Spark the Electric Jester 2 Reviews

good game

This game rules. It aimed to give me something like sonic adventure (or what I remember of it) and it nails it.

It takes some getting used to, but once you get the hang of it, it's really good. It's one of the closest experiences I can point to to a Sonic Adventure style game, though there are clear differences between this and Adventure 1 & 2, but I won't get too much into it. (TL;DR below) The thing that makes this hard to get into is the fact that combat is introduced into this game, as well as a few other things that I'll cover in a bit, but the combat is both simple, and rather in depth. You're given a block/parry button, a light and heavy attack button, and when you're near a weak enemy, midair, and press the light attack button, you'll do a homing attack. This is ironically very similar to Sonic Frontier's style of combat, though better, and came out before it, so it's kinda funny, but pretty fun once you get the hang of it. This game also has different costumes you can wear which give different abilities to Fark, which are mainly used for combat, but can sometimes be used for speed and platforming, though you only get three at a time, and lose it if you die while wearing one. The next thing I want to mention is this game feels rather slow at first. You have a double jump, a homing attack (again, done by jumping and pressing the light attack button), a menu you can open which allows you to stomp when midair, and a move called the Jester Dash, which is a charged move which when charged for a short while can really get you moving, similar in function to Sonic's spindash, though with a boost flavor, and a dedicated dash button similar to Sonic Lost World's dedicated run button, though this one has some extra utility in the air, allowing you to dash a short distance in a direction, which pairs very well with the last ability, which is a wall jump that allows you to scale walls Megaman X style. It sounds complicated when I put it all up there, but as you play the game more, it all starts to click, and can be VERY satisfying when put together. There are a few negatives I want to mention however, one of which is this game is rather short, and if you're quick enough or play on one of the lower difficulties, you should easily beat the game in under or around an hour. With this in mind, I highly recommend playing this game to 100% completion, which adds some much needed playtime to this, as well as a ton of extra difficulty, as the score and time challenges can be very hard to obtain at times, but also allows the more in depth content of the game's features to shine. Seriously, if you think this game is slow for a Sonic inspired game, then try to get the diamond speed medals, and the score medals can be very fun to go for, and turns the game into a test of knowledge and almost like a puzzle when trying to figure out the best path to go through to get the highest score. Last is the story, which is nothing special. You can play through the previous game to get a bit more of an understanding of the game, but you don't have to, as the story in this is rather simple, but I won't spoil it in case you're curious. TL;DR, this game is very basic on first viewing, but if you take the time to understand the game, and challenge yourself to go for 100% completion, you'll appreciate many of the games elements, such as the combat, and especially this game's sense of speed. If you don't, this game may feel kind of simplistic and lacking in many areas. This game is good, you just have to understand it.

This sequel recreates the feeling of playing sonic adventure for the first time, or maybe Mario 64. The jump to 3d didn't work perfectly for all games in the past, but it mostly works here. Good: * The movement is awesome. It's a combination of the 2d movement from the first game and sonic adventure, allowing dashes (air and ground), wall jumps,, homing onto enemies, and double jumps. These options combined with the level of speed you can attain makes for some amazing platforming. * Levels are large and complex, even though they are now 3d. They feature a ton of different paths and options to travel, and there's not many invisible walls or ceilings; if you can figure out how to get up to some location, the game will let you. * One of my biggest gripes with the first game was the lack of rewards for exploring. This game features collectible art items to make looking around much more fun. * The game brings back powerups, and this time lets you hold on to 3 you can easily switch between. * The music is mostly the same as the first game from what I remember, but it's still great. * The final segment of the game is like a 3d recreation of the final section of the first game, featuring a lot of the same enemies and obstacles. It was really cool seeing it reimagined in 3d. * The levels feature a large number of roads and runways and boosters that allow you to keep moving fast, a welcome change from the fairly constant start-and-stop gameplay from the first game (and sonic the hedgehog) Mid: * There weren't as many powerups in this game, and i generally felt like they didn't change things as much as in the previous game. And since you keep them between levels, once you find whatever set you like there's not much reason to change them up. * There's a 'world map' in the game that has you moving to new levels. Maybe I didn't play enough, but from what I could tell it just created a linear set of levels, so I'm not sure why the map was necessary. Bad: * Despite the name of the game, Spark is only mentioned in passing; the game actually stars Fark, and sort-of antagonist and alternate playable character in the first game. He's similar to Spark, but I found it weird that he was the focus of this game. * The game is very short if you don't plan on replaying levels for better times or to find all the art work. * The storyline is still fairly nonsensical like the first game; some new characters are introduced but they just make things more confusing. * The combat is arguably a step down; bosses and stage enemies with health bars both usually just kinda stand there and take tons of hits without doing much to fight back. And since you can move extremely fast and and have a parry with a very generous window, fights end up being an exercise is button mashing and occasional parries with little risk of dying. I would have preferred more aggression. Ultimately, I feel like this game successfully transitions the gameplay to 3d from the original. But I don't know that someone who hasn't played the original will really appreciate the change, and may find the game a short homage to sonic adventure. That's not bad, but I wish the game had spent more time cooking. Still, if you want a fast-paced platformer you could grind speedruns in, this is a great option.