Totem Destroyer 2
Have you noticed that stacking has become the "in" thing lately for casual games? Everyone's doing it, sometimes with big friendly smiley blocks, sometimes with cold metallic blocks and archetypical heaven and hell themes. All the cool kids are stacking these days, and you know something? I think we're ready for a game where you destroy stacks instead of building them.
Either Gabriel Ochsenhofer has a great sense of timing or this is all just a coincidence, but either way, it's good for us—Totem Destroyer 2 is finally out!
What's that you say? You thought you collected all the golden idols in the first Totem Destroyer? Ha ha! Boy, you couldn't be more wrong if you said we should run with scissors barefoot through a thumbtack farm. No, it's time to dust off the ol' fedora, fasten the whip to the belt and hop in the plane, because there are hundreds more golden idols awaiting us, and yes, that means more totems to destroy than you can shake a sack full of bombs at.
For those that have yet to indoctrinate themselves to Totem Destroyer, game play is simple. In each level you must bomb all of the destructible blocks (otherwise known as totems) by clicking on them, without allowing the golden idol(s) to touch the ground. While the charcoal-gray indestructible blocks provide the eventual resting place for the idols, you must still blast your way through all the plain brown totems, the bouncy green sloppy totems, and several new varieties that can explode, fly away, or only be destroyed when they touch another of their kind.
Analysis: The first Totem Destroyer was a great game that employed a wonderful physics engine and provided an excellent puzzle experience with just a hint of action thrown in, though it did have its shortcomings, including being just a tad too short.
Totem Destroyer 2 is bigger, better, and gets right a lot of the things its predecessor got wrong.
Both the graphics and the music have received a facelift. Now blocks have details: cracks and knicks for the fragile brown blocks, little runnels of ooze for the green bouncy ones. Even the background enjoys a little attention, with tiny little birds soaring through a sky of fluffy clouds. You're even treated to different musical tracks that change every great once in a while.
But the changes go far beyond the cosmetic here. For instance, there are more kinds of golden idols: big fat round ones, little tiny ones, top-heavy hammer-shaped ones. The best thing about this is that each idol has its own properties. The triangle idol can fall from great distances and stop on a dime, but don't try that with the sun shaped idols—they'll roll right off and you'll be starting over again. Small idols go flying when you set off explosions, but the big and heavy guys weather the blasts with less movement. Oh, and in some levels, you'll have to save multiple idols as opposed to just one, so good luck with that.
Of course, one of the most obvious additions are the three new types of totems. Explosive totems obviously explode. Combo totems can only be destroyed when they come into contact with each other, and UFO totems start to fly away if they don't have enough weight holding them down. Each of these new types of totems are used in creative ways which maximize the potential of their characteristics and result in some truly interesting levels.
Have you had enough New yet? You have? Too bad, there's more! A whole lot more. In fact, Ochsenhofer boasts a minimum of three hours of game time before everything is said and done, with hundreds of idols for you to rescue. Yes, whereas the first Totem Destroyer was over when it reached level 25, this one is just getting started.
And did I mention there's a level editor now, too? I didn't? There is, so once you've played through all of the included levels you can go back and start making your own.
Amazingly, with all of the New coming off of Totem Destroyer 2, it still manages to hold onto the great gameplay and charm that made the first one a hit. On top of that, the level designs feel much better. Some are definitely based more on speed and timing, while others depend on thinking your way through, but solutions that rely upon luck seem to be fewer and farther between.
Sequels always carry with them some risk. It's easy not to deviate enough from the original, just as it can be easy to overdo it and come up with something that hardly resembles the original at all. But Totem Destroyer 2 is a beautifully executed follow-up that should not be missed.
Thanks to Nicop, Wilco, Ace, Scott, Jace, Adeel and Dom for sending this one in!
yay! the original was one of my favorite games! that hammer shaped idol is kicking my butt though :(
The hammers aren't too bad, just wait until you get to the sun and the big fat round ones, those are nightmares.
One thing about the hammer shaped ones.
YOu can squeeze the "handle" of the hammer between pieces, which can really help from time to time.
i also noticed
i did the same sort of thing with the small angular ones, they can hook on to one another to help them stay put.
Great game! It is certainly better than the last one!
Just one thing, now this is gonna sound real dumb but, please help me on level 4!
Level 4:
First, click on the explosive totems atop the black bar.
