La Manula 2

Break Space

Al

Dave

Jamie

LA MANULA 2 KrappyGamez Free Dave's Review Like its predecessor, La Manula 2 is inspired by the 2006 retrostyled PC game 'La Mulana', which is a sprawling metroidvania game with lots of bosses and a Fedora-wearing, whip-wielding protagonist who is, of course-an archaeologist. Indiana Jones has a lot to answer for. This is the first full game made using the author's own 'Krasplib' engine, and La Manula 2 is very much in the Krappy Gamez style of simple, fun action games that don't take themselves too seriously. Despite being inspired by a flip-screen game so ridiculously big you could never hope to cram it into a Speccy, La Manula 2 manages a respectable 80 detailed screens, 6 landscapes, 4 bosses and at least one secret place. The physics are good, though take a bit of getting used to. Once that happens it's fun to control the sprite in mid air, especially as the jump has a flamenco-ish nonchalance about it. The whip action is less flamboyant, but when you're using it as much as this guy you'll either develop an efficient action or tendonitis. Anyway you get power ups: regular whip, long whip, and 'epic flail'. The ultimate goal of the game is to find and defeat the Otocolobus, by whipping its sorry hide into submission. True to the non-linear nature of the PC game, La Manula 2 can be completed in various ways: the usual route is to defeat 3 sub-bosses in any order, with pathways opening up and being sealed off as you go; the unusual route, if you can find it, involves negotiating the hidden dungeon as a short cut straight to the final boss-but that's no walk in the park and is possibly harder! And the game is hard. I confess to using POKEs, but I can see how it can be split into 3 completable chunks, each involving reaching (and beating) a boss with energy mostly intact, then making it back to the central infirmary for a much needed energy top up. Easier said that done, but good fun trying. As with so many things in life, Doris Day nails it: dangerous land, no time to delay; so, whip-crack-away, whip-crack-away, whip-crack-away.

At least there's no snakes

Eyyy! Who died and made you da boss?

What's this Krasplib then? Well, it's framework for making games like this one, using the Boriel Basic programming language. It features: Compiled BASIC speed Up to 8 16x16 coloured sprites Up to 8 coloured dots, which could be a hail of bullets, or a symphony of stars Up to 256 rooms Collision detection Easy redefinable key code Kempston joystick support Default sound effects (but you can use your own) A little sprite flicker. Not much. No-one's perfect You can get it here: https://krappygamez.itch.io/krasplib