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Toki Tori
PC (Steam)
Thinking with Tele-Warps… and Insta-Rocks… and…
3.5/5 stars
“Toki Tori” for Steam is an enhanced remake of an end-of-life Game Boy Color game of the same name, which means ‘Time Bird’ in Japanese. Of course, the title doesn’t really make sense, as the developer behind “Toki Tori,” the Netherlands-based Two Tribes, is about as non-Japanese as possible. “Toki Tori” is also the spiritual successor to an older, nearly-identical game called “Eggbert,” which was developed by some of the individuals who later went on to form Two Tribes and released on the obscure MSX computer platform.
My interest in “Toki Tori” dates back to the announcement of the WiiWare version, which I intended to buy based on the fact that I was starved for 2D platformers at the time. The plethora of other 2D platformers released by other Indie developers and my overall disappointment with the WiiWare platform saw the game slip from my radar altogether. However, when I saw the PC version go on sale on Steam for a meager 49 cents, I figured I would give it a try. After all, 49 cents for an untested ‘new’ IP is a reasonable amount to gamble.
Presentation
“Toki Tori” is an absolutely gorgeous game. While initially my eyes were tricked into thinking the game has 2D backdrops and 3D polygonal characters, closer examination revealed to me that “Toki Tori” is entirely 2D. The character models are high-quality quasi-3D sprites, such as those used by Rare in the ‘Donkey Kong Country’ series, and are beautifully and smoothly animated. Each of the game’s 5 worlds features a vibrant color scheme of its own, tying each group of stages together thematically.
The soundtrack in “Toki Tori” is just as amazing as the visuals. There are only a handful of tracks, including the main title theme and one track for each thematic world. All of these tracks are beautifully-composed, pseudo-classical pieces that are a treat for the ears. Indeed, I was fully prepared to give “Toki Tori” a perfect score for presentation… until I watched the closing credits, which are dubbed over by an affront to the senses the likes of which have not been seen since ‘The DK Rap’ managed to slip into “Super Smash Bros. Melee.”
Story
Apparently the original Game Boy Color version of “Toki Tori” has some kind of a story (with cutscenes, even!) that details how a large, yellow baby chick (who wouldn’t look out-of-place in the Russell Brand/Easter marketing vehicle, “HOP”) named Toki Tori found himself on a quest to rescue a bunch of eggs with duck feet sticking out of them. Unfortunately, the PC version does not include any such narrative kick-start. Instead, the player is simply told via a textbox that Toki Tori needs to retrieve all the eggs. How they were scattered and why he wants to retrieve them is left a mystery… up until the completely disturbing twist ending scene… which still only partially explains the titular character’s motivations.
Even simple games like this really need some kind of excuse narrative to tie all of the other design decisions, from character graphics to gameplay, together. “Toki Tori” falls completely flat in this regard, resulting in a game that feels stripped-down and abstract instead of cohesive.
Gameplay
While “Toki Tori” is marketed as a platformer – specifically a puzzle/platformer – there is really very little to no actual platforming in the game. While platformers require dexterity and well-timed jumps in order to guide a character through stages, “Toki Tori” only flirts with such dexterity-based gameplay in tiny fraction of its stages – indeed, Toki Tori cannot actually jump at all. Instead, “Toki Tori” focuses on slow-paced analysis of a static stage layout, engaging the player in finding the most direct (or frequently only) route through each stage that will allow Toki Tori to collect every egg, while only using up a set number of tools. In this respect, “Toki Tori” reminds me a lot of the old NES games in the ‘Adventures of Lolo’ series.
Where “Toki Tori” modernizes the old mechanics used in the ‘Lolo’ games is in the addition of a ‘rewind’ button. The game keeps track of everything a player does over the course of completing a stage and, at any time, the player can rewind to take back any number of mistakes. I love the addition of this feature, as it takes away most of the tedious memorization and repetition of correct steps in the event the player tries to tackle an obstacle in the wrong way or just makes a general mistake, like falling off a ledge. Upon Toki Tori dying, the game even allows the player to automatically rewind to before his death.
At the beginning of each stage, Toki Tori is given a set number each of a set variety of tools. These tools range from short bridges that fill small gaps and instant rocks that can act as platforms or barriers, to a liquid that makes stone floors disappear when ghosts step on it and a gun that turns its targets into ice cubes. In order to collect all of the eggs scattered across each 2D stage, Toki Tori must ration his tools and only use them where absolutely required. The vast majority of the game’s stages require the use of all available tools, though there are several that allow crafty players to finish with some leftovers (which don’t carry on to any other stages).
Each of the game’s 5 thematic worlds has a set of ‘normal’ stages, a set of ‘hard’ stages, and a set of ‘bonus’ stages. The normal stages are all well designed bits of puzzley fun and can be solved by following a mostly linear path. The hard stages take every design mechanic introduced in the normal stages to the extreme, requiring the player to have mastery of all of Toki Tori’s tools and a perfect understanding of the way the character moves. While most of the hard stages are still reasonable, if not convoluted, a handful are just absolutely evil and ridiculously difficult to solve. The bonus stages can only be unlocked by joining the “Toki Tori” official group on Steam, which I found annoying, but it was ultimately a small sacrifice for what essentially amounts to free DLC. The 5th thematic world is a PC-exclusive bonus world based on Valve’s “Portal,” with evil puzzles that could have been designed by GlaDOS herself.
Finally, the PC version includes a level editor. I didn’t mess with it, but it seems like a pretty nice bonus, and is essentially more free DLC in a game that barely costs anything to begin with.
Overall
“Toki Tori” is a well-designed, thought-provoking puzzle game with very little platforming involved. Depending on the length of time a player spends staring blankly as some of the hard mode stages without making any progress, this cheap title (that gets even cheaper during Steam sales) can provide 20+ hours of brain-scrambling entertainment. This is also a multi-platform game that is demonstrably superior on Steam, thanks to the large amount of free bonus content. The lack of a story, however, is a detriment that drags-down the whole experience. Fans of “Adventures of Lolo” should definitely check it out, as it is the closest thing to that style of gameplay that has been released in years.
Presentation: 4.5/5
Story: 1/5
Gameplay: 4/5
Overall (not an average): 3.5/5
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