From there it takes a bit of timing. Hit the black boxes all the way on hte left to start a domino affect.
As the bars fall hit the red block on which the golden idol sits.
As the idol comes down get rid of hte right most brown block and the golden idol should fall neatly into place on the black block and from there it's just a matter of clean up.
I LOVED the first game, and in fact it was the first to make it onto my favourites list.
And now this! So excited!
Forget work...
I should be writing, I really should. But this game just pulls at me. Off to play it.
Brilliant. The first was incredible, but this is a masterpiece. I can feel my level of productivity oozing away even as I type.
Also, level 16 is killing me.
This game is MUCH harder to play on a fast computer.
This game is so good, the only way I can think to improve it would be a level sharing system, so you could download new levels that others had made.
Gah! I am SO STUCK on level 31...little help, please?
So anyone know any of the cheat codes?
This game actually lags terrible on this one computer, I'll have to give it another try on the other one.
Any help with level 11 anyone
Or I could switch the quality to medium and it now runs so very smoothly. Ah, teach me to try stuff out before I talk. Great game though.
for 31
i got rid of the small ones to start with then starting from the bottom took away the rectangles next to each other alternatley, but leave the explosive ones till the end
if you press shift + c on the main menu you get to put in cheat codes :S
Am I the only person who prefers the original game? It was less complicated, and focused more on the core mechanic. It seems like you need luck & randomness to pass some of the new levels.
Level 34
take the 6 single blocks out up top - then the red blasters - let it all fall to the middle and clean up - carefully
Cheats:
1.
highroller : Unlocks the Luck Level.
2.
idontwantchallenge : Unlocks the Easy Level.
3.
idowantchallenge : Unlocks the Hard Level.
4.
ronislevel : Unlocks Roni's Level.
5.
beka : Unlocks Beka Level.
6.
thisisnotalevel : Unlocks (not a) Level.
7.
therealimpossiblelevel : Unlocks the Real Impossible Level.
8.
iamevil : Menu song plays backward.
9.
werealldoomed : Inverted colors.
10.
resetcustomlevelsmemory : Deletes ALL custom levels.
11.
resetallmemory : Resets ALL the game memory (be careful on this one).
12.
aimayhem : Frenzy menu AI.
13.
showstatus : Shows some stats on the main menu.
14.
theblackmonolith : Shows the ending again IF you had already beat the game.
15.
pico : Pico!
Cool - the first one left me wanting more. One feature I'd like to see is a "kill all remaining blocks" button - I often get the idol(s) on to safe ground with a bunch of blocks left over I have to click through to advance.
Is the unlockable level "the real impossible level" really impossible? I've tried it many times and had no luck. Can anyone do it?
I don't see how Kyle can say that there's less luck involved in this game than in the original. What with the explosions and floaters and whatnot, I'd say at least half of the levels are 100% luck-based.
I agree with Reka and Z: this game depends too much on luck, and I much prefer the original. Which is not to say I haven't been playing this obsessively.
Ah. First, I didn't say luck was completely removed from the equation, but to me there seemed to be a lot more rhyme and reason to the levels and this is largely because of the floaters and blasters.
That's not to say that you can't luck your way through a lot of levels you can, but I work on three or four different computers so I've had to redo a lot of levels at least two or three times and even on the "luck" levels you begin to notice patterns in all the chaos (not that I'm trying to go all Ian Malcom on you guys).
I didn't want to get into this in the review because I could probably go on forever on it, but there are almost categories of levels. You have the strictly logical levels that you can take your time and think your way through, and then you have the timing and reflexes levels that can feel like they are luck based levels, but in reality you can think your way through them, you just have to think fast or act fast.
I'm just saying that I initially thought like you guys (Stu and Reka) that there was a lot of luck involved, but having to reproduce the same results several times allowed me to see that what felt like luck initially definitely had a method and a logical solution.
I'd agree with Kyle here. Luck isn't really the right word - it's best to think in terms of probability. The trick is to work out what combination of clicks will be most likely to have the desired effects.
Having said that, there are some levels where you have little or no control over the physics AND the probability of solving it on any given attempt is really low. I found that these detract from the experience - what's the point of playing a level in which a bot or computer player would have an equal chance of success?
