Pilot Brothers 2 Review – iOS

Sadly, I didn’t enjoy the original Pilot Brothers as much as I expected. Despite the unique art style and quirky characters the game just fell flat, but apparently it was enough of a success to warrant a sequel, so I tried to keep an open mind as I began my review session with Pilot Brothers 2. In this new adventure Brother Chief and Brother Colleague are in search of their missing cat, Arsenic. I would elaborate but that is pretty much the entire premise for the game…a lost cat.

You’ll spend the next few hours tracking down clues, interviewing witnesses, and playing numerous mini-games; all of which are merely average. There is a lot more dialogue in the sequel, but given the focus on puzzles that dialogue doesn’t really add much to the story. And for a game with so much emphasis on solving puzzles there is a surprising lack of direction in how to approach them or even where to go to find the next one in the sequence. I don’t mind a bit of adventurous exploration but randomly wandering around until something triggers and then playing a puzzle – one of which seems to be purely random tapping – is not good game design. Even the hint button is purposely vague in showing puzzle solutions, but at least it’s useful for highlighting inventory items.

You’ll either love or hate the grainy visual style of the world and the creepy characters that inhabit it. It reminded me of something I’d see on Adult Swim. The animations, cutscenes, and voice work are just as quirky and original – I just wish they were attached to a more polished game. As it is, there is about two hours of gameplay here hiding in a 4-6 hour game of trial and error unless you spam the Hint button.

Bottom line – if you played and enjoyed the first Pilot Brothers then you will certainly find more to enjoy in Pilot Brothers 2 as there are more conversations and puzzles, but personally, I didn’t care for the lack of guidance and seemingly random puzzle solutions that were never clear until after you had guessed their solution. In a game that is basically one long string of cooperative puzzle-solving, Pilot Brothers 2 still needs some work before it can compete with the other puzzles adventures on the market.


Author: Mark Smith
I've been an avid gamer since I stumbled upon ZORK running in my local Radio Shack in 1980. Ten years later I was working for Sierra Online. Since then I've owned nearly every game system and most of the games to go with them. Not sure if 40+ years of gaming qualifies me to write reviews, but I do it anyway.

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