Brave Dwarves II Review

I did not like Brave Dwarves II one bit (that’s a good way to start off the review, isn’t it?). However, I was unable pull my nine year old away from computer for two hours and forty minutes. So this is going to be a love-hate review.

Ok, I did not like Brave Dwarves at all (I think I am repeating myself). Here is why. This is a classical platformer game (games like Mario Bros, where you have to jump from platform to platform), but it’s a vertical platformer. Instead of moving left to right (there is some of that), you move up and up and up, until you get dizzy. Honestly, I did not like this type of movement at all, that’s why I said BraveDwarves 2 isn’t my cup of tea (I did not try original game either).

But my kid quickly got adapted to this fact and started hopping up and down like crazy. He clearly loves the game, even though can’t give me a clear answer why. The graphics is quite cool, but the game is 2D (I did not think they still make 2D games). The music is OK, but nothing to rave about.

You’ve got two characters to pick from – a mage and an axe warrior, but only the game is available in the trial version. Basically, these guys jump everywhere, pick items and kill things. Things like ghosts, snakes, wasps. Now, here what annoyed me. Usually, when you kill things, they die. Not in Brave Dwarves II. In this game they resurrect after some time and keep attacking you again. Not fair.

Ok, another confusing element of the game is a shop. Actually, there are multiple shops. Some items you can buy there do … I don’t know what they do. It does not say what they do. I’ve bought an ax, but I kept using my staff. Was I supposed to do something? Is there a way to switch weapons? Is the mage not supposed to be able to have certain kinds of weapons? Who knows.

And one final thing that killed it for me. You can use the mouse. Not in the game, not with the menus. But, my kid still loves the game. He can’t wait for me to finish this review.