Review: Those Games 2 is really challenging

D3 Publisher Yeah! You want “Those Games”, right? Well here you go! Now, let’s see you delete them series might sound like a gimmick. After all, the premise takes games from mobile advertising and turns them into realistic mini games for each collection. Yeah! You want “Those Games”, right? Well here you go! Now, let’s see you delete them, which we will call Those games 2 moving forward, expanding the premise by bringing back a type of mobile game from the original and adding four more to mix. Sometimes it can be an incredible challenge!

Mini game returns based on fake mobile game ads in Games 2 is Pin Pull, aptly called Pin Pull 2. It’s inspired by those pictures where you see two sad people frozen or something, like House landscape ads, and you need to pull pins into place and arrange them to get coal for heating. These games are joined by Draw & Guard (a game where you draw to save a Shiba Inu from a swarm of bees), Knock-Back Shooter (Evony: Return of the King), Dungeon Numbers (Heroic War), and Spellbinding Scroll (also Evony). All of the inspirations are incredibly clear, and they all show up in ads on places like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter/X.

The number of puzzles for the mini-games varies, some are as low as 20 and others are over 40. You earn up to three stars per level depending on how fast you solve the puzzle. I was shocked to see all the Those games 2 minigames are, considering they’re based on fake mobile ads. When I saw the “inspiration” for Draw & Protect Online, it often seems like a circle, a capital I, or an H would solve the problem. However, elements like fire or collapsing blocks mean it really gets difficult. The first few levels of Knock-Back Shooter are incredibly easy, but after about 15 levels, I started to only get 1-2 stars per level due to the need to figure everything out. (The bricks for the areas help a lot with determining angles and where to shoot!)

Pin Pull 2 ​​and Spellbinding Scroll ended up being my favorites. In the case of Pin Pull 2, new elements like rocks that block objects from passing through, switches, and items that can disable the heating or cooling effects of the items you’re trying to get to the bottom really make you think about the right order. I did notice a slight control issue when dragging items in the later stages, probably due to there being so many pins around. Still, there’s a lot to consider and it’s really thoughtful. With Spellbinding Scroll, the idea of ​​knowing which item to “keep shooting” to reduce the count seems easy. However, a few stages there really made me have to plan when prioritizing targets in ways I didn’t expect. I really wish it was a little more responsive.

The only ad-based mini-game on mobile in Those games 2 Not as well executed as Numbers Dungeon. Not because the concept isn’t logical or too easy. There are some great ideas here, like dropping lines so you can’t backtrack, items that increase or decrease your number, and levels that actually require you to figure out the right “path” through what is essentially a challenging maze. Rather, it’s the inputs. You can’t just press up, down, left, or right on the Switch. You have to cycle through instructions. That takes time. Plus, while I got used to it, I accidentally sent the little warrior down the wrong path twice.

Ignoring minor errors with the controls, Those games 2 can be a really strong collection of mini games. It offers the perfect amount of gameplay for each fake mobile game ad, so you don’t feel like they’re wearing out their welcome. They actually get challenging after the first 10 levels, in many cases. It’s a fun game to play when you just want to spend 10-15 minutes playing something and feeling smart, and doing so in a short amount of time helps you not notice that some levels can get repetitive.

Yeah! You want “Those Games”, right? Well here you go! Now, let’s watch you delete them! 2 Available on Switch, PS4, PS5 and PC via Steam.

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