Glow Hockey 2, the all-ages sequel game from developer Natenai Ariyatrakool, offers a similar air hockey experience to the original Glow Hockey game. If you’ve tried the original title, you’ll love the continued experience here. If you’re new to the title, you’ll likely find a little fun here. Let’s take a look at it.
Setup
Setup is simple; simply download from the Play Store. Once downloaded you are greeted with a pretty simple menu. Here you can choose to play 1-player or 2-player air hockey. You can also enter the Settings. In Settings, you can toggle visual and sound/vibration. You can also tweak the color palette of the board, paddles, and/or puck. If you wish, you can also launch out of the game to explore the developer’s other game lineup.
Gameplay
If you’ve ever played air hockey before, then you can handle this game. Holding your device, you’re on one end of a miniature hockey table. Your opponent is at the other. Your objective is two-fold: knock the puck into your opponent’s goal, and protect your goal in return. The puck moves pretty quick as it’s riding on a cushion of air coming up from the table (hence “air hockey”).
It’s a game of speed and angles, as you slap the puck forward and to the side, trying to bounce it around your opponent’s paddle into their goal. Of course, they’re trying to do the exact same thing right back at ya. Scoring is a race-to-seven affair; first one there wins. Once you win, it’s back to the menu.
There are multiple levels available, Easy, Medium, Hard, and “Insane”. They are pretty much what you’d expect; each level takes up the difficulty a notch. “Insane” level is just that….good luck trying to beat it.
Like vs. Dislike
Glow Hockey 2 offers a fun and colorful air hockey simulator experience. It’s an extremely
easy-to-pick-up title, that lets you start out as a total newbie, gain experience, and then quickly graduate to more and more difficult competition.
Visually, Glow Hockey sticks to its name, providing a bright but not garish look to it. The whimsical Christmas themes give you a change-up once in a while as you play.
The audio is just okay; the effects are fairly metallic, sounding like they’re being played on a cheap set of computer speakers. But it’s fine, did I mention you can toggle them off? The sound just isn’t necessary; you can play all you want without the audio and it’s just fine.
If there is a problem with Glow Hockey 2, it’s likely with you. And me. And probably most other players. I’m talking about our fingers; namely the sweat that builds as you play and the pressure mounts. As you play, the combination of the game pressure combined with your natural oils almost always makes it harder to move your finger across the screen. It almost gets sticky, and it will cost you games. This was frustrating, and there’s probably not a whole lot you can do about it. It was enough to make me stop playing several times; just put it down and walk away.
Conclusion
Glow Hockey 2 will give you a quick and easy air hockey experience. There is enough variety and color to pull you, entertain you, and challenge you. Unfortunately, the fun doesn’t last forever. After playing for a while, you may find that the game loses its luster. Plus you may get frustrated with the “sticky screen” issue.
Still, if you’re looking for an easy game for you or your kiddos to pick up and play without a lot of investment; Glow Hockey 2 is worth a look.
Download Glow Hockey 2 from the Play Store here.
