El Gancho from eastasiasoft and Casiopeia is a 2D platformer set in the Task Force Kampas universe in which you play as a coco and must save your friends before it’s too late. Check our El Gancho review!

 

El Gancho from eastasiasoft and Casiopeia is a 2D platformer set in the Task Force Kampas universe in which you play as a coco and must save your friends before it’s too late. The Pogovon Empire has invaded Cocodu and has captured all of the cocos… except for one! Why have they invaded? Because they learned about the unlimited happiness of the cocos and want to use it to power all of their deadly weapons. This is not something that is good for the cocos, so it’s up to you to help them!

 

The controls for El Gancho are easy to understand. You’ll be playing as a coco who manages to get hold of a very special experimental laser-hook contraption that will allow him to swing around each stage. The coco will move with the left analog stick as you aim the laser-hook with the right one. Your coco can jump with the L1 button and can launch the laser-hook with the R1 button. If you collect some ammo, you can shoot at enemies with the R2 button. As you progress through the game, you’ll unlock additional cocos that will have some extra abilities, such as being able to jump higher, have a double jump, or have extra hit points, to name some examples.

 

Levels are procedurally generated, but they do follow a specific pattern as to the type of levels you’ll get, how you’re going to have to beat some boss stages along the way, and that you’ll get a chance to collect a power-up during some special stages for your run. You could, for example, get a power-up that turns any enemy you defeat into food. There’s another one that increases your overall HP. There’s a very useful one that will make your coco attract any food that is nearby, which will help you with the trophy hunting side of things.

Speaking of which, El Gancho has a full trophy list with a Platinum trophy for you to unlock. It’s a list with only 5 Silver trophies and 10 Gold trophies to work on as you try to add that shiny Platinum to your collection. It’s not a list with objectives that shouldn’t take you more than an hour to complete. You’ll need to defeat 10, 30, and 60 foes, collect 100, 200, and 400 food items, free 5, 35, and 70 cocos, jump 20, 100, and 300 times, as well as reach a score of 1,000, 2,000, and 3,000 points.

 

El Gancho is a platformer set in the same universe of shoot ’em up Task Force Kampas, thus offering a very different experience. Its randomly generated levels, physics-based platforming, and roguelite nature won’t be for everyone. Trophy hunters will dig that it’s a Cross-Buy release, so the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 versions are included with a single purchase, and each version features a separate trophy list with a Platinum trophy. El Gancho is out with a budget $6.99 price.

Disclaimer
This El Gancho review is based on a PlayStation 5 copy provided by eastasiasoft.