Awesome Pea 2

When I reviewed the game Awesome Pea last year, I concluded that it was a fun throwback platformer and little else. It wasn't as awesome as the title let on, but it was definitely a good game that only cost a few bucks. Trust me, you could do a whole lot worse. Now comes Awesome Pea 2, the brand-new sequel that definitively proves that the people over at Pigeon Dev listened to the criticism leveled against the original. This is a better game in a number of ways, but is it awesome? I think this series has a long way to go before I start using the "A" word.

Once again, you play a greedy pea who rolls and jumps his way through two dozen stages in an effort to collect all the coins and gems. Just like the original game, there isn't much of a story outside of traveling through a series of islands and surviving a bunch of platforming challenges. This means avoiding enemies, spikes, water and anything else that will kill you, all while going out of your way to scour every inch of the level for floating coins. If you can make it to the end of the level, you'll move one step closer to reaching the castle and completing your quest.

While the style and core mechanics remain the same, Awesome Pea 2 does expand on the theme with better stage designs. One of the criticisms I had about last year's installment is that it would repeat the same themes and obstacles based on the background, which made the second half of the game too predictable. More thought has gone into constructing the levels this time around, allowing for more variety and surprises in every stage. There's a nice mix of backgrounds and dangerous things that will kill you, helping to make this sequel a lot less predictable.

Unfortunately, Awesome Pea 2 suffers from a lot of the same problems that plagued the first game. For one thing, there isn't much new here. Even after two full releases, Awesome Pea hasn't done a whole lot to stand out from the oversaturated market of throwback platformers. The character doesn't have a personality or any unique abilities, and you've seen these obstacles in every other platformer released in the last four decades. There are also times when our hero isn't as responsive as it needs to be, which is a complaint I also had with the original game.

Click For the Full Picture Archive

We also need to talk about the length of the levels. While some of the early stages will only take you a few seconds to complete, there are some late-game toughies that will test your patience. The problem is the lack of checkpoints. The back half of the game is filled with obnoxious designs that require both perfect timing and a lot of luck to complete, but if you get hit even once, it's back to the very beginning of the level every single time. The good news is that you'll eventually beat even the toughest stages, but it will often come after a lot of frustration, repetition and trial and error.

As a sequel, Awesome Pea 2 offers better level designs and a slightly more interesting journey. I like the throwback graphics, but wished that the second installment would have tried something different. You've seen all of these elements before, even if you missed out on the first game. If this series is going to continue, then Pigeon Dev will need to give this character a personality or find something unique that sets it apart from all the other platformers on the market. This little Pea is good, but definitely not awesome.