Developed by Ocellus, who also made sleeper hit Smurfs: Dreams, and published by Mcroids, Marsupilami 2: Salsa Palombia is a 2.5D colorful platformer that basically merges Donkey Kong Country Returns and Rayman Legends into one.

The gimmick of this sequel comes from switching between three characters on the fly to best overcome the challenge at hand. Each of these Tigger-like marsupials has a special ability: one can double jump and bounce off enemies, another has a boosting twirl horizontal leap, and another can bounce around in a ball making it possible to travel over spikes. While this “Y” button switching mechanic works, I can’t help but wonder how much more fluid the experience would have been if all abilities were merged into one. The problem with switching is remembering which colored Tigger does what when you need it at a certain time. Also, unlike most platformers, there is no option to hold a button to sprint which feels weird and like something is missing. There is, however, the ability to dash roll with the press of a button which gives the player a choice: either walk at normal pace which doesn’t feel right, or constantly dash which is rather unwieldy.

It is important to note that Marsupilami 2 is one giant collect-a-thon. There are literally thousands of items to collect, hundreds in each stage, and the player is forced to collect most of them to progress. This is one of those platformers where you can’t simply play one level after the other. Instead, you must first collect a bagillion fruits and dozens of musical notes to unlock the world ending boss and next batch of stages. Oh, you didn’t grab enough, too bad, go replay that 10-minute-long stage to find the one thing you missed, if you can even find it.

Honestly, there is so much stuff to collect that I stopped caring by the end of the first world as it can be infuriating to collect a couple hundred items but then miss two, forcing a complete replay of the same stage. Since it is next to impossible to collect everything on the first attempt, the mandatory replaying of stages cheapens the run time. Some might enjoy this style of gameplay but I personally found it exhausting. Then, replaying stages in salsa mode, where you need to maintain momentum, is just another excuse to reuse assets. There are breaks, like the dojo segments, but these also require collecting a ton of items to access. The stage designs are cool and ever changing, but since you need to replay them so many times it loses their luster. Plus, stages are long, too long, especially since replays are required. 

The Saturday morning cartoon presentation and expressive animations are eye catching and easily the star of the show. It is a good-looking game, bright, and memorable with an upbeat soundtrack to boot. However, I did experience some horrible bugs with my playthrough. One bonus level in the first world unleashed the world’s worst ear-piercing sound effect on an unending loop upon entering. I was going to take a video and embed it here but decided not to torture you, the reader. I am guessing this could be patched in a future update though.

Without question, Marsupilami 2 has plenty of visual quality and its heart in the right place, but the never-ending collecting of thousands of items is relentless and tiresome. However, if you enjoy going for 100% completion in these types of games, there is plenty to enjoy but fans might want to stick with the standard Marios, Yoshis, DKs, and Raymans instead.

By: Zachary Gasiorowski, Editor in Chief myGamer.com

X/Twitter: @ZackGaz

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