|
Everyone’s favorite tasmanian tiger makes a first-time appearance on the GameBoy Advance. Ty the Tasmanian Tiger, was released in 2002 for the major consoles but received 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. If so many console games were platformers, you can only begin to imagine how things were on the GameBoy Advance. Understandably, EA Games and Krome Studios passed on a handheld rendition of the first Ty but have now allowed the curiously-named animal to enter the handheld wilderness.
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. On the GBA, the story is told though stills taken directly from the console versions of the game. However, when you “converse” with characters in the game, you’ll see the text appear with hand-drawn character models unique to this version.
The actual gameplay in Ty 2 is pretty standard stuff. You’ll go through many large levels (which are transplanted from the console versions) as Ty, with simple jumping puzzles and enemies that appear. You can dispose of these enemies with Ty’s handy boomerangs, which can be upgraded as you progress through the game. The game makes is overwhelmingly easy to fight and as such, older gamers will have a breeze going through the game.
Ty 2 doesn’t focus solely on boomerang-heavy platforming-action though. Along the way you’ll be able to take control of many mechs which give you the ability to simply blast things way instead of beating them with a boomerang. Additionally, you’ll be able to control a number of air and land vehicles in the game.
The game’s visuals are pretty impressive. The character models are pre-rendered 3D characters reminiscent of the console versions and look great. They animate very well, also, particularly Ty who has a confident strut complete with his hair waving as he runs about. The foregrounds are pretty detailed, and though the backgrounds don’t share the same quality, they don’t really distract from the visuals.
The game’s audio component consists of lovely background tunes that seem fitting for the children-oriented adventure. In other words, it seems to come right from a Saturday morning cartoon. The sound effects are appropriately loud, although they is nothing particularly noteworthy about them, everything sounds as you would expect it to.
Overall, on GBA, Ty the Tasmanian Tiger 2: Bush Rescue is a pretty standard platform game but its fidelity to the console version is excellent so bravo to Krome Studios and Halfbrick Studios. -- Jose Liz, PGNx Media
---- Oct 26, 2004
|
