Pandemonium 2

Like its predecessor, ths is a 2.5 D sidescrolling platformer. In this it succeeds well; controls are tight, and enemies, hazards, and power-ups are well placed. There's a serious spike in difficulty starting at Level 6, and it consistently climbs from there, so don't be fooled by the game's gentle introduction. Later levels, and boss fights, incorporate a lot of level-specific gimmicks, not unlike the first Pandemonium. The atmosphere and worldbuilding are exemplary of certain parts of the zeitgeist of the late 90s. The first few levels have a lot of the first game's fairy-tale whimsy, but once you get to the Comet of Infinite Possibilities, it's hard not to see similarities to Half-Life's Xen or to certain X-Files visuals. The main characters have undergone abrupt and unexplained changes--Nikki now resembles late-90s Lara Croft in her personality, and Fargus has gone straight-up axe crazy. However, in a platformer with little exposition, this does't come up much. Just be aware that there has been a definite tone shift from the first title towards the dark and intense that some might find offputting if they were expecting more of the same, and the characters are a good example of this. Overall, Pandemonium 2 does exactly what it sets out to do and does it perfectly. Kudos, and no complaints. If you like games of this type, and especially if you like the period, I recommend picking it up.

started it up and immediately got hit with "goon city" i wiped my tear and said home

So glad to see this game added to GOG. These games were so fun. Unique too. I wish they'd make a third one. But I'm happy to have the old ones again!

It seems to me that this is more of a level set to Pandemonium 1, but I didn't play long to be honest. The problems of part 1 are still here: the camera is so zoomed in that you'll run into enemies unless you have the level memorized or goo at a snails pace. it has a save/load in the main menu but I couldn't figure out how it worked, when I got back to the main menu to save my game was lost, so you'll probably still need to write down passwords (a sign of a bad console port back then). I never played this at the time, so I got no nostalgia glasses, which may have contributed as to why I didn't like it. I would recommend that if you didn't play it when it came out that you get another platformer instead.