Review via Text
Back when I was a kid, probably around 8 I had a game called Gremlins 2 The New Batch. Which is based on the film with the same name. I played it a lot, and really enjoyed it, the issue is, I just simply could not finish it. I found it really quite challenging. Well, I went back to it recently and Finished the game. It’s still really tough, but, it’s pretty fair overall. I died a fair whack, but the game has unlimited continues, which funnily enough is something I don’t remember from when I was a kid. I must have got so annoyed when younger at the constant dying I just quit.
Anyway, the game is made by Sunsoft. Back in the days of the Nintendo Entertainment System Sunsoft was known for cracking music and with this game, you can easily see why. Well, hear. The soundtrack is top-notch with fast-paced interesting tunes that will have you humming them days and even weeks after, honestly, they came straight back to when I played the game, and I instantly got hit right in the nostalgia directly through my ears. Honestly, it has fantastic music in the game and the sound effects are all clear and distinct enough that you can’t instantly recognise enemies and the like with your eyes closed.
As I said, the game is hard but fair. I find that the difficulty curve is actually pretty decent, and with the unlimited continues you can just keep trying until you improve if you are finding areas of levels difficult. The gameplay itself is a top-down action platform game. You’re tasked with getting through the level and avoiding spikes and traps and pits, while using things like moving platforms and conveyor belts to make progress. There’s also a butt ton of Gremlins to deal with. The first few you come across are designed based on the films, you have the weird dopey looking one, which in this bounces around and takes a couple of hits to kill, another is a cigar-smoking Gremlin who shoots fire at you and there’s a third has a propeller hat on and flys about. There are more also. it’s taken Gremlins you see in the film but uses a creative way to include them. There are other enemies as well. Bats, rats, spiders and your average everyday not out-of-the-ordinary giant bouncing tomatoes. To defeat enemies you basically fire at them with a weapon.
You start off with a weak short-range projectile and after each boss stage, you get an upgraded one. The items you get all add up to what is the bow that Gizmo makes to kill the Spider Gremiln in the Movie. Oh, but I mustn’t forget you get currency in this and there’s a door in the stage you can find that lets you use a shop. The salesman is Wing from the First Gremlins film. Anyway, you are about to purchase one and only one item in the shop even if you can afford all 3. The items can vary from a life, or double your health, another makes the weapon you have more powerful. Early on it makes it have a spread and later it makes a fire attack have a large radius of damage. One more item is a replacement balloon. Basically, you start the game with a balloon and if you fall down a pit you don’t take damage and the balloon basically saves you can you can skip a small portion of the level by hovering above it. As you get 1, you sometimes get the option to buy another. The bosses are also very tough, they are again from the movie. They basically move around a room, think Zelda and you have to shoot them while avoiding them and or their attacks.
All in all it’s a game I remember fondly as a child, and going back to it recently has made me appreciate it more. It’s actually better than I remember. If you can get it you should definitely give this one a bash.
And I’ve decided to rate this out of 10 using Pugleys, and this gets 8 Pugsleys out of 10.