Max Manos 2

[i]Max Manos 2[/i] is, hopefully, a sad middle child of soon-to-be great [i]Max Manos[/i] trilogy. It's [b]not a [i]bad[/i] game[/b], but... [h1]More of a toy than a game[/h1] I originally set out to write a lukewarm Positive review, but then introspection happened. [h2]A direct step down?[/h2] [i]Max Manos 1[/i] was a fantastic game - 5 variations on a base game, each different in feel but strongly connected by familiar upgrade systems that allowed you to metagame your progression as you went on, topped with a mechanically separate finale delivering on [i]"rule of cool"[/i] and a nice ending. [i]Max Manos 2[/i], on the other hand, feels like a downgrade of [i]MM1[/i]. It's [b]a single game that you play 5 times[/b]. Each subsequent run introduces an admittably funny modifier that, unfortunately, doesn't change the gameplay nowhere near enough to keep it fresh, and an increasing XP bonus. The former means you'll be [i]very[/i] thankful for the latter. Still, I don't think I would've 100%'d the game if not for Firefox's Picture-in-Picture. There's [b]not much going on with the progression[/b]. I tried to shake things up, but it really feels like the only two viable specc paths are a "Spellcasting Warrior" (being more focused on direct hand damage) or a "Spellbalde Wizard" (being more focused on non-direct damage), with the rest of the skill tree being pure support that cannot stand on its own. If you're an astute mathematician, you may notice that two speccs is less than five playthroughs, which [i]doesn't exactly help[/i] against the tedium setting in. Instead of one grand finale, we get [b]one pedestrian final level, 5 times[/b]. It's set up in such a way, that it seems impossible to beat it without the [i]"you bought every single other upgrade, here's a free giant boost"[/i] upgrade. It's not the worst way to end a playthrough, but, once again, it loses its charm when you do it 5 times. Thankfully, the playthrough's ending is whelming, and the epilogue is nice and flashy. And another thing is that while [b][i]MM1[/i] was basically [i]Where's Waldo?[/i] with shapes[/b], where the challenge was visually picking out your [strike]blorbo[/strike] best hybrid shape out of the sea of other shapes, [b][i]MM2's[/i] main challenge is... not much?[/b] You figure out how many times you can left click per floor to cast your One Active Ability That Charges with Kills, and you usually may want to hover over a rotating monocolour simple geometric shape that sticks out like a sore thumb from visually complex Little Guys. And these Little Guys come in many shapes and forms, but [b]the only practical division[/b] is that there are those that walk (most of them) and that one big-eared worm that doesn't walk (who only shows up three-ish? times). [h2]The addition(s) aren't that good[/h2] If you subscribe to Sid Meier's sequel philosophy, a sequel should keep some mechanics, remove some, and add some new ones. We've established that [i]MM2[/i] is not doing all that well on the first two, so maybe the new things are better? The most noticeable addition is, of course, the [strike]Regulators[/strike] [strike]Adjudicators[/strike] [i]Calibrants[/i]. And [b]the Calibrants are in a very awkward spot[/b]: on the one hand, they have too much effort put to their dialogue to feel like just a window dressing for tutorial popups; on the other hand, they pretty much only deliver tutorial popups, with the main Calibrant delivering the setup of the plot. And I didn't like their dialogues. (I suppose the music's fine, but it's designed to be consistent background noise, and a [i]good[/i] consitent background noise isn't very noticeable.) [hr][/hr] [h2]In conclusion,[/h2] temper your expectations, and hope that these stumbles are growing pains that will give us a comeback in the form of [i]Max Manos 3[/i].

Upgrades that does not upgrade you, or maybe they do but SO little that you do not even see or feel it. "Fist of Power Lvl 1 - Increases the damage Max Manos deals to enemies". Lvl 1- 20 "Fist of Power Lvl 2 - Further increases the damage Max Manos deals to enemies" Lvl 1 - 20. You get full lvl 1 upgrade. Enemies even on first floor may die SLIGHTLY faster. You have wasted 25 minutes of grinding. Doublehand - grants Max Manos hit enemy twice with one attack What chance? You want to know? Too bad, nobody is gonna tell you. You wanna see when it happens? Too bad, you do not have any visual/sound indication, and there are no damage numbers. The only numbers you get are enemy count you kill. But hey, just grind a bit more for this Precision Strike upgrade that will increase the chance of double hit! By how much? You don't need to know, buddy =) Golden Stairs - grants Max Manos sparks(currency) when going to next floor. How much? You don't need to know, just trust us, it is totally worth it =) Why even bother then with skill tree/upgrades? I don't know, but this takes the crown of worst incremental I've played

Max Manos 2 is an incremental game where you hover over enemies to kill them to obtain money to upgrade yourself so you can survive longer and more dangerous levels, basic stuff really. However unlike Max Manos 1 which I'd consider one of the best Incremental games I've played (and I've played quite a few at this point) Max Manos 2 somehow is a downgrade in pretty much every imaginable metric: -Music is worse -Sound effects are worse -Although the detail in the things you destroy are higher they look kinda ugly compared to the simple shapes of MM1 -The upgrades don't feel impactful and it barely felt rewarding to go up in levels, the way MM1 did it with having a boss at the end of every level was a lot better IMO -The small attempts of a story kinda felt hollow to me and it bothered me a suprising amount how the tower was infested by ""pirates"" when none of the little critters had even the vaquest look of a pirate outside of the final boss itself If you enjoyed MM1 you might get some mileage out of this but just be mindful that the experience is notably worse. Only buy at a sale.

Did not enjoy playing this one compared to the first, I do like how the dev tried to change things up but it really feels worse then the first. Especially with you not being able to actually tell how much each upgrade boosts you. Its an incremental game where you cant tell the increments you are going up by, straight up goes against the entire genres concept.

this is a half baked and rushed sequel to a game that got decently popular it seems the dev has already given in to the greed there are zero indicators to what you are actually upgrading in the menu, the biggest part of this game there is almost zero variety in the content and gameplay not only are the upgrades not telling you what they ACTUALLY do but they also barely increase anything, and even worse almost every single upgrade in the menu is just more damage 1, more damage 2, more damage 3, 4, 5, 6 and on and on. well all but one type of upgrade, the energy upgrades do all the work. for every single upgrade that is on the board, the energy upgrades are like 2x better. the balance is genuinely ATROCIOUS. this of course also means that the best upgrade is by far the most boring one.

Definitely an upgrade over the original Max Manos, a really solid incremental game with a fresh coat of paint over it. The upgrades are a little vague this time around in regards to how effective they are and most of the time I was just buying the cheapest upgrade in bulk without much of an idea what was changing, but the gameplay is fire and the 2nd playthrough is just as cool. Heavily recommend at full price as it passes the vibe check

Loved the first game, get that instead. This one doesn't show numbers, and feels less rewarding overall. Feels more like a cheap knock off of the first than a sequel

The achievement system is better in the first game as there is no need to go for other run you can do all of them in the first