Heave Ho 2 Review – Let Go of My Hand!
Seven years after the original Heave Ho, developer Le Cartel Studio is back, and finally with a sequel. It’s crazy to think it’s been so long since the original, considering how much fun it was, but the wait was clearly worth it. Heave Ho 2 takes everything we loved about the first game, and cranks the absurdity up to eleven.
Friendships will be broken, but at least you’ll know that you’ll all be laughing while it happens.
We’re All In This Together
The premise of Heave Ho 2 is simple: Reach the destination with all your friends. Players play as a legless ball with a face and two arms, and they need to navigate through various levels by grappling and swinging one another around. There’s not much in terms of gameplay mechanics, but sometimes less is more, and in the case of Heave Ho 2, that simplicity is where all the magic lies. By essentially making it pick up and play, anyone with any level of skill can understand what to do within seconds.
It’s an easy game to pick up, as should any party genre game. But don’t mistake its simplicity for a lack of complexity, as the game is very challenging, requiring players to coordinate with one another to reach their goal. This is all done by grabbing one another, then using momentum and swinging across platforms, building bridges, and evading hazards. Or, more often than not, hurling each other straight into oblivion because someone misread the timing. What may seem like a straightforward puzzle ends up turning into a high-stakes puzzle, where one mistake could mean starting back at square one.
It can be frustrating, but it wouldn’t be a party game if those shared laughs weren’t accompanied by frustration and playful blaming. And trust me, playing through 60 levels with friends did lead to some hilarious moments, along with rage quitting, because one of us decided to purposely mess up and pretend we weren’t (spoiler: it was me, Flash).
The game features a total of 60 missions, which my group and I are still making our way through. There is some variety thrown in there that doesn’t involve getting from one location to another, such as dragging an object, like a key, or being put inside a spaceship and coordinating with everyone to shift their bodies around to steer it. Some levels even have you turning the entire layout around, while someone else navigates around it. You never know what to expect, and Le Cartel Studio certainly made sure to have fun with it themselves. Of course, not all levels are going to be hits, but I think more often than not you’ll find yourself having a good laugh.
It helps that the game is visually charming, with a colorful art style that is adorably cute. The music is quirky, if not a bit annoying at times, but it goes well with everything else. Overall, the gameplay is smooth, where mistakes all feel like they’re on the player, rather than the game bugging out or something.
It’s, as the studio has described it, very approachable, while also delivering enough of a challenge to keep players wanting to play more. Can’t tell you how many times we’ve spent a good amount of time failing and retrying, only to finally beat a level, and one of us goes, “well, let’s do one more,” and then we end up playing through like 10 missions, and it’s 2 am. There are side objectives for each mission, which do unlock some cosmetics. Nothing to really write home about, but it does add a bit of replay value.
There’s a Showdown mode, which, as the name suggests, is your versus mode. It’s a fun little addition that sees players facing off one another, either solo or in a team, across different maps and different types of versus modes. It’s a fun mode to dip into if you happen to want something a little more competitive, but compared to the cooperative missions, it does get repetitive pretty quickly. Expected, considering this is a co-op-focused title. If anything, you’ll find yourself being a bit more competitive with one another in the cooperative missions than the versus, as it’s more fun to, well, make your own fun with friends during these missions.
Latching on to Those Who Matter
The joy of party games is the fact that anything can happen in them, and when that anything happens, it’s just a downright good time, and whether you’re playing with friends, family, or even randoms online, Heave Ho 2 ultimately delivers on the chaotic chaos it promises. It’s hilarious and delightfully frustrating to see how much fun such a simple idea can be when you’re literally hanging on to each other for dear life. Just be warned, Heave Ho 2 could very well ruin some friendships, but I suppose that’s part of the charm of why we love playing party games.
Pros
- Accessible gameplay that anyone can pick up.
- Charming visuals
- Sheer co-op fun
- Perfect game to break up friendships (and I have plenty to break)
Cons
- No solo play like the original
- Showdown mode can be fun, but easily forgettable.
