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| Source // Apple |
The iPhone, iPod Touch, and later iPad did absolute wonders not just for mobile gaming, but for new ways of playing games using accelerometers and touchpads. While you could thoroughly enjoy playing LocoRoco on the PlayStation Portable, nudging shoulder buttons to rotate the planet you're playing on just isn't the same as rotating an entire device to solve a puzzle involving similarly circular childlike blobs in Rolando 2: Quest for the Golden Orchid.
The Kingdom of Rolando has been infected by the Kilgorean Flu, and only the Golden Orchid can save the day. Enter Sir Richard and his skilled underlings, and you, some sort of overlord that manipulates the world around them so that they can platform their way to success.
Have you got what it takes to help Rolando out?
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| Source // Apple |
Frustrations
Of course I haven't. Rolando 2 is not only an iOS exclusive, it is an old and now no longer supported iOS exclusive, meaning that unless you're running a similarly old and no longer supported iOS device, you've got two options: don't play Rolando 2, or buy a new iOS device and Rolando: Royal Edition, a remastering of the game - though I'm not entirely sure if 'the game' refers to the first Rolando, or both it and Rolando 2.
Both are dead in their original forms, so the Royal Edition is the closest you've got. The closest I've got, long removed from Apple devices, is watching some reviews from a decade ago, and nabbing screenshots of the Royal Edition from the App Store. Let's try our best, eh?
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| Source // Apple |
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| Source // Apple |
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| Source // Apple |
Fun Times
Rolando 2 gave the series a 2.5D look, a 0.5 improvement over the first game, and so features sticker-like Rolandos rolling around a 2.5D world solving puzzles to find level exits and collectables and work their way across the land in search of the Golden Orchid.
You tilt and turn your device to rotate the world, and simulated gravity does what you think it ought to do. Rolandos roll and fall around the level, reacting to a swipe of your finger with a hop that can help them bounce over small ledges and gaps, and there are interactive objects that you can poke at to launch them like a catapult or, in some cases, keep certain Rolandos in place while you quickly scramble to move others.
That's where much of the puzzling in Rolando 2 comes from when it isn't directly related to the environment. Some of your Rolandos can stick to walls and roll regardless of gravity, others roll on their own accord and need a little shepherding, either from other Rolandos getting in the way or by quick interactions with nearby cannons or bombs to defeat enemies or open up new paths.
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| Source // Apple |
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| Source // Apple |
Is it fun? Does the gameplay get old after a while? Is the music as catchy as that of LocoRoco? Should we be comparing the two games? These are questions I don't really know because much of what I've seen of Rolando 2 is still imagery, or various iOS devices filmed in a bedroom with a handicam in 2010.
Damn glad that such reviews exist, of course, but they're less reviews and more introductions to what Rolando 2 is. I've no idea how good the controls are over time, how difficult the game is or gets, nothing. I just know what it looks like - childlike, but polished. Simple, but sophisticated.
Final Word
Until such time as Rolando loses iOS exclusivity, or I stumble into possession of a capable iOS device, this is about all I'll ever know, that Rolando 2 looks more simple and basic than it is. Perhaps that's to attract more players towards it, or because it skews towards younger players. I just don't know.
What I think I know is that if you like LocoRoco, you'll probably like Rolando 2. If you like platform puzzlers, you'll probably like it. It's the kind of game that has looked at the device it's going to be played on and built itself around its capabilities, and so shines as an example of doing things right.
But as LocoRoco may eventually get stale and repetitive, so might Rolando 2. It's hard to say. The screenshots probably give off the idea that there's more going on in the gameplay here than in LocoRoco, if that interests you, but maybe by that point in the story you've seen it all.
What's the story like, anyway? Is it even important in a game like this? It looks very simple, to the point where it doesn't really matter, but looks to be on the lighter, playful end to match the visuals.
So basically, I've no idea about Rolando 2, other than it looks like something that would be good for someone, but perhaps not for me. Not a bad thing at all, that.
Fun Facts
Oh, I should have read further, Royal Edition isn't a remaster of Rolando 2, but does use its 2.5D style to remake the first game. Best of both worlds? Closest you're gonna get.
Rolando 2: Quest for the Golden Orchid, developed by HandCircus, first released in 2009.
Version watched: Rolando 2, iOS, 2009 (Frant7, Pocket Gamer, Arron Hirst, Jose Padilla)