Polish developer QubicGames worked on two GNÖMZ games for WiiWare at the same time: The multiplayer arena platformer GNÖMZ that was released in December 2011, and the single player runner game 2 FAST 4 GNOMZ which was released in April 2012 and is a completely different experience compared to the first game.

As with every game in the runner genre 2 FAST 4 GNOMZ is an autoscrolling jump & run. You automatically run from left to right through grassy areas, rocky mountains, icy caves, and a magical forest, and you just have to jump with the 2-button at the right time (holding the Wiimote sideways) to overcome obstacles like pits and spikes. In the first few stages you only need to jump and open your parachute by pressing 'UP' to float over gaps that are too wide for a normal jump. You can also use the wind to levitate to greater heights. Later on you learn new moves: Press 'DOWN' to change into the strong red Gnom that pounds the ground and crashes through trees and press 'FORWARD' to change into the super speedy blue Gnom. That's when the game gets serious and shows its full potential. There's another move to discover that is messing things up quite nicely.



The level design is very clever and incredibly challenging with lots of different traps to avoid and socks to collect. There's a fair amount of checkpoints and if you die you just respawn instantly at the last one you crossed. You have unlimited lives as well. And you get a death counter just for fun: as long as you try a stage it counts your deaths and it resets back to zero if you choose to go back to the map or when you manually restart the level. On the map you can select all the levels you have unlocked. The game saves your progress each time you set a new time record, a new sock record and each time you unlock a new level. There are 3 separate profiles to choose from and they show your completion percentage.

The game comes in a nice hand-drawn 2D comic look, although the presentation is a bit on the lacking side. The graphics are good for the most part and the speed is just crazy but occasionally there's the odd graphic glitch. The title screen with its blurry text comes across cheap, and there's not much music apart from a few gnömzy tracks. On the other hand it tries to balance out these minor presentation flaws with a silly little story: a few funny cutscenes as you make your way through the game, with a few cameo appearances of characters from the first GNÖMZ game. The story is quite a Super Mario Bros. rip-off as it takes full force on the "Your princess is in another castle"-cliché.

The EU version has only English screentext but everything is pretty self-explanatory.



For just 500 Wii Points this is a well-made little runner, with spot-on controls and pretty good content (40 stages + 40 bonus stages, collectables, and best times). Recommended for fans of extremely fast platformers and runners, fans of simple games with some depth and lots of challenge.

I have completed this game 100.0% - the percentage on my profile says so - but it shouldn't. There's one stage where I couldn't get all socks. It's bonus stage 30 - "Titanic". I can only get 24/26 socks in this stage. Two socks are INSIDE spikes! Is it a bug or a clever trick? And should I complain? At least the game is generous giving me 100% despite missing 2 out of a thousand socks.

If you want first-hand impressions there is a free 2 FAST 4 GNOMZ Demo available in the Wii Shop.



8- Great This is a great game that might have a few flaws or could have been better, but is still a game we highly recommend!