Toki Tori 2+ is a cute game. Toki Tori 2+ falls into the Loco Roco and the Pikmin category of games. Its beautiful, fun and relaxing with kid friendly content yet mind bending depth. It also falls into the category of under-appreciated games which get lost in the horde of zombie-killers and what not out there.

Toki Tori 2+ reminded me of the classic 8 Bit and 16 Bit games. Only this time rendered in glorious HD and heard in Dolby sound. Its fun to play and to share/show. It’s a pleasant experience, and it never demands too much of you at any point of time. It’s amazingly simple and exceedingly fun. Also the sound…JUST AMAZING.

 Detailed Toki Tori 2+ Review

(+) Whistle & Bounce

Toki Tori 2 is amazingly simple. At any point in the game, you would require a max of 4 buttons, 2 of which control the movement and the camera angle. Toki Tori can perform 2 basic actions. Whistling, which are primarily used to attract other creatures towards you. And Bouncing/bumping which can be used to scare creatures away from you and/or break objects. It’s so simple that the game doesn’t even need a tutorial. You jump right into the game, you try out a few buttons and just like that, you are on level 3.

The simplicity of it all, amazes me even more when the people over at Two Tribes manage to integrate those 2 simple activities into puzzles. In fact the game mentions the fact itself, letting the gamer know that while all Toki