Critters 2 is an excellent remake of Thalamus' Creatures 2: Torture Trouble, one of the most underrated games ever made for the Commodore 64. In this Lemmings meets The Humans game, your goal is to free captured critter friends from cages in six stages. To do that, you need to figure out how to get the key that unlocks the cage. You can pick up and use different objects you find, but you can only carry one at a time. Although six stages seems like too short for a game, Critters 2 is actually very difficult. For a start, the game requires a near-perfect combination of timing, wit, and hand-eye coordination with a little bit of luck thrown in for good measure. One level may require you to make perfect jumps, while another requires you to lure homing missiles into things without catching up with you first. To make matters worse, there is only one password (which replaces having a save feature) in the game, which you won't be given until stage four. One hit means death and restarting from scratch is not very pleasant when you have spent hours on the first three stages. Despite the extreme difficulty, Critters 2 is a great puzzle game like its spiritual C64 predecessor. If you are a puzzle expert, Critters 2 will provide more than enough challenge to keep you hooked for hours. If you are not used to puzzle games or dying a lot, you will still enjoy the game -- but only after resigning to countless replay sessions. The game is rewarding, though, and by the end of it you will really feel proud of solving the six devious levels. Thumbs up! Reviewed by: Underdogs |