Ragdoll Blaster 2 really is a platform of the clever interaction of physics, mechanics and its unadorned charms.
You'd always begin to wonder who (or what) comes up with these situations, it was only last week when I thought about it; between then and in time of writing I have come across launching space cows, angry projectile birds, suicidal ninja robots, flying combat hammers and Niko Bellic. I would stick with 'what' as opposed to whom came up with the ideas though; and my only conclusion points towards a hat, yes a hat with words you pick out --- 3 of them actually, filled with an array of adjectives and nouns written by a group of 5th graders. If it was my hat, I would probably be reviewing a game based on an epic journey of the inanimate carbon rod or reviewing Worms Armageddon again, but unfortunately the latest hat offering finds myself reviewing a puzzle game about helpless ballistic ragdolls (yes it was that smart asian kid that put the ballistic word in).
First thing you will notice about Ragdoll Blaster 2 is its rather brown steampunk aesthetics--cogs, gears, levers, wood and more brown colours; it is a complete backflip from the original Ragdoll Blaster which served up the indie game cliché of stick figures and pen and lined paper drawings. The primary objective is the same as the original Ragdoll Blaster and for those new to the party, Ragdoll Blaster--it is simple, you are some sort of cannon mounted or on wheels, you aim, point with your finger on the screen with the indicated crosshair, launch a ragdoll through the physics based puzzle and hit a target. It is a very tacit control interface---the further you aim the higher the velocity of the ragdoll. As simple is it is, it is not perfect; most often your velocity is restricted by the size of the screen and tied down by the proximity of the cannon to the edge (especially if you're firing from the top edge) a zoom-out would have been neat or a velocity flick alternative. In general the controls just all up feel rather responsive as you could easily keep up with the physics in action and unlike the popular Angry Birds - low velocity shots can be executed quite meticulously.
The main attraction here is the puzzle variety on offer and there are 135 of them to be exact; they rarely ever repeat themselves but rather add new twists altering either gravity, working with force, icy surfaces, adhesives, portals, twisting pipes, working in reverse by moving the target to hit a well placed ragdoll, experimenting with mechanical contraptions and even hitting the target through some familiar scenario eg. The game interpets ski jumping, breaking the snooker triangle and sky diving which really adds an action/reflex element on top of its puzzle-solving, experimentation, minor calculation of physics and precision. Not all puzzles are picture perfect with its execution though, as clever as some are, there are a handful of force and wheel puzzles that feel rather tedious and slightly overstay its welcome. There are loopholes to be exploited and some puzzles are really just about getting the obvious orders right.
It is strange how they separated the puzzles into 9 rooms spanning 15 levels each---there really is no underlying theme or character that separates each room from each other and difficultly is somewhat rampant from the fourth room onwards; which gives no sense of progression. No puzzle will give you difficulty however and the more 'challenging' levels are found after the first 45 levels or so. The clue or puzzle titles also give the key to the puzzle away; crikey! there is even an unlimited use of ragdolls provided; it sure makes the game more experimental as opposed to difficult or tense and sometimes you can just mindlessly fire away and you'll succeed; Whether or not this makes the game somewhat cleaner is quite tentative but one thing is for sure is that solving these puzzles aren't all that satisfying. It is not like you cant fail here (and there is a level that points the 'fail' out) messing up a contraption; losing a target or your cannon falling means you have to try again by pressing an onscreen reset button to start the puzzle again. My goodness! it resets instantly, it is the next best thing behind ctrl+z (take that Mac OS) and there is no seeing the puzzle title intro again or figuring out whatever that coffeebreak clue that was given in Scribblenauts was about. But of course the less ragdolls you launch the better and to add to some production values, there are online leaderboards, personal bests and plus integration to compare with friends to compensate for its difficulty.
What surprises me though is how charming the game is for something that puts the browns in Gears of War to shame; it does it effortlessly through its puzzles too, sure the music is charming, the sackboy like ragdolls make elmo (who is in the middle of getting beaten up) sounds, but it is how the physics and puzzles present themselves that provides the most laughs. The puzzles are just stupendously clever that part of its charm is not knowing exactly what will happen -- then seeing the puzzle work its wonders and set-pieces, I cant even give examples I'll only just spoil it for you; it is much like the first 20 levels of Crayon Physics deluxe or the first level of each world in Braid--Ragdoll blaster 2 tries to showcase something new throughout the whole game. It is also the simple things like seeing the ragdolls flail around in the air, pile on each other, being squeezed between sets of gears, watching it float around in space-like gravity, even a slow rolling target falling and tapping an inanimate ragdolls head lightly to pass a level bought a slight laugh.
On the technical side it runs well, sometimes you'll see slowdowns when ragdolls and objects crank around simultaneously, but the technical performance will never punish your own 'performance'. Despite the small objects in the game, they contain some detail that really characterises them, cannons are detailed, portals can be identified and the ragdolls have eyes and a mouth despite its small size. For those with an iPhone that value the battery power, Ragdoll Blaster 2 doesn't chew up all important phone and music time either.
Radgoll Blaster 2 Is one of those games that could be summed up in a sentence, because the heart of the game is to simply 'launch ragdolls from a cannon and hit the target' but that just wont do this game justice. At approximately two Australian cents a puzzle, it really is a platform of the clever interaction of physics, mechanics and its unadorned charm; Despite the slight sense of developer Backflip studios showboating their clever charming ideas over providing some degree of challenge found in most puzzle games denies this game from its 9--which is where it should be, but to its credit its flaw is one indicator that the people behind Ragdoll Blaster 2 was not just there to bring you a game but to provide you with some guaranteed smiles too.
8/10