Guns, Gore and Cannoli 2 - Review

It feels like an age since I have written a review, it turns out it has only been two weeks.  I started replaying Persona 4 Golden Week and I am struggling to put it down.  Sometimes though you need to take a break from playing a game so you can play another one.  Recently myself and my Nollsy played Guns, Gore and Cannoli and we had a lot of fun, so when we saw a sequel had just been released we thought hells yeah let play it.


I like cannoli, they work really well with coffee. Wait? What?  I know what you are thinking  I said this only recently.  I did, but this time it's a little different.  Have you ever eaten a stale cannoli?  It looks okay from the outside but on the inside, it's barely filled and is dried out.  Playing Guns, Gore and Cannoli 2 I found myself asking was this worthy of the name cannoli?

Story

Vinnie Cannoli is back in the fray and this time it's personal, well it was personal last time, this time it's extra personal.  This time the game is set in 1944, and the event of the first installment has been swept under the rug.  Vinnie ends up getting dragged back to Thugtown and takes a trip to Europe during World War II.

The story is all over the place and not in a comical weird kind of way but just nonsensical. The story has the feeling that you are constantly being set up, which is a little derivative as this was the plot of the first game.  But in honesty it's more than that, everyone wants you dead even though they actually want you alive?!  Vinnie's dialogue is similar to the first game and one of his standout lines was 'some turds are just too big to flush'.

Overall the story is similar to the first game with two exceptions, it doesn't make any sense and also it doesn't make any sense.

Visuals

I have to give props for the visuals they are fun and quite comical for such a dark backdrop.  There is more attention to detail and some of the level designs look great.  My favorites being the Normandy beach landing, the Theater and the Secret Research Base in the woods.

Overall the visuals are improved and only suffer one issue, for some reason this time the camera is panned out quite far.  Great for enjoying the view, not always great when trying to see where you are.

Music 

The score is pretty similar to the first game focusing on a twenties sound.  The score is once again is created by Belgium composer Matthias Claeys who worked on the music for Empire, Siegebreaker, and Coin Army.

The score runs a little over twenty minutes, my favorite tracks being 'Tank Boss Theme',  'Normandie'

and 'Storage Radio Mix'.  

Overall the soundtrack isn't bad but no risks were taken and you would be forgiven for thinking it was the same as the music from the original game.

Gameplay

Sooo, the gameplay.  The first game had a number of issues with the gameplay, it seems like the developer realised this too.  Instead of making minor tweaks they instead ended up doing a 360, you read that right.

The first issue is that it looks like your character is far away, it helps show off the visuals but it is also quite easy to lose track of where you are.  There is now a menu wheel for your weapons, this takes up a large section of the screen and becomes really awkward if both of you are trying to change your weapons.  It's okay in theory but the game is fast paced and having a wheel taking over such a large portion of the screen is crazy.  The game now allows you to shoot and aim upwards, yay!  The only problem is you have one analog stick for movement and another for aiming.   I know what you might be thinking, what's the big deal?  Well for you average release no problem, but for a 2D side-scroller it is needless fiddley and hampers the gameplay.

There are now cars featured in the game that try and run you down, they are kind of fun and add a new element.

Boss battles...boss battles are...they are...a little frustrating.  They are generally quite long and have too many parts to them.  I like a challenge, it's fun but the bosses in this game are just annoying.  In Cuphead, for example, they were tough but they were doable there was a pattern to it, but in Guns, Gore and Cannoli 2 they were just a pain.

Unusually the game silences all swears and even removes it from the on-screen text.  Except for crap, crap apparently is not a swear word which seems to me like a load of $#*!

Final Thoughts

After what felts like twelve hours but was only about five hours how did I feel?  Disappointed.  The sequel had the chance to really improve on the first game, but it didn't and in many ways went backward.  The story was all over the place, the visuals were good, the music was okay but no great changes and the gameplay, oh the gameplay.  Overall this one gets 2 out of 5