The little yellow bird that could.
The screenshots provided are from the preview build but are representative of the final product. This review was based on the finished review code.
Those of you old enough to have hair anywhere other than on your head during the mid-nineties will remember the first time you saw Prince of Persia on the Amiga and Atari ST when it hit in 89 . The game was dazzling. The way the prince moved was so fluid, his animations so utterly convincing that you couldn’t not be impressed. Toki Tori, while not a benchmark setter in the same way the Prince was, has such wonderfully sublime animations that you will find delight in this game whether you’re a fan of the puzzle/platform genre or not.
I’d like to say that concludes the history lesson but I’m compelled to give you a quick summation of this games lifecycle because believe it or not Toki Tori is eight years old. Originally it was a Gameboy Color release, developed by Two Tribes and published by none other than Capcom. The title failed to make a splash despite a positive critical reception. Seven years later and Two Tribes took the game and breathed new life into the IP by giving it a complete graphical overhaul and releasing it over Nintendo’s WiiWare platform. A year later and here we are again with Chillingo now taking on the publishing duties and the game being completely reworked for a brand new device.
As I mentioned in my preview last month you should not be fooled by the screenshots, this is not a platform game. Instead Toki Tori is a puzzler, the goal being to collect all of Toki’s siblings that have been trapped in eggs and scattered throughout the games 80 levels. You manoeuvre around the level by tapping the space you want the little yellow protagonist to go; Toki handles the rest, skipping up ledges and flapping his undersized wings to slow his descent when he falls. The aforementioned animations for everything this little yellow bird does are flawless and add a huge amount of charm and character to proceedings.
The puzzle elements are introduced very gradually by means of items given to you at the start of each level. Some you can use as many times as you like while others have a finite number of uses. These range from an ice gun allowing you to freeze enemies in their tracks to the ability to build small bridges to cross gaps. As you progress through the game you’ll receive more and more of these items and it’s up to you to figure out which combination of actions and items will see you through the various traps and puzzles. The gameplay is therefore decidedly slow paced as you will often have to sit and ponder a levels layout while you chew on possible solutions. Thanks to the old pinch to zoom mechanic you are able to zoom out and pan across the entire map to plan your moves which is a very welcome addition.
So; the graphics are beautiful, the animations are second to none and the puzzles are clever. Where’s the catch? The catch is that it isn’t quite as addictive as a puzzle game needs to be if it wants to ensnare you and keep you playing long after you should have flushed and left the bathroom… err, I mean departed the bus. It’s a great game and one that has been put together with genuine care and attention but somehow I never found myself playing it for longer than twenty minutes at a time. Perhaps it’s because some of the later levels are really very tricky and as a result I found myself having to restart them time and time again. When I did eventually reach the last of my round siblings and complete a particularly hard level I just couldn’t muster the motivation to invest myself so readily into another, similar, challenge. Whether this sounds like a familiar phenomenon to you should influence your purchasing decision. Just how dedicated a gamer are you?
Ultimately Toki Tori is easy to recommend. That my biggest gripe with the game is that the challenges were sometimes so clever that they exhausted me speaks volumes about the work Two Tribes have put into this product. It looks beautiful, the titular character is thoroughly charming and there is a huge amount of content to be played through. The new gizmos and gadgets drip fed as you progress keep things fairly fresh throughout and the new iPhone specific controls do a commendable job of making Toki Tori easy to pilot. If you’re an iDevice gamer with time to invest and a thirst for some polished puzzles then don’t give this a second thought. For the impatient amongst us just be aware that Toki is a high investment game. The more you put in, the more you’ll get out of it.
- Sound: 7
- Graphics: 9
- Gameplay: 8
- Longevity: 8
8
Great
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