Game:

Cactus McCoy 2: The Ruins of Calavera (2011)

Duration: 5:47

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22

Dustinbin Road! Home of zip lines, lots of zip lines. Cactus McCoy continues on in his trek to save his friend Ella Windstorm from kidnappers by running around the place and slashing disgruntled clowns.
There is a game mechanic I'd like to talk about that I didn't mention before in the Tumblewood review since it hadn't come into play yet. For completing challenges, clearing each area, finding treasure and killing enemies, in game money is awarded. Money can be spent to upgrade Cactus McCoy or spend it in between levels on weapons. This creates interesting conflicts between what aspects of Cactus McCoy you want to progress and further rewards exploration by offering advantages in game. This also alleviates my previous concern about the damage output between weapons not being different enough, with upgrades it is so getting the type of weapon you have the most ranks in is preferable to using whatever is lying around.
As mentioned before zip lines are a big part of this map, 14 in all. Offering a speedy way to get through the level, they ignore a lot of the side areas for exploring. They're pretty useful if you want to complete the time challenge and complete the level in under a 1:45, but with a game like this you shouldn't rely on them as a way to go fast so much as a way to get to places you wouldn't be able to reach otherwise. Learning when to jump off to try to reach a secret objective requires practice and exploration but the mechanic is forgiving since there isn't any fall damage and allows you to take as long as you want trying to propel yourself to that spot just barely out of reach.
With that in mind, its more time consuming than the first level because you'll spend more time experimenting just to get the lay of the land. This can get slightly frustrating at times but it isn't so frustrating that you want to quit. The time challenge for this level is noticeably more difficult than any other challenges but that difficulty forces the player to develop thinking skills and not rely on randomly jumping and spamming attacks.
The boss fight is clowns, clowns everywhere. I'm not sure what motivated clowns into a violent life of crime but here they are with various weapons, ready to commit murder. After the first boss fight this pretty easy but the quirkiness of clowns in the Old West trying to murder you and the lovely "Beware the Hobos" sign make this fight appreciably different than the one in Tumblewood.
Speaking of the boss fight, and one thing I'd like to applaud in the vein of forcing players to actually play, is the addition of secret treasures within the boss fight area. Normally once you reach that spot where the doors close the only thing you bother with is leaving when they open again. There are hints that there is something to be found laying around to those keen enough to get that last chest.
The idea that adventuring within the level doesn't end just because you killed the last enemy puts this game inline with games like Metroid or Castlevania, think outside the norms of standard platforming to unlock all the game's secrets. It borrows from outside those two games going into Mario. It has the rip stuff off the ground and throw mechanics from Super Mario Brothers II and the jump on the flag pole mechanic from the first Super Mario Brothers. That second one was a nice touch, just that little hint of the history of the genre as you play and I really hope to see more of that in later levels.

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