it’s still a great experience and worth owning if you’re a huge fan of the first – it’s just not quite the eye-opener that the first one was, not for quality reasons, but because it’s just so familiar.

Rolando 2: Fueled by rainbows and happiness