Toki Tori

 
Developer: Two Tribes
Steam Release: Jan 2010
Hours Played: 14.4
Similar To: Escape Goat / Nihilumbra / Professor Fizzwhizzle / Vessel
Rating: 3/5 Parsnips



GAMEPLAY
Forget about swinging wildly on ropes, leaping about the place and shooting madly at various enemies; your hero in this game just waddles and flutters but cannot even jump! Toki Tori is a thinking-man's puzzler that really does make you think - in a really good way!  After a silly little picture your hero, an egg-shaped bird with wings and stubby little legs, gets portalled into the screen. You then move left/right and up/down while collecting all the eggs scattered around. (Screens aren't that big but you will need to scroll around.) The level ends once you have collected all eggs. The game throws up all sorts of obstacles like gaps to cross, enemies to avoid, blocks to move and high barriers to get over... so to help you in your efforts, you are given special abilities in order to surmount and overcome such obstacles. 
 

BALANCE & PACE
Some abilities can only be used a set amount of times while others are limitless. Think Lemmings but for just one bird. Abilities are gradually introduced and are easy to activate by pressing a number key or simply clicking on its icon at the bottom of the screen. Such abilities include: laying a bridge; teleporting short distances; conjuring up blocks and floating in a bubble etc. Do not let the child-centred graphics fool you though, this game requires a degree of deep, logical thought around when and where to use those abilities. Those with good reasoning skills should be able to complete the first three worlds (36 levels in all) without too many visits to YouTube (I think I used one) but rest assured, patience and planning is most definitely required. The last two worlds (9 levels) get fiendishly tricky.


PRESENTATION & DESIGN
The starting soundtrack is fast and bubbly and the sound effects that accompany your actions are not overdone. Your character's actions are accompanied by comical animations which will keep the youngsters happy. In fact the early worlds are perfect for teaching logic and reasoning skills to young children. Your menu screens are of the straightforward variety that any Tom, Dick or Harry can peruse and utilise. On starting the game, you're taken to your start-screen giving you five choices. Options give you limited choices to tweak the game and on pressing Start you choose which of five worlds to enter. These unlock as you complete previous ones. Clicking on the name of the world takes you to the Select Level screen, you click on a screenshot for your level and away you go.


PROGRESS SYSTEM
There are five worlds in total with the first three having 12 levels each altogether. The 4th world has six levels while the final world has just three making 45 normal levels in total. There are also 23 hard levels available in the first three worlds which you can access via a tab in the Select Level screen. Finally, there are also eight bonus levels available in the first four worlds and eight bonus levels in the final Test Lab world. Levels are initially greyed out but become unlocked when you've finished a previous one. If you're going for a YouTube free effort, there is a wild card option which allows you to miss out a level if it has you completely stumped.

CONCLUSION
I have to say that I really enjoyed the challenge that Toki Tori threw at me. I liked the variety of abilities and really got stuck into figuring out where to use them and in what order. It is not for everyone though; staring at the screen for what can seem like half an hour or more is not an uncommon occurrence (a bit like Professor Fizzwizzle in that respect) and not everyone's cup of tea. Still, you do get a sense of achievement upon completion and if you like good ol' traditional puzzle solving nourishment then Toki Tori is your ticket.