Back when this game first came out, I bought it immediately expecting it was going to be at least as good as Pierhead Arcade 1. Instead it was trying to do too many new things and did them poorly so I refunded. Eventually I saw that enough updates had gone by to make a second attempt at it and I bought it again.
Since the original release on Early Access, they've addressed a majority of the complaints; However I don't even remember all of what my complaints were since it seems like my old review got blasted when I repurchased it. I know I didn't like the token system since it was an unnecessary extra step to play the games. I think maybe the UI was a lot worse off somehow too. In any case, it's greatly improved, but still not perfect.
Since I owned the first game, they've added the arcade games from the first one into a separate hall. I think some of the physics feels a tad bit different but I'm not sure if the older game used a different game engine or what. There's also full support for the index controllers, though it may mostly be cosmetic. I think the only time I really noticed the index controller support was on bowling (more about that later).
So as I said before, all the old games were added into this one, but there's a few new games in PA2 that are very similar to PA1 anyway. For one thing you've got the same style of claw machines, and there's a whole 4-lane bowling alley now instead of just one lane. I'm assuming there's 4 player multiplayer now so that's why they'd add more lanes.
Just a few of the different types of games available: "coin pushers", Claw machines, Shooting galleries, curling/shuffleboard type games, Whack-a-mole(frog actually), skee-ball, various "beer pong" type games (minus the beer), Bowling, basketball (free throw type games), ring toss, milk-bottle type carnival games, archery, air hockey, and other weird contraptions that are hard to classify.
I've never played multiplayer on either game (just try to find someone who has the game AND wants to play when you do), but I assume they've made multiplayer much easier. At the very least they've made it possible to find others without having to tell them your IP to connect.
My only complaint with the game as it is now is that releasing items when you want to throw it SHOULD be easier. I mean, with the index controller you just let go and you drop the item. The problem I usually have is that it seems like most games are either "maintain death grip to hold item/slightly relax hand to drop" or else it's "gently caress controller grip to hold/make damn sure no fingers are touching the grip anywhere to drop". In this case, it's the latter. This is particularly annoying in bowling since there's no weight to the ball, and yet if you don't adequately release the ball in time, it either makes the ball go straight for the gutter, or else it drops at your feet and rolls slowly forward (and also toward the gutter).
I feel like it should be an option to use the trigger to grip/release some items. Like maybe finger on the trigger + trackpad would be a "pinch grip" or could be used to grab the ball better. Either that or maybe give an adjustment in-game so I can tweak it to be more realistic with the release.
Also, it seems like if you use your tickets to purchase a prize at the prize counter, it's only good for that session and then it's gone. It would be nice if you could save at least a couple of items for later use instead of having to use tickets on them every time.
In any case, this game has majorly improved since its initial release and if you've avoided it or refunded it previously, you should probably give it another chance. This would probably be a cool game to play with friends (if I had any friends with VR).
