review-2-fast-4-gnomz-3ds

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5 mins read

When the endless runner genre is done well (such as Rayman Jungle Run or Run Roo Run) it’s compulsively addictive. These games can be bite sized and challenging, and yet the controls of them are so simple, and the game’s goals are always so close to being within reach that that “one more turn” stubbornness hits like a sledgehammer.

When endless runners get things wrong you get 2 Fast 4 Gnomz. I literally found the time I accidentally got a wooden splinter stuck so far under my fingernail that I had to go to a doctor and have the entire nail cut off more entertaining. Because there was blood when that happened, see, and according to most big-budget blockbusters blood is fun, no?

I digress, but that’s because I don’t really want to think about Gnomz, much less play it. But as I am the consummate professional here I go:

Gnomz is a very ugly game and so, is immediately inferior to Rayman Jungle Run or Run Roo Run. It stars a tiny little sprite that kind of looks like a sunlight-faded gnome running from one side of a level to another, collecting little coloured lines that are meant to be socks. I think that’s the game’s idea of humour. Socks. Hahaha! The joke’s on the developer though because everything is so small that the socks don’t look like socks at all. Bad art direction – now that’s funny (unless you’re the one playing the game).

Of course, by the second level I realised why the sprites were so small – the gnome is a dynamic little fellow and runs at such a speed that every pixel of that 3DS screen needs to be stretched so that players can see enough of the level to move through it. Of course, the game’s obstacles also become tiny and difficult to see by this shrinking effect – so you’re going to die anyway.

The only way to progress through this game is to die, and die, and die, and die, and eventually learn the pattern that will get you through the level. It’s frustratingly difficult, brutally unfair and downright stressful. Gnomz’ betters are paced in such a way that skill and technique will get you through most levels on the first try. The challenge in the likes of Run Roo Run or Rayman Jungle Run is in chasing high scores/ medals. Getting through the levels themselves is relatively painless. By the fourth level of Gnomz (so, literally one minute into the game) the difficulty of just getting through the level hits the roof thanks to the game’s speed and traps that are avoidable by literally one pixel. And then you get to go and do those levels again and again to try and get those “socks.” And then you get to do it again and again to try and not lose any lives in the process.

Gnomz would last all of an hour if it was not for that ridiculous artificial difficulty. Thanks to an utter lack of personality or charm though, I would not have bothered playing this to the end even if it did only take an hour to complete. Unfortunately though I had to for this review. Be glad that I play these games so I can warn you, dear readers, from wasting your time or money on them. If you don’t have a smart phone and so don’t have access to many endless runners, then save your money for Harmoknight, a 3DS game that at least promises to do something different, and if it fails at that, at least looks presentable.

– Matt S
Find me on Twitter: @DigitallyDownld
Or on MiiVerse: @WaltzIT


This is the bio under which all legacy DigitallyDownloaded.net articles are published (as in the 12,000-odd, before we moved to the new Website and platform). This is not a member of the DDNet Team. Please see the article's text for byline attribution.

  • "Be glad that I play these games so I can warn you, dear readers, from wasting your time or money on them."

    I wasn't going to pick it up because it didn't appeal to me whatsoever but now I have a 200% chance of not purchasing this. Thankyou for sacrificing your sanity to play this pile of rubbish.

  • That's funny. I'm really enjoying the game. And I appreciate the difficulty. The game gets even better once you beat it and need to master each level in order to unlock the Nightmare levels.

    Can I ask you: Did you actually play through the entire game and give yourself the time to master the controls?

  • Did I play through the game? Yes, of course. Given the unreasonable difficulty was one of the issues I had with the game, unlocking the Nightmare levels wasn't exactly a reward.

    I am not a fan of games that are "difficult" for no other reason than it's impossible to get through them without memorising everything in that level first.

    Glad to hear that you enjoyed the game. I know there are some people out there that do 🙂

  • This game was fun for a little while, I guess. When they gave me a speed up button though, I was about ready to flip my table. A speed up button! What were they thinking?!?

    This game feels like work. It's perfectly playable and responsive, so there's no need to fault it there. But after a while, the challenge is no longer one of a videogame, but one of a menial task which you can never seem to get quite right. I guess, on a good day, I can get some satisfaction in completing a stage and reveling in my own ability, but that's really pushing it.

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