Gruniozerca 2 (Review)

[fcgamer | 4,719]

Today I received three homebrew games in the mail, namely Gruniozerca 2, Gruniozerca 3, and Gold Guardian Gun Girl. As I had had already played Gruniozerca 3 a year or two ago, and I'm not too keen on the GGGG name, I decided that Gruniozerca 2 would be the homebrew game I'd play today, the final day of my forced covid-19 soft lockdown "holiday".

As the name suggests, both Gruniozerca 2 and 3 come out of Poland. In part 2, you play as a rodent (guinea pig or a hamster?) that ventures deep into the cellar in search of his missing friend.

The primary objective in Gruniozerca 2 is to grab keys that will unlock doors, allowing you to progress to other rooms in this 24-stage adventure. There's a carrot you can grab in each stage too; I managed to grab roughly half of the carrots on my first play through, next time I'll try to grab them all.

The keys and carrots are placed strategically throughout each screen. The protagonist must grab blocks, which he can place many places on screen, to reach the keys and carrots. Stools can also aid the hero in reaching higher areas, and switches can cause platforms to appear or disappear, make carrots appear, or break down walls.

I found the game's plot to be quite amusing, and the music was also top-notch. Difficulty wise, I found it to be perfect - I didn't get hung up on any stage for too long, though sometimes I did have to think a bit, luckily it's not illegal yet!

In actuality, Gruniozerca 2 reminded me a lot of Donkey Kong '94 on Game Boy. The puzzles are generally fun, yet fair, and even if you don't solve the puzzle the first time around, you usually have an idea of what to do next time. Great game, highly recommended, I think I actually prefer it to part 3.

 

[fcgamer | 4,719]

I went back last night and started collecting all of the carrots. I was able to get the carrots in the first twelve stages, then I had to cut myself off to go to bed Gonna try to get the rest tonight.

[JamesRobot | 5,786]

Really dig Gruniozerca 2.  I originally checked it out during that year's NESDev competition. I think we also played it for one of the homebrew weekly contests maybe?  @M-Tee's graphics are charming as usual.

[Deadeye | 1,595]

@JamesRobotwe did play it for the 2020 Homebrew Leader Board Competition. Great game!

[fcgamer | 4,719]

Passwords dont save carrots!!!

Looks like I'll do a full run, luckily I took the afternoon off

[fcgamer | 4,719]

Finished, got all the carrots and the full ending. Very nice!

[Ferris Bueller | 495]

Did you win these in the auction last year? The auction before that?

[fcgamer | 4,719]

1 hour ago, Ferris Bueller said:

Did you win these in the auction last year? The auction before that?

Yeah I think it was this year or last year, it was for charity. I can't remember, it took forever for me to get them, from time of auction to now.