@Allie
The strategy that worked for me was: start by removing the floaters beginning with the second row down from the black block, and continue down about 2 rows. If you get lucky :p the floaters below will rise up, hitting the black block and its immediate supports with the right timing to keep it more or less level as it falls.
I'm stuck on 47...
What I did so far:
I removed the flat piece (second from the bottom) to stabilize the structure, and I found that detonating the explosives below the middle idol just sends him up
I'm really flabberghasted at how many people actually like this game. When I played it a couple days ago, my first reaction was 'this is awful'.
How can you have a game based on physics that has such a flawed physics engine? I quickly lost count of the amount of times I had to replay certain levels because I had to wait until the idol fell in the correct direction.
You cannot possibly have a successful puzzler that is so very random! Not only that, but the idols are built so poorly in connection with the engine that most immediately begin to sway upon the start of the level.
I was excited for this and it was looking good until the 3rd level (with the floating blocks). Sorry, I can't get behind a game that feels like it sets out to frustrate the player.
Could use some help with 33, please.
I'm stuck on 50. I get the feeling that I'm just going to have to keep doing the exact same thing here over and over until I'm lucky enough to get the result I need.
Got it! Yay!
I will agree that this is more frustrating and luck-based than the first one. I think I prefer the old one to this overall, but I still really enjoyed this one.
While I do agree that the sequel is more frustrating than the original, in my experience, the issues described (luck, waiting for the idol to fall the right way, etc.) can all be circumvented with observation and careful timing. There have been a few levels that have had me pulling my hair out, but the level of satisfaction I get from beating them is well worth it.
For anyone who uses Kongregate, and hasn't started yet, there is a Kongregate version. No badges yet, but you never know. http://www.kongregate.com/games/regulargabs/totem-destroyer-2
I remember playing through GemCraft about a week before they released it on Kongregate with badges. That was harsh.
The really impossible level
is not impossible
Cheers for the heads-up Fuzzyevil... The Kongregate version also runs much faster/smoother.
Now let's see if that makes it any easier though... :)
They say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result...unfortunately that's exactly what you find yourself doing in this game. The game physics are so delicately calibrated that they are extremely vulnerable to chaos theory, i.e. a very small change in starting conditions can lead to a very big difference later on. So you find yourself repeating the same strategy over and over, on the basis that if you just get the timing right...then you abandon it and go for a random, let-the-chips-fall-where-they-may blast--only to find all the idols stacked neatly on top of the black block. This makes it a rare example of a game where solving a level can be almost as frustrating as failing.
This game won't even load for me. I click on "play" and all it does is go to the opening screen with all the different animations of towers/totems falling, even though it looks like its loading. I _wanted_ to at least try this game, but I am severely disappointed that it didn't work, and as such will likely not go back to it.
I agree, it seems like this one relies on luck as much as the skill of the player. For that reason i haven't bothered playing past level 5. I agree the first one was better.
The Impossible Level:
I beat it by clicking the top right of the top-est most right-est explosive box. It took a couple tries, but the blocks laid flat and the head landed on top of it. Sometimes one will slide off the right, but a few (dozen) tries got it.
j:
You judged the entirety of the game based on five levels?
I did not play the first version, but this one is great! There is some luck to it, but you know if you're on the right track and sometimes you just have to keep on retrying the same level until you finally nail it just right. I'm at level 37, and I love the variety of puzzle types. Great game!
could someone help me on level 10...and yes, i do feel stupid asking for this lol
It would be nice to have a code for each level. I had made it up to Level 45, then the next time I played, the game failed to recognize me as a returning player and started me back on Level 1.
FYI.
I'm stuck on level 50 and I agree that I'm probably going to keep doing the same thing until I get lucky. Haha, but I don't mind.
This game is so addicting, I can't not play it. :D
level 48.....HELP!!!!!!!!!!
I have actually done the impossible level!!
SERIOUSLY! It requires A LOT LOT LOT LOT of luck!
Have A Go!
Help on lvl 8?
Here's an idea for a great game. How about you take a pair of dice and every time you roll a seven or eleven you win!
Asinine luck games...
This could be a really fun puzzler if they'd tighten up the physics. As it is it's 90% luck and 10% planning.
What fun is that??
Does anyone know the name of the classical song at the end of the game????
It'd be awesome if someone did!!!!
Cheers
Mordum - the song at the end is Also Sprach Zarathustra (Thus Spoke Zoroaster) from 2001: A Space Odyssey.
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