If you liked the original Laruaville, which plays mostly like a traditional M3, except you're collecting coins instead of clearing tiles, then you'll like Laruaville 2. While a few of the gadgets this series became known for began to appear in Laruaville 2, it still plays a lot like a regular M3. The new features are the hot stones, locked coins with keys, and clay tiles. There are a lot more tight spots and walls which don't allow matches through them, which may very well make you think "I hate corners!" if you play long enough.
The same powerups from the first game are here, which is a mite frustrating because the bombs don't have that much of a range and clear out a diamond-shaped area, not a square one. I was longing for the rockets and movable bombs, which don't appear until later in the series. The mechanics of the drops and coin slots, plus the keys to locked coins is also a bit rough as the 1 space drag isn't present.
The town scene to build in between levels is huge - you have to scroll the screen to see it all - and the graphics have the characteristic cartoon look which all the later games of the series feature. Several of the buildings have animations, and there are little animated snippets appearing as you go through the story. The tale of the friendly ghosts (most of them are back from the first Laruaville) now trying to restore the moon which has fallen from the sky is cute, but hokey.
No Steam Achievements, but there's a page of in-game achievements to try for. You can play in relaxed, timed, or limited moves. With all those corners in the levels, can be quite the challenge if you're not playing in relaxed.
The HOS and mahjong minigames are back, and solitaire has been added into the minigame mix, so it's the "minigame every 3 or so levels" thing the rest of the series has, except for the first game. The HOS were made easier with finding a random assortment of items in the scenes, and they're not as sneakily blended into the background (you can spot the items by something poking out somewhere). The mahjong layouts were made a little more colorful, but are still pretty easy, even without the "parking spot" introduced in later games. You get bonus coins to help build the town faster for playing the minigames, and random sparkles in the town scene, which clicking upon will give you a few free coins. I had to chuckle at the unfortunate "ju've missed a card" typo in the solitaire games...didn't realize it had been around for THAT long in the series.
IMO the game is too long, as I finished building the town by level 85, but there are 130 levels total, which felt like a grind to get to the end when there wasn't anything else to accomplish.
