|
What a title, eh? EA Games and Krome Studios released the first Ty game in the fall of 2002 to little fanfare given the cheer abundance of platformers released during that year. Nearly every publisher released a platformer but in the end only a few came out victorious, two notable examples being Sony’s Jak and Ratchet series. Some critics even went as far as claiming that the platform genre was in danger of being extinct. Thankfully, that never happened and EA Games and Krome Studios have once again stepped up with a cute, solid and most different of all (considering that this is an EA Games release) a $20 price tag.
Ty 2’s plot is interesting in the same vein as a Saturday cartoon. It doesn’t have much substance, but it does keep the game interesting and doesn’t force it to focus solely on the gameplay. In Ty 2, you’ll be squaring off Boss Cass who was sent off to jail but “rescued” by a rival group of lizards. Ty and friends will need to make sure he doesn’t cause much trouble.
Ty 2 follows the Jak II school of gameplay (which was really borrowed Grand Theft Auto III) and places you in a large overworld. Here, you’ll find the typical map complete with locations for the game’s missions and optional missions that you can complete (these are given a different color in the map). Unfortunately, the map system isn’t the greatest since it doesn’t offer necessary locations and sometimes gives non-descriptive mission objectives. Thankfully, traveling isn’t a pain since you’ll have mobile transport to easily get you from one location to the next mission.
Ty 2’s over 40 missions are typical platformer missions. You’ll have to: jump around to many places, defeat a few enemies (and bosses), complete timed missions and occasionally rescue one of Ty’s friends. Nothing is particularly difficult, including the bosses, but never becomes boringly easy. As I mentioned, Ty will need to defeat a few enemies along the way and he does this via his many boomerang-related attacks (including fire and ice variations, which can be dual wielded) and or he can sink his teeth into the enemies (he is a Tasmanian, after all). Aside from combat, the boomerangs can be used to give Ty temporary flight.
After the single player is complete, you can hop with a friend and play the game’s multiplayer mode: a kart racer. The guys and gals at Krome Studios added a completely functional kart racing mode in the game that places you in control of many of the game’s characters in various environments. As with other racers, you’ll find the expected powerslide feature and many power-ups via crates found in the tracks. All in all, the mode is enjoyable, despite some collision detection issues.
The game’s graphics are charming and colorful, and certainly very child-friendly. The many levels you’ll find are of a respectable size and with many things to do, but in pure technical terms, none of this will “wow” an experienced gamer. The character models in the game fit the cartoony world, and animate rather well. Ty 2 is definitely aimed at children and as such definitely meets its goal.
The game’s audio package perfectly complements the joyful atmosphere presented visually. You’ll hear a number of sound effects as Ty makes his way through the levels, which goes well with the happy yet memorable background music. The voice acting in the game is particularly strong as Krome Studios made sure that each of the characters stands out. The writing is pretty good, as well, and it is funny to hear a bit of Australian slang.
Ty 2 was most definitely developed to appeal to the younger spectrum of gamers and I’m sure they will like the game much more than someone in my. Nonetheless, gamers of all ages will find that while the gameplay is solid, but it doesn’t offer anything new. Despite not pioneering any new additions in the genre, Ty 2 offers enjoyable gameplay. And hey, the $20 price tag doesn’t hurt. -- Jose Liz, PGNx Media
---- Oct 25, 2004
|
