Foto Flash 2

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Three things of note to keep in mind before reading:
1. Receiving this for free doesn't influence my opinion or review.
2. I've played both Foto Flash 1 and 2 consecutively.
3. I'm approaching this review as a photographer.
The first difference between the sequel and the original that you'll notice is that this whole game is completely indoors where as the original was mostly outdoors. Some may see this as a negative but I personally took it as a change in design for the flexing of creative muscles within these limitations, but also perhaps because some found the larger maze-like structure of the first a turn-off and this may have been done to alleviate those criticisms. Presenting a tighter more focused location may have taken care of the purported larger multi-area concerns, but at the cost of the sequel feeling more confined as a result. That being said I felt that sole developer, Daner used this as an opportunity to try out a few different mechanics that were absent from the original, apparently to "Mixed" results.
The three new mini-games at the arcade come to mind immediately when thinking about additional game mechanics, offering not only games within a game, but a fun distraction and a little throwback to retro games in general too. It feels like an addition to the current game, but also a test for potential expansion thereof in future games, and that potential for expansion can be a great thing for the next game. Another slight addition that comes to mind would be the box pushing puzzle as a means to progress in the game. It's small and nothing extravagant, but it was something different to what was in the first game. Overall I prefer the whole outdoors, multi-location scenario and the perceived freedom that it grants, but I'm also not upset about being in a mall this time around. It really did feel like the developer wants to find the best way to do both so that he can incorporate a more detailed version of being indoors and outdoors to have both aspects in a followup game so that it feels like a microcosm within a macrocosm instead of a big area outside that leads to a small area inside.
I love making photographs in real life and I like it in this game too despite it being extremely simplified, but then again this isn't a photography simulator, which now brings me to the female models. Although I can agree that as a whole the character designs from the original are overall better than those in the sequel, that doesn't mean that the beautiful artwork by Raphaelle Marx is lacking here either. Doing what is commonly referred to as "fetch quests" to see what new piece of artwork Rafchu has illustrated for the player in the form of a photo reward is completely worth it. It also reminds of me of the excitement I feel when either developing new photos and seeing what I've captured when shooting with film, or setting up in front of my laptop and ready to look through my stills in Lightroom when shooting digital. Needless to say, it should be obvious as to an extra appeal for me with this game and its predecessor.
Do I recommended this game? You've seen the blue thumbsup already, so definitelty. I recommend both games of the series, actually. So the real question is why do I recommend it; the humor in the writing which is often times either witty or referential is worth reading through. The photos in these games which are illustrated by Rafchu. They're fairly short so they won't take up too much of your time. The price is right at only $2.99 each, which is easily less than $5 for both on sale. Play them back-to-back to get the best experience. Plus with the ending eluding to a another sequel and whispers of a spin-off game, things are only going to get better from here!

