Treasure Hunter Man 2

Arcade platformers are all about managing your frustration as effectively as you can, because you’ll die more times than you can count. If you stay positive and have fun with it, on the other hand, the stress of falling into the same pit for the tenth time in a row can be avoided. Still, the game itself must be worth the bother, otherwise no one has the patience to go through with it.

Treasure Hunter Man 2 looks and plays very much like an old-school platformer, since it actually tries really hard to portray one. You don’t do much other than jump around traps and killing fluffy enemies, but the experience is challenging enough to keep you engaged over the course of the story. The gameplay is smooth and responsive, which is a must in the genre.

Speaking of story, the one at hand revolves around a courageous young woman by the name of Dorothy, who goes on a quest to find her missing son. The game at hand takes place on a deserted island, where all sorts of enemies and traps try to stop Dorothy from achieving her goals. In essence, your task is to both explore and kill everything, much like a combination between Metroid and Castlevania, as the developer puts it.

There are some shy RPG elements included in the package as well, such as the fact that Dorothy can increase her attack damage and health points by picking up bonuses along the way. The RPG stuff doesn’t go any deeper than this, but it’s definitely a nice addition. Boss fights are also part of the equation, although it is pretty simple to figure out their attack patterns.

You can quickly get accustomed to the controls, since they are very responsive and simple. In case you have a gamepad nearby, it can certainly help a lot, but the game is more than playable on the keyboard as well. As far as the graphics are concerned, the retro visual style is on-point, with detailed levels and colorful environments to take your mind off things.

In the end, Treasure Hunter Man 2 features the perfect blend of fun and difficulty, since it’s definitely no easy task to get past some of the sections. There are no major flaws to worry about, except maybe for the fact that the checkpoints are usually placed before boss fights, but there are none after them. Hence, you might end up fighting some of them a couple of times even if manage to beat them once.