Toki Tori - 8.0/10
Toki Tori
Fun, clever, cheap, and oh so cute!
By Matt Kelly
WiiWare is still in its early days in Australia. It's already getting updates but still, in its early days. We thought we'd take a look at one of the less hyped titles, Toki Tori. Considering it's one of the more solid ones on the service, it's amazing how little "pre-release" hype it got. If you're looking for a solid puzzle game with fluid controls and some neat side features, Toki Tori is for you!
If you were stuck on the Gameboy Color while all your friends had moved onto things like the Gameboy Advance then Toki Tori might already ring a bell. Originally a Gameboy Color game, it hit during the back end of the units life and unlike a lot of titles at that point of a systems life, Toki Tori was a really solid game. Sadly while everyone else was screaming about SNES like graphics, Toki Tori quietly sat in the corner being ignored. Fast forward to 2008 and Toki Tori is back, this time on the front lines of the WiiWare cause. Graphical updates abound along with a slick control scheme, and it looks like our little friend is finally going to get his day in the sun. The game puts you in charge of Toki Tori, a cute little yellow bird creature is out on a mission to bail out his brothers trapped in eggs. Unfortunately Toki Tori isn't the most mobile bird, and is a fat little thing confined to the ground, only being able to climb ladders and small steps. Each stage is a layout of platforms that Toki Tori must navigate to collect his buddies but it's not a straight platformmer experience. To traverse the environment you'll need to get savy with bridge building, teleporting, freezing enemies and a few other neat skills. Depending on the stage you'll either be able to make use of these just a few times, or an unlimited amount. Toki Tori is a puzzle game that gets it right. The problems are clear, but the solution isn't dictated to you or so confined it's just a matter of going through the process. The game benefits from a really great difficulty curving system as well. Chances are you'll breeze through the first few stages but as the game goes on the puzzles to get insane with the tricky factor.
What is just ace though is that at no point during any of the hair pulling difficulty does the game break its own rules, another thing the not so crash hot puzzle games tend to do. It teaches you want you need to know to complete the puzzles, and just throws you down, prodding you a stick saying 'do it!' The solutions aren't going to come to you like magic, but its a game that sets up and environment and rule set that actually allows you to figure it out for yourself. But hey, there might be that one puzzle you're struggling with and you're just so sick of looking at it right? The other neat feature of the games design is its level skipping system. Unlike leaving it all open to you or just plain cheating, the game lets you skip levels but only one at a time. Once you skip, you cannot skip again until you've solved the skipped level. Not everyone is going to tackle puzzles in the same way, and while the answer may not be obvious in the one level, you might learn something in the following level you can apply to the previous one. A very clever system that doesn't take away reward or satisfaction.
The idea of one handed gameplay is something very cool and the Wii remote is really great for it. You've got a multi button pointing system that allows wide array of on screen actions (before even getting into motion controls), and this fits perfectly with Toki Tori. The default control scheme for the game plays in a very point and click fashion using a pathing system to get Toki Tori around. He's a point A and you want to head to point B, just click! It does suffer from a slight double edged sword factor, because while this really cool for a long distance move, it's a tad slow for having to make quick moves in a small area. It's easy to stop and change what the unflying bird is doing when the walk is lengthy, but in a small area that involves timing and enemies it's not quite as agile as we'd like it to be. All up though its a problem that you won't encounter too often, but when you do it's a tad frustrating.
If you have a 480P TV get ready for a color fest as Toki Tori is pretty swish. The levels do work on a grid basis but the 2D renders are just great. If you have a decent TV it's really clean and vivid to look at. This is backed up by the decent set of tunes which a peppy and pretty catchy. The frustration of that one puzzle you can't solve is going to take over before any kind of hate for the music or visuals.
One final feature that was just neat was at certain point in the game you'll actually get a log entry from Toki Tori about his adventures and an image that you can send to friends. It has absolutely no impact on the gameplay even in the slightest, but it's a cool little side addition, no doubt about it! Speaking of friends, one gripe that some people might have is the lack of save slots. Toki Tori uses one file, so if you're someone who likes to work through on their own and has other people in the house playing, get ready to have other levels unlocked ahead of you. It's a pain, but doesn't impact on the gameplay itself. If anything it leads to the temptation to skip. Our other final gripe with the game is lack of anything like time trial, or any kind of scoring system to challenge yourself with, which in our eyes is essential to a puzzle games replay value.
Summary:
Toki Tori is as solid as it was back in the Gameboy days as it is now. The level design has only been slightly tweeked, but that doesn't matter as chances are this is going to be a first time play. The game makes its rules and stick by them, allowing every puzzle to be solved without having to bang your head on the wall, and the difficulty curves wonderfully. While there's no real 3D in the game, all the rendering work is really eye popping and backed up with catchy sound. Lack of time trial, scoring, and the use of only one save file is a pain but at the end of the day don't destroy the experience. Best of all, it's cheap as!
Gameplay - 8.0
Great control combined with good design equals super fun puzzle time!
Graphics - 8.0
All grid based with detailed sprites but its still so pretty to look at
Sound - 8.0
Catchy tunes abound.
Replay - 6.0
Lack of scoring and timed modes hurt here but theres a few redesigns with the difficulty raised to keep you going.
Overall 8.0
Toki Tori is full of great gameplay and great visuals. At the price you really can't complain!
Submitted by Robtot
13/06/2008
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