Foto Flash is back and there's more photos to take and a new location to explore.
Story:
Set right after the first game, you still pay as the photographer who won a vacation. You decide to visit a mall which is dying and the owner of the mall wants you to help her assemble a calendar with the girls working at the mall in the hopes of saving it.
The story is pretty much identical to the first game, where you try to save a dying business by taking photos. It's fine for what it is and it does what it sets out to do, but again it's nothing special. Writing is again pretty cheesy, but I still enjoyed the story somewhat, not to mention the crazy cliffhanger ending.
However I will say the cliffhanger ending is really disappointing since there's basically no chance of a Foto Flash 3 because the dev has gone quiet since the release of this game, I would definitely buy a Foto Flash 3, but it's unlikely to ever happen.
Graphics:
One thing that I really liked about the first game is the bright and colorful art style of the world. It was an absolute joy to explore the world, which is why I'm so disappointed about the sequels choice of ditching a bright and colorful world into a drab and bland shopping mall.
The mall itself just looks boring, all of it mostly looks the same, with white tiles and mall stuff like benches and trash cans scattered everywhere. It's really boring and kind of depressing to explore, not to mention since most of it looks the same, it's kind of difficult to find your footing.
I will say the design for the girls is just as good as the first one, so there's at least one positive, but everything else is an absolute downgrade.
Audio:
The music is also not as good as the first one, it's just okay at best. Since you're stuck indoors at a mall, there's not really much ambience, just music that sounds like it's coming from the malls speakers, which was a cool touch, but other than that it was just sort of disappointing.
Gameplay:
Foto Flash 2 is almost identical in gameplay to the first one. There's 10 girls and to get their photos you have to do a favor for them to get their photo. The puzzles this time are around much easier than the first one and actually in some instances even worse.
One of the worst additions was the arcade games you have to play to get a photo of one the girls. There's three games and you have to get a high score in each of them and the controls of them are horrendous. Because of the insanely stiff controls they are super difficult to play and give the game a massive difficulty spike.
The slippery controls return and due to the malls design it's easy to get stuck in very tight corners and when you get to the box pushing puzzle, it really becomes annoying. I think the game is much easier overall and also much smaller in size.
Verdict:
Foto Flash 2 is a really disappointing sequel and a downgrade to the first game in every way. I still had a fun time playing, but I can't deny that I didn't have as much as fun as I did with the first one. It's also much shorter than the first one, just roughly an hour, but the developers even warned about this on the store page so I don't mind that much. The game also has more bugs than the first and more issues, but on a sale I can still recommend this one.
Final Rating:
6/10
Pros:
+ The art of the girls is really good
+ Some decent puzzles
Cons:
- The Mall is a terrible location
- The slippery controls are even worse here
- Those arcade games
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Not as good as the first one. The mall is a far less interesting and varied, visually, as far as the artwork goes than the city was in the last one. This one feels rather "phoned in" than the charming "Nippledew Valley" we had in the last one.
However, the artwork on the girls is still great. I really liked the end and it makes me look forward to the next one. I would humbly request that they not include the arcade games in the next one. Honestly, for 3 bucks this was worth my time. 2.0 hours is up from the 1.8 hours in the last one, but thats padded by those stupid arcade mini games. Well cheaper than a movie, even a Matinee.

A great game, but not as amazing as the first one.
It was charming, but felt a bit more empty.
Also getting the achievment for the racing game was hard AF because the sensitivity and controls completely changed when the speed went up in the end.
And the sensitivity should be a bit higher in asteroids.
And then my biggest issue: foto flash 3, when???

A sequel to the fun Foto Flash, which itself is an homage to Franks Adventure which was awesome. It's still the same scavenger hunt game play where you find item, give item to proper person, get new item, give item to girl, then finally give item to pretty lady for pinup shot. This game isn't as fun as the last one mostly just from I didn't much care for the mall but I did enjoy the individual characters and humor. Giving a certain someone a ledger to get drugs to give to a host to give a good review for the mall is odd enough to be funny to me. The art is still pretty good and the ending funny enough to get a recommend from me. Would say $2 is fair but if your feeling generous spring for the full $3.
Edit: I forgot to mention the arcade games. You need to get the high score in these to get a pic but some of it is brutal. I remember Frank's Adventure 3 doing the same thing and I also found that to be hard as hell. Just thought I'd warn some people who remember that.

Crim's Humble Opinion Curator
Foto Flash 2
The continuation of the foto flash series continues to pays homage to the Franks Adventure games. It's your goal to save a shopping mall on hard times by collecting photos of the female inhabitants for a pin-up calendar. The game is rather short just as the last one was and will take you a little under an hour to run through.
Mechanics
Like the previous game in the series, the main bulk of gameplay is item fetching. You can walk or run around the mall and find all the items you need; and take them to the appropriate person. I had some issues with clipping when running around. You have to be in the exact one square location to go up and down stairs for instance and it got pretty annoying. There is one section where you play some arcade minigames so that's a bit new but I was hoping for something a bit more themed to the title. There are some other minigame like sequences as well.
Artistic Presentation
If you enjoyed the art and musical presentation in the first game; than this one will be sure to please as well. There is some adult content that can be turned on and off; but like the last one it is rather tame content. This is really the shining content for this game though. The dialogue is funny and interesting enough. The characters each have their own personality. If it wasn't for the work of the artistry, this title would feel really lack luster.
Final Thoughts
There isn't really much new or improved content from the first title but it runs about the same price for the same length. The artistic content is enjoyable and worth the session it will take you to run through it. From the looks of it there will be more future projects so keep an eye on it if you enjoyed the first title.

It's definitely not as good as the first one, but I still liked it.
Azalea, Daffodil, Daisy, Rose, Tulip, and Violet are definitely the cutest girls.
Oh yeah, giving a hot dog to the panties guy froze my game on an empty line. Go figure.