A Valley Without Wind 2

While this game has similarities to its predecessor, it is functionally a very different game. Gone are the sprawling and almost endless randomized platform levels. They have been shortened into little bite sized pieces where in you either have to destroy a wind generator or beat one of the named bad guys in their lair to level up. Gone too are the smooth controls and animation from before replaced by ho-hum average bob sprites.

Instead a bigger focus is put on the strategic section of the game where in you must command your rebel forces to expand the map, gather resources, build and man structures, destroy enemy strongholds and warp gates, recruit more rebels and most importantly escape from the main bad guy Demonica (a demon overlord) until such a time as when you can fight him (I guess, I haven't reached there yet if so and there are no hints so far on how to actually win the game - just how to survive).

The bit I did like from the previous game, the platforming, has now been made a joke. There are all sorts of cool yet annoying enemies to get in your way but there is absolutely NO REASON to fight them as they no longer drop currency (other than the main targets you have to fight anyway), only ammo and health which you won't lose if you are good at evasion.

It's a pity that they decided to take this road, because for me it ends up being a weaker game for it. I give it two and a half wind generators out of five and would definitely recommend the first game over this one for sure.

A Valley without Wind indeed.

A Valley Without Wind

In the year 888 reality collapsed, and instead of killing everything it just killed the majority of mankind and messed up the world like a jigsaw puzzle of time eras now controlled by an evil overlord and the never ending storm that rages across the planet. That's the premise of this game which has most of its focus on platforming through various randomly generated terrain though it does have a tiny building and strategy component as well.

It's up to you to travel through the very strangely designed structures and pyramids full of card board boxes to find survivors, build a colony using wind shelters (that look like ordinary wind mills) to push back the endless storm and ocean buoys (that somehow calm turbulent seas) and ultimately defeat the very passive main bad and his four lieutenants.

They don't like coming out into the rain I guess.

The music is pretty good but with the size of some maps (mainly the annoying and sometimes dark mazes) you'll probably be turning it off due to repetition. Controls wise it's pretty slick too and has great adjustable difficulty that should suit the most novice of players to those who are already "the guy" (IWTBTG). Be warned though that it is very grindy. While you are free to march straight to the overlord's lair at any time you will probably want to do a few things before hand such as clearing a path through the storm to his place, levelling your skills up by harvesting and crafting stuff, and levelling him down by defeating his lieutenants and convincing other survivors to go attack him.

There are a variety of extra missions scattered around which mainly deal with fighting foes or surviving the environment but you would have most likely played all of them by the time you beat the first lieutenant. To that end I'm not sure how many people actually continue on after defeating the overlord to sail to the next continent and basically do it all again. Still, it is pretty addictive and is a decent ride for those who enjoy platforming games (at least through the first playthrough) so I give it three wind shelters out of five.