Hands-on game review: Gimmick! 2 (Xbox Series X)
Back in the '80s and early '90s, gamers saw a huge abundance of 2D platform games, mainly because 3D technology wasn't invented until the release of the PSOne/N64 generation. 2D platform games were the norm, but sadly this genre isn't as common as it is today.
Thankfully, there are many smaller game studios that are still making 2D platform games to satisfy new and old games alike. This is because developer Bitwave Games has released Gimmick! 2, which is a sequel to the original Gimmick! that came out for the original NES back in 1992.
The big change gamers will notice is just how advanced the graphics are for Gimmick! 2 in 2025. The game uses Unreal Engine 5, and the graphics look like a literal high-resolution cartoon. It's bright and colourful, plus the game runs smoothly throughout because I did not encounter any glitches or slowdowns during gameplay.
As for the game itself, Gimmick! 2 let players assume the role of a cute green yokai by the name of Yumetaro. Yumetaro is sleeping with his young girl owner one night, but she is kidnapped, so he has to rescue and return her back home.
Before you begin playing the game, there are two difficulty settings for you to choose from. The two difficulties are "Gimmick! Mode" and "Assisted Mode". The former only gives you three lives per turn, but assisted is slightly easier because you have a total of five lives. It does not matter too much which difficulty you choose, because the level design is where the challenge of the game really lays.
Since Gimmick! 2 is a 2D platformer, there isn't much to learn when it comes to the game's control system. There are only three command buttons for players to remember, so you don't have to memorise combos or special moves.
Yumetaro's main attack is his ability to summon and shoot out a star. The star is able to rebound off of walls and is his only attack that can defeat enemies. The star can also be used to activate switches or to access hard-to-reach places. There are certain puzzles that you need to solve using the star because you may have to shoot the star using a certain trajectory to activate a specific switch.
The other main thing that players will do in Gimmick! 2 is a lot of jumping. There are lots and lots of pits and spikes that lead to Yumetaro's death, so you will need to master the art of jumping if you want to succeed in this game. Much like in Donkey Kong Country Returns, players need to learn to hold the jump button to jump further, but tapping it executes a shorter jump.
The last command that you need to remember is the grab button, but this isn't used as many timea as the other actions. You will only need to grab a box or even a special frog at certain sections in a level to reach higher ledges. The frog is special because you need to shoot a star at it, and he will spit Yumetaro out, giving the character a higher boost than jumping normally.
At the end of most levels, there is a mandatory boss fight or boss encounter. Surprisingly, I did not find the boss battles to be too challenging because most of them can be defeated in just a few hits. You really just need to learn their attack patterns before you decide to go in for the kill.
While Gimmick! 2 may look like a cute little game for kids to play, let me tell you it's not! I've seen good gamers upload walkthroughs of this game on YouTube, and they managed to complete the game in around two hours. Well, it took me over five hours to finish the game because I kept dying over and over again!
Thankfully, Gimmick! 2 does feature loads of checkpoints, so you won't lose too much progress when you die multiple times. There's a lot of trial and error to experiment with in this game because you have to time your jumps well and also find a way to avoid enemies without getting hit too many times.
However, the game's biggest flaw is how long it takes for Yumetaro to summon and shoot the star. It takes one second to even summon the star and another second to shoot it. Not to mention you can only shoot one star at a time.
This delay causes a lot of problems if you encounter loads of enemies trying to kill you simultaneously! You cannot shoot stars fast and instantly like a machine gun when enemies are rushing towards you.
Aside from some annoying flaws and its high difficulty level, Gimmick! 2 is still a gorgeous-looking 2D platform game with clever-level design and unique gameplay. If you are up for the challenge, you should try and pick this game up.
Verdict: 8.0/10
