Gibbets 2

To those of us who aren't circus performers or mountain climbers, the idea of dangling from the end of a rope is a terrifying prospect.

Gibbets 2 enables you to come to the rescue of unfortunates as they dangle from ropes with a hangman's noose tightening around their necks.

Will your aim be steady enough to save them, or will you accidentally riddle their heads with arrows?

In Gibbets 2, you use a bow and arrow, Robin Hood-style, to cut the ropes that are being used to hang innocents.

Or criminals. It's never really made clear what the executionees in Gibbets 2 did to wind up on the gallows. All you know is that you have to save them before they suffocate.

Set in the wilderness of the Old West, Gibbets 2 features a loose guitar soundtrack and plenty of dusty visuals to help you remember that you're in the frontier.

As tumbleweeds blow past and vultures circle, an oppressive and uncaring sun beats down on bound bodies swinging from the gallows.

Gibbits 2 is a bit like a macabre version of Angry Birds - the familiar pull-back-to-shoot control interface is there, but the cowering pigs are replaced by doomed men who flop to the ground like grateful ragdolls if you hit your mark.

As you progress through the game you'll encounter power-ups, such as a teleport cloud that changes the position of your bow on the screen, or the multi-shot arrow that helps make certain puzzles easier (or possible) to solve. For the most part, it's as satisfying as it is grotesque.

Each soon-to-be-corpse has a life bar above his head that depletes slowly over time as the air and life leak out of him. If any of the life bars reach zero, or you run out of arrows, the level ends in failure.

But the biggest challenge in Gibbets 2 isn't the time mechanic. The biggest challenge comes from the curious fact that it doesn’t pay to be close to the target with your arrow - you'll either want to hit the rope or miss by a mile.

If you fire too close to the rope and miss, you risk shooting the hanging man instead, which will take a substantial chunk out of your life bar.

The added urgency of the hanging mechanic makes Gibbets 2 a challenging, if ghastly, arcade-puzzler that has you watching several life bars simultaneously as you try to plan your next shot.

Gibbets 2 is as fun and intriguing as it is dark. You'll have a great time with it if you enjoy bite-sized puzzle stages and you don't mind staring at people dangling from nooses.

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