I know – you expect a videoreview here. Sorry, but Gerbil Physics 2 was not worth the effort in my opinion (yeah – it takes more time to create a videoreview than to write one ).

Gerbil Physics 2 is the successor to the wonderful Gerbil Physics. Please watch the review here first, to know what i´m gonna talk about.

Now GP2 feels very much like the first part, but they expanded the whole concept by adding adventure like elements and “mini-games”. Now this might sound like a good idea, but if you build a game based on physics, you better make sure the gameplay is solid. They did not do that for GP2.

In some levels you get to control “things” – all you get to control them by are the lb and rb buttons on your gamepad, but the things often can move around in all directions based on physics. You see were this is going … you just have to hope they do what you want them to. The worst thing is the very bad programming of those “things” – they behave different each time. Elevators go the first time very high, the next time just a little. Hands you can “punch” with go the first time half into the level and the next time they get stuck way before that. To the end i started skipping the levels where i only saw, that i needed those buttons.

You see the tongue "thing" - it goes up, down, left, right - and you control it with just 2 buttons ...

A lot of levels are build on the idea of getting ONE gerbil from the start to the end. Since it´s physics based, this one gerbil often does not do what you want him to. Now it´s back to the start and try again. But since it´s just this one gerbil, it feels very repetitive. I hate games that make me do stuff again if it´s not enjoyable. Since i was pretty much pissed off because of the “things”, i had no patience to play those levels.

And then there was this obsession with slingshots. You very often have to slingshot gerbils into targets – you press the stick in the direction you want and the further you have pushed the stick, the stronger the gerbil will be shot. The problem is, that the control of the power is not very precise (thank god you at least get a visible feedback) and they love to make you do it again and again.

The level design – yes everything looks more beautiful this time, but if i can´t see if something is actually an obstacle or just background drawing there is something wrong.

There are some really nice levels in GP2, but in a big part of the game they exchanged the “smart” approach for a “just try until you get it right by sheer luck” one – i hate games that work like that.

Now after i had my rant about the bad – here comes the good. There are quite some improvement to the first part.

Every level is now played against the time – the faster you are, the better your rating. You can get a bronze, silver or gold medal for each level. And there is a nice level selection screen now, it even has cute little gerbils in outfits resembling how hard they are.

In addition to the rope, bombs and desintegrator you now get a slingshot (as mentioned before) – it would have been a nice addition if they had not abused it. And if you finish the game you get a machine gun. I never finished it, but in one level you get a free go – i didn´t like it enough to endure the bad levels for it.

If i had played GP2 first, i never would have purchased the very good Gerbil Physics. And now i´m very disappointed, because i was really looking forward to playing GP2.

If you don´t mind repetitive gameplay or say you don´t mind to spend the 80 points just for the levels that are good (there are some!!), then go ahead and buy it. You probably still won´t regret it.

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