Super Onion Boy 2 Review

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Fast Facts

Introduction

I enjoy playing action-platformers and was super excited after seeing trailers for Super Onion Boy 2. The trailers showed a variety of powerups, various boss fights, and interesting level aspects. I was intrigued and went in with high expectations. Did this game live up to the hype? Find out in this Rapid Review.

Vengeance for the Character in the Blue Hat

To begin my adventure, I watched as mysterious flying drones kidnapped some character in a blue hat who was supposedly my friend. Though I did not care about the story much, I was glad that there was some semblance of a story to keep me interested in the world of Super Onion Boy 2. Still, I was let down by the lack of transition between the different areas in the game. In one level I would be in an icy wintry area and then in another, I would be in a forest during fall. Of course, the variety in backgrounds kept the game interesting, but there was no transition between them, and it made the game feel disconnected at points.

Moreover, this carried over to the enemies. I fought massive boss fights to who I had no connection. The final boss was a character I had never seen before. Granted, I have not played the previous title in the series, but I found that not knowing the enemies I faced led to anticlimactic boss fights. Even the basic enemies were generic. I fought snakes, crabs, and other random creatures. It made each interaction less personal. The staging did not stand out to me. I was disappointed by how generic the enemies were.

Moving Out

The character movement was also underwhelming. Though I could move side to side and jump, the character movement was nothing special. In fact, I felt like my character moved too slowly through the levels. There were various powerups that adjusted my move set, but I was disappointed by how little they changed the gameplay. Though the powerups granted my character new abilities, I never felt like they made the gameplay distinct.

For example, one ability transformed my character into a wizard and granted him a projectile. This was an improvement over my base character, and it was fun to experiment with, but I still found myself jumping on enemies instead of killing them with my projectiles. There were some other abilities that I found more interesting. For instance, the ninja powerup gave me a second jump and a shorter-range projectile. Again, I did not value the projectile much, but the double jump made moving through the level more engaging. Still, the powerups did not provide the variety I was looking for, as many times I only used them to receive damage without dying.

Finally, the staging of the levels themselves was also underwhelming. Though the scenery was nice, enemies were constantly recycled and the levels themselves lacked the innovation that makes other titles like Super Magbot stand out. I was further disappointed that Super Onion Boy 2 did not have many unique assets, as it primarily focused on basic platforming with minor variation. Though the platforming was basic and did not stand out from many of the other titles I have played, the game has a lot of good moments. It was satisfying to jump off multiple enemies consecutively, and some of the enemies had patterns that required focus to evade. Though nothing was excellent, the game is fun.

Searching for a Reason to Revisit

Though the primary objective was simply to reach the end of every level, there were five stars located in each level. Much like Tomb of the Mask, however, the stars did not always feel rewarding, as most of them were easy to attain. Since these did not impact my completion percentage in any way, I would have liked to see them be more challenging and require precise play to obtain. The collectables ended up feeling underwhelming, and though I collected all of them, they rarely added to my experience with the game.

Moreover, had the game included more challenging collectables, it would have made the game more rewarding. The levels were easy and though I had a limited number of lives, I had countless opportunities to earn more. There were checkpoints in each level too that made the game even easier. I wanted something more from Super Onion Boy 2. The levels were not unique, the character movements were standard, and the enemies were recycled across the various environments.

Layers of Atmosphere

Despite these major flaws, the game was arranged in a very nice environment. The backgrounds were pretty, even if they were random. I liked the enemy designs even though they were basic, but I wanted more variety. I thought the game looked good, and always enjoyed exploring the environments.

The sound design was adequate as well. Every new environment got a new soundtrack, and it helped distinguish each of the stages. The final soundtrack was good, but the other music tracks did not stand out. The music is repeated regularly within a level since the melodies are not particularly lengthy. This occasionally got boring, but I still thought the soundtrack was sufficient.

Conclusion

Overall, Super Onion Boy 2 disappointed me. I went in with high expectations but immediately recognized that the level design and character abilities were not unique. Unfortunately, the game did not feel special. There is a lot to enjoy about this game, and I had a lot of fun playing it, especially for the price point. However, I think there are better options, as this game features many things, but only excels at a few of them.

3 out of 5

3

You can purchase Super Onion Boy 2 on the Nintendo eShop here