UltraGoodness 2 PS5 Review: Time For Mayhem

UltraGoodness 2 is a game from Rasul Mono and Ratalaika Games where you could easily be quite dismissive over as a quickfire run and gun title that you won’t play again after the first time, but give it a chance – it’s a little more deceiving than that.

First of all, this has to be the fastest platinum trophies I’ve earned to date. I can’t recall the exact time, but it was definitely within the first 30 minutes, if not an hour. 

While it’s nice to boast to friends about how many platinums you have, without them investigating they consist of the likes of My Name Is Mayo, it’s equally disappointing to finish a game so quickly. Yet, that’s the deceit of UltraGoodness 2.

UltraGoodness 2 PS5 Review

You play the King in UltraGoodness 2. There’s no lengthy explanation, as the story is relayed through the telly: evil was vanquished, now it’s back, and the King has to do something about it. Cue twin-stick carnage which borders on bullet hell depending on how deep you go into the action.

There are three worlds in all, with approximately eight levels each and a bonus at the end. As expected, there are three main bosses to defeat, and surprisingly, they aren’t as tricky as some of the stages, at least, from my experience.

There’s no motivation for the gawping King, other than killing everything in a level to open a portal. Note that there aren’t any radars/pointers in UltraGoodness 2 to tell you where the enemies are, or when you’ve finished a stage with a ‘Go!’ sign, wave complete, or arrow to the finish. There’s not even a sound effect.

Stages aren’t massive, but it’s a pain to go back and forth – especially if you get complacent and assume everything has been defeated because should you get clipped on your last heart, you have to re-do the level – no checkpoints.

Temporary Upgrades

This was perhaps the most challenging aspect about UltraGoodness 2 as you can do well, possibly opting for the tip-toe method of taking out one or two enemies at a time, only to be caught out last minute and having to restart. It made the game longer, for sure, but it’s was frustrating. 

Aside from a blaster with infinite ammo, and the assistance of your cat shooting in the same direction, you have two special moves: a cooldown bomb and armageddon. The latter is also a cooldown option, and you can target up to three areas to bring down a meteor shower.

You can’t upgrade your arsenal in UltraGoodness 2, but you can upgrade the cat that accompanies you. There are nine stages to unlock with the collectable gems, but while I could unlock most of them, on death or level completion, they returned to the default.

Time Lord… King

But wait – there’s something unique about UltraGoodness 2: time manipulation. If you keep the king still time will slow down. Move or shoot and it returns to normal. This felt like a gimmick, and for the majority of my playthrough, I ignored it. However, coming back to UltraGoodness 2 to make a few notes here and there, it became a convenient device.

Stand still, assess your surroundings and casually sidestep one of the projectile Wotsits coming your way like a smug Neo, and you look the mutts. It takes a bit of getting used to as you aren’t activating this through pressing a button, merely standing still, but it’s an interesting state of play.

This is a PS5 title, but I doubt there would be any differences between this and the PS4 version. There are no features in the game other than level select, pending you’ve unlocked them, plus there’s no two-player mode which I would have liked at first, but in fairness, it would be a nightmare in co-op.

The graphics aren’t anything special, nor is the music, but it plays it’s part in this fast-paced shooter, which is well worth the look at a low price. Earlier levels are indeed easy, and this may put you off unless you want cheap platinum, but by the time you beat the first boss and tackle the Hitler-like monsters firing old schools bombs at you, you’ll be a lot more appreciative of the challenge.

UltraGoodness 2 Review Summary

As a blank slate – both in mental capacity and expectations for the game, UltraGoodness 2 was surprisingly good. It delivered in more ways than could be anticipated, and while the early levels and trophies indicate that this is an easy game, the challenge takes a turn for the better, and it’s an enjoyable shooter.