Game:

Cactus McCoy 2: The Ruins of Calavera (2011)

Duration: 12:10

40,798 views

66

Hello Whiplash Rapids! There are, naturally, lots and lots of rapids in this area and God forbid you fall in them because you will be annoyed endlessly, much like I was. You fall into these and they more often they will sweep you all the way to a far corner of the level. I do appreciate the fact you can't be killed this way, its just tiresome to get swept around so much. Regardless though its my fault for being so clumsy.

This level really ups the complexity compared to anything else we've seen thus far in the game and is in fact the hardest in terms of getting from A to B while exploring everything in between. All the main game play elements are active in this level including alternating timed platforms. One pops out the nearest one retracts which makes for fun platforming. I feel like this is the height of platforming forcing you to hurry along in a precise manner while being mindful of hazards.

Then we come to fish, fish that jump out of the water and try to attack Cactus. Its sort of like those robot fish in the first level of Sonic the Hedge Hog. There is an achievement for killing all these guys and so I put on a futile jumping attack effort to squash these creatures. Sadly they did in fact kill me twice during this attempt but I proved the victor in the long run. I was very pleased with myself when the 16th fish lay broken at my feet, more so after putting me through Hell in a section I'll mention later.

There is also another optional mutli chamber swarm fight in this level. This one really goes a long time (took me 10 minutes) and its by far the hardest. The chaps using snakes as whips had a terrible habit of hiding behind each other and whacking me something good. I did however like the fact each chamber was dedicated to each of the different Eneimgo types (sailor, clown, pirate etc) seen in the game so far. The firefighter chamber was especially fun as flames shooting down from the ceiling is pretty cool but I found that since I really didn't need to jump much fighting it didn't really have much of an effect on my planning for that fight, which was sort of waste of a good chance to challenge a hindered player.

And oh dear God we come to the part of the level I spent more time on than I'm comfortable admitting. Between the two turrets that launch homing rocket barrels and one of those annoying fish whenever I tried to cross between two platforms on a rope I'd always get hit and knocked down or have to jump off to avoid being hit. Either way the net result was the same, I found myself swept back all the way to the start of the obstacle. I did clear past it eventually but this was the only time when playing Cactus McCoy 2 that I felt I wanted to take a break out of frustration. Its still a great level but that took me out of it for a minute.

Alright, last chapter next time, see you all in the ruins of Calvera...

Other Statistics