Platformers have always been a big thing in the gaming buisiness. From Pitfall, to Super Mario Bros., platformers have always had a big impact on the industry. Puzzle games have also been a big thing, games like Tetris and Professor Layton leaving a big impact as well, mostly on the handheld market. What do you get when you mix these two together? You get Pyramids 2. Should these two be mixed, or are they better off not meeting at all?

If you've never played a Pyramids game before, it's an arcade-style game that could be addicting if you are a fan of the Puzzle or Platformer genres. Story-wise though, Pyramids 2 is about a man who must traverse through levels, trying to grab keys to open doors. Opening doors are basically like the goals from the first game, Pyramids. This appears to be inspired from Solomon's Key, to an extent. The hero has a few abilities - jumping, shooting (However, this is only on levels that provide bullets) and creating/destroying blocks. The latter ability is quite useful at some times, particularly when you are on your quest to get to the door.


The game starts out quite slow. But, eventually, you'll see yourself dying to many enemies and traps that will one-hit kill you. There is an unlimited amount of retries, so feel free to complete this at your leisure - building and executing a strategy is often more fun than it is angering. Some of the elements of Pyramids 2 have been ripped from the original Pyramids, however there are new additions in the game as well. Such as pushable blocks, which can be used to block projectiles and activate switches. There are also new levels that require the explorer to work in darkness, minus the torch, but these aren't really too fun for that reason.

Unlocking all stages in Pyramids 2 is the same as it's predecessor - you must collect stars. These stars can be obtained in few ways, ways that also may be a bit time consuming to non-skilled players. First off, stars can be found after obtaining the key in all levels and making it to the door, which isn't even the time consuming part in most cases. Second, they can be found by obtaining all of the treasures in each level. Finally, stars can be found after doing both under the time limit. Those two are quite time consuming, but like in the first Pyramids, the levels are split into six sets of nine. Each level after the first requires a certain number of stars to unlock. However, the last level, known as "No More Games", requires all 135 Stars from every stage previous. This task is very tricky, and will be difficult for all except for the best players. Obtaining all three stars can be frustrating in each stage, especially stages that require you to find treasures hidden in the blocks. These create unnecessary elements of Trial and Error, which wastes quite a bit of time, and more than often forces you to restart the level. Regardless, you're given quite a bit of content, even without the final stages.

A great thing about this game that will cause many to purchase this game is the Level Editor/Creator, which allows you to create 27 of your own stages via QR Code. It also gives you access to almost everything the Developer created stages offer, however, there's one slight drawback. The editor only gives you access to 30 non-block items. While it does limit players to be more careful about their design choices, it also takes away some of the creativity as well. Strangely, elements like the Door, the Key and even the explorer add to the count, further limiting player's options. Even then, it is quite fun to create stages that add challenge to the game, as well as the ease of creating QR Codes making these stages sharable.


Pyramids 2 is quite the deal at $3.96. While there are better games out there, Pyramids 2 is quite well on it's own. It is very similar to it's predecessor, as mentioned quite a few times in the review, so it may mostly depend on whether you enjoyed the first game or not. The Level Editor is also a nice addition for you original Pyramids players - the Developer created levels are fun, but they add nothing new that you haven't seen before. If you've never played Pyramids before, it's an arcade-style game that could be addicting if you are a fan of the Puzzle or Platformer genres. Either way, Pyramids 2 should be a game worth picking up if you're looking for a low-priced game with tons of content. The value is very high for such a price, too - even with the high difficulty, the game should be very impressing.


Review copy provided by Enjoy Gaming.