The word ‘friendslop’ has been thrown around very readily in recent times. It is seemingly meant to signify a game that is designed to be played with friends, with more of an emphasis on creating fun moments rather than being taken seriously. Heave Ho 2 can fall into such a category.
Yet to call Heave Ho 2 “slop” would be a great disservice to Le Cartel Studio and the craft that has gone into putting together this sequel. The gameplay may be basic, but it is enhanced by the levels the studio has created. Heave Ho 2 is not just fun only because it is with friends; it is a fun time where you just so happen to be playing with your friends.
Easy to Learn
Heave Ho 2 seems to control in much the same way as the first game, with the left stick providing movement and the bumpers allowing each hand to grab and hold onto walls, ropes, and bars. Momentum is key for jumping from platform to platform, whether solo or in a chain of people. While playing, I experienced the novelty of confusing my left and right for the first time in fifteen years, prompting much hilarity. The large, labelled gloves to indicate which bumper was which proved to be a necessity.
Alongside the core controls, there are farts and items. Some items are more for flavor, like the camera or the spray can, whereas the rope and stone have gameplay effects. They never saw much use in our playthrough, never seeming useful enough to learn the ins and outs of. The farts are mostly used to get out of being trapped, creating a small shockwave to shift items or any players who become unwanted hangers on. Again, they never achieved much except knocking allies off of ledges, despite tips screens boasting of a double jump with the correct timing.
I gathered a couple of friends to play with me. Our go-to move was linking our hands and stepping from handhold to handhold. It may sound simple, and without level variety it would have been, but even grabbing another player in the right spot is its own challenge, logistically if not tactically. With the difficulty we had in cooordination while talking, I dread to think of how playing with random people online might be. I ran into a couple of issues over the course of my playthrough, mostly with some unresponsive controls, leading to a few cases where my character let go of their grip without my input. There was also one instance in which me and my friends stopped respawning, leaving us on a blank screen. Thankfully, this issue in particular was easily fixed by a quick level restart.
The Playground
Heave Ho 2 relies on carefully crafted levels as the playground in which the co-op fun can happen. They seem built to allow two players to complete, with adding players making things slightly easier, along with small changes being made to facilitate them. The game takes its players through eight themes, ranging from nautical adventure to a medieval castle. The themes aren’t restrictive either, allowing for multiple kinds of backdrop, such as going from pirate ships to the inside of a whale. The medieval level ranges from the outside of a castle to the dark dungeons inside, to the golden throne room at the end. The nightclub level isn’t quite so distinct, one level taking us some time due to not spotting a ladder against the background.
I very much appreciated the variety in levels. A lot of them did rely on platforming, but the use of objects like ladders added some interesting complexity. The museum levels are all based around puzzles to earn a key to take to the end, rather than just getting the player character from one side of the screen to the other. Other shake ups in gameplay include piloting a ship or rolling a boulder, the latter of which being pretty frustrating at times. An alternate gameplay style I preferred came right at the end of the game as a lab’s experiments fuse players into monstrosities. Sharing a body with other players or being reduced to one hand make co-operation all the more important. Still, I do wish this experimentation appeared throughout the game, rather than just in the final few levels.
Each level also has an additional challenge, whether it be a coin to take to the end or a pose to recreate. The most engaging were little animals that must be freed from their cages. These can then crawl around, either on players or the environment. It could get irritating when they jumped off the player mid-movement, yet my group resolutely refused to leave any of the critters behind. Once a level has been completed by most of the players, a drone can be piloted to help stragglers catch up. In the end, I wound up using it to trivialize gathering collectibles. Avoidable on my end, yet unfortunately exploitable.
The aesthetic of the game aims for scrappy and comedic, with a pencil-like style permeating the art. Characters are constantly grunting as they exert. It’s hard to take the game too seriously though I personally never found it outright funny. Comedy instead comes from interactions through the physics. The blood-like splatters that spray out upon death I found tonally jarring, not slapstick like the skeletons left behind by lasers, which I found more cohesive to the overall style. Every group of levels culminates with a celebratory screen with a simple obstacle while it shows off images from your adventure. The cheering crowd provides a nice sense of relief after conquering the greatest challenge the batch has to offer.
With and Against Others
Heave Ho 2 is a game all about playing with friends. In fact, the only part that is playable solo is the tutorial. As such, the biggest addition to the original touted by the game’s Steam page is that of online play, which makes things more convenient for playing with friends. As mentioned, public lobbies are also available. There are plenty of customization options, such as a variety of heads to choose from, which are unlocked via completing challenges. The random unlock order means that even as I completed the game alongside friends, each of us had different cosmetics available to use, adding a bit more excitement into every unlock.
Some are game original, others are collaborations with a variety of indie games, like Slay the Spire‘s Ironclad that make for gratifying to recognize cameos. All are different enough and in distinct bright colors to prevent confusion. Together, we didn’t find the game all too difficult, managing to spend a maximum of fifteen minutes on any single level. The puzzle levels were rarely all too taxing while still requiring a little thought. More figuring out had to go into some of the platforming challenges, taking into account the momentum and the various obstacles all around, all whilst working alongside others. I would have appreciated a little more being asked of me in the puzzle solving department instead of so much of the focus being on platforming.
Outside the main cooperative mode, there is also a head-to-head mode. There are survival and race stages as players try to beat one another to five wins. Though also enjoyable, it doesn’t feel like nearly so much of a priority as the co-op. Even with only a few matches, I already recognized some of the layouts and the restricted player movement when working solo severely limits what can be done within those levels. Nevertheless, it spurred competition, so it works very well as an occasional distraction.
Heave Ho 2 is a game designed completely around co-op that does what so many games in its genre aspire to: creating fun with your friends. Though not a long game, it manages to cover a lot of ground in the levels it does have. It may have left me frustrated with my friends at times, but that’s all part of the experience. Heave Ho 2 facilitated our time together and was incredibly enjoyable throughout its playtime.
Disclaimer: Devolver Digital provided a PC (Steam) copy of Heave Ho 2 for review purposes.
