Toxic Cow 2
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| Toxic Cow 2

Toxic Cow 2 has a serious message about the deleterious effects that mass global cattle farming can have on the environment. It also stars a cow with explosive, but controllable, flatulence. It's a funny world we live in.

And while the eco-message might get lost under an un-fragrant blast of methane, there's still a lot to like about the game. It's tough, and a bit too fiddly in places, but when it gets into its stride you can't help but smile.

Silent but deadly

To all intents and purposes, the game is Angry Birds by way of a platformer, with extra bottom burps thrown in for good measure. You need to use Daisy the cow's rear-end expulsions to fire her from platform to platform, collecting items that can give you a boost or a brake along the way.

You angle your cow's read end with the joystick, then decide how much power you want to put behind your blast. Tap '5', or push down on the stick, and Daisy lets rip. You can use your brakes, by pushing '4', to drop Daisy straight down. Pushing '6' unleashes a boost, which fires Daisy further into the air.

Mid-air corrections are often necessary, and once you've landed you can't dally for too long. Consider your shot for more than a few seconds and the platform you're stood on will spontaneously combust. Just like it would in real life.

When you get into the rhythm of the game, there's a lot to enjoy about Toxic Cow 2. Its mechanics feel pretty unique, and there's a joy in just leaping from platform to platform.

Cowabunga

Unfortunately, the game is far from perfect. Leaps need to be pixel-perfect, and the margin for error is almost 0. Miss a platform by a whisker and you'll plummet to your death. The fact that you only have a handful of lives compounds the problem.

It's depressing watching a game shoot itself in the foot like Toxic Cow 2 does, but after a while it just doesn't feel like you're making any progress. As fun as the game is when it gets things right, it's just as disappointing when it gets them wrong.

Toxic Cow 2

While it sometimes manages to hit the high notes, more often than not Toxic Cow 2 is a case of he who smelt it dealt it
Score
Harry Slater
Harry Slater
Harry used to be really good at Snake on the Nokia 5110. Apparently though, digital snake wrangling isn't a proper job, so now he writes words about games instead.