I have to admit that I had
never heard of Tak before it showed up on my doorsteps, but both my kids
knew him well. Ah, the power of advertising. In fact, it was high upon
their Christmas wish list. I tell you, Christmas happens all year round
when you review videogames for a prestigious site like gamesfirst. Now,
when I popped Tak into my system, I was reminded a lot of the first time
I played Rayman on the Dreamcast. Thats a very good thing; however,
when I was playing Rayman, so much of it felt new and innovative. Tak,
on the other hand, feels like a great tribute to Rayman. The gameplay is
solid enough and the premise is entertaining enough to recommend the
game, yet I would likely recommend a lot of other platformers before
this one.
The game starts off as a
mission to restore the villages true hero to his place so that he can
battle the rising evil in the land. It was a nice twist not actually
being the hero of the game, but at things progress they get a little
more conventional. I was surprised that there was so much attention paid
to the cut scenes and the plot. Im so used to platformer running and
jumping without reason. It was kind of a nice change to have some
semblance of narrative. The cut scene animation is top notch with some
really nice voice acting throughout. Even your sprightly guide, Flora,
gives directions with more enthusiasm and emotion than youll find on
most network dramas. Patrick Warburton, who I cant think of without
blue antennae anymore, really ups the ante here.
Although this is a game that is
obviously aimed at children, its likely to frustrate really young
gamers. Theres a lot to learn and its easy to get lost amid many of
the larger levels. I became disoriented on a fairly frequent basis. I
would always find my way eventually, but it felt like I had to run
around in a few circles first. Some day, someones going to create a
platformer that gives you the illusion of freedom of movement, yet
clearly lays out the goals and objectives. This game would have been
immeasurably helped by a map system, or a level introduction screen a la
Mario that told you exactly what you had accomplished and what was left
for you to do.
Taks weapon of choice is a
blowgun/pole-vaulting wand. It took me a little while to get used to
jumping with the pole-vault, but it was a well animated sequence and
made for a nice change of pace. I also enjoyed the numerous cute furry
and feathered animals spread throughout the gametheyre more than just
set dressing. Tak makes it clear that sheep are for more than shearing.
I really enjoyed the use of livestock in some of the games simpler
puzzles.
One of the more novel aspects
of the game is its health meter. Instead of the usual bar at the top of
the screen, Tak uses the feather on his head to indicate how close you
are to extinction. Im so used to having all the corners of my screen
taken up with health bars and such; it was nice to have a rather sparse
screen. It actually helps to further the illusion of being in a cartoon.
Its a little detail, but when youve played as many platformers and me,
you tend to obsess over the details.
Probably my biggest beef with
the game was the fact that there was a real lack of consequence. I never
really worried about dying because whenever I did, I was miraculously
resurrected right on the spot and whatever damage I had done to an enemy
remained intact. Im not quite sure how I feel about this. On the one
hand, it sure made life easy for me as a reviewer. I found myself
working my way through levels a lot quicker than I usually do (for as
much as I love videogames, Ill be the first to admit that Im not very
good at them, so it tends to take me much longer to work my way through
them).
The graphics are great
throughout the game. Again, theres nothing that really sets the look of
Tak apart from so many of the platformers on the market, but its
obvious that time was taken to polish and refine this game before its
release. I didnt notice any real collision errors. Some of the camera
work was a little tricky, but I havent encountered a 3D platformer
where this isnt an issue. I wasnt a big fan of the lighting in the
game. It seemed like I was in shadows more often than not, which made it
a little tricky to see what was going on.
THQs making a big deal about
the chicken suit in their advertising and on the box artits become
their hook into the game. Its a fairly entertaining addition to the
game, but with all of the build up, I have to admit that I was a little
disappointed when it came time to dawn my feathers. It was a nice
diversion, but I think it would have been a lot more effective had they
kept this as a surprise. Another nice diversion was the snowboarding, or
sandboarding, levels. Dont go into this expecting the depth of SSX, but
as a mini game within a game, its really quite satisfying.
I like the idea of the
videogame preceding the cartoon. In some ways, it would have been easier
for the folks over at Nickelodeon to wait until the cartoon hit the
airwaves before releasing the game, but they were obviously confident
enough in Taks ability to stand on his own two feet as a gaming
experience. And it does for the most part. The animation is nicely
detailed, there are some clever puzzles throughout the game, and the
controls are pretty tight. It may not be all that well suited to the
very young, but Tak does everything it sets out to do. No, it doesnt
really break any new ground, but it doesnt try to. I cant imagine a
single person being let down with this game. Everythings right there on
the box. No real surprises, but no real disappointments either.
GamesFirst Staff (12/15/2003) |