Review: UltraGoodness 2 – PS5, PS4

Holy crap…

I achieved the platinum trophy for UltraGoodness 2 in just half an hour. There was a part of me tempted to turn off the console and call it a day. But if the requirements for reviewing a game were to get the platinum, my archive of reviews would be few and far between. I continued playing the game for a few more hours, and honestly, it was a struggle.

UltraGoodness 2 is a sequel to a twin-stick shooter that was never released on consoles. The plot is a bit vague, so I’m guessing that playing the first is not essential.

Game Information
Release Date: February 9th, 2021
Developer: Norsfell Games
Publisher: Rasul Mono
Availability: PSN (Digital)

You play as some kind of heavenly being without a name. Are they an angel? Jesus? I don’t know, but I called them Brian, named after my favourite biblical figure – Brian from Monthy Python’s Life of Brian. Because why not?

Brian sees on TV that demonic creatures have invaded earth and he takes it upon himself to confront the threat from hell. He’s not alone as a white cat joins you on this holy crusade. Because apparently cats now follow divine beings, not witches.

Ultra Goodness 2 is a twin-stick shooter, so you’ll have to aim at your enemies and move around while avoiding incoming attacks. Your cat will also help out by firing at the demon scum when they are within range. There’s also a time-motion mechanic where if you stop moving, time slows down.

Bullet time might sound like fun but this feature often got lost in the fast-paced action. In fact, it just didn’t make sense to have it as a feature at all. When I was blasting demons back to hell, the last thing I wanted to do was stop. Its only real benefit was during the boss battles.

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It also doesn’t help that it goes against the music. The game’s soundtrack is quite good, with a nice mix of hard electricity on a continuous loop that complemented the fast-moving gameplay. The music went entirely against the idea of stopping and slowing down time. Maybe if the music slowed down too it would have had more impact, but it just felt really off.

Every area of the game has its own distinctive theme, though sadly, these landscapes aren’t all that great and they often blur into one and it’s easy to lose track of what’s going on. The characters, on the other hand, were well designed and complemented by the random obstacles like spinning lasers and pulsing fireballs, though they could sometimes get lost within the messy backdrop.

After slaughtering members of the unholy army, you can pick up gems that can be used to buy outfits with different abilities for your kitty-cat. My personal favourite was the spacesuit. Besides making the furball look like a badass, it would enable the cat to automatically lock onto an enemy in close range and shoot laser beams at enemies. This made going through some levels a breeze.

My main problem with UltraGoodness 2 is that after you’ve played the game for an hour, you’ve pretty much seen all the game has to offer. This is unfortunate, as it definitely had potential, but certain elements contradict one another.

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In the end, there are not enough positive attributes to distinguish itself from the hundreds of other twin-stick shooters out there. Even pretending it was part of an elaborate Monty Python sketch couldn’t save it from its shortcomings.

Review Disclaimer: This review was carried out using a copy of the game provided by the publisher. For more information, please read our Review Policy.

Primary version tested: PS4. Reviewed using PS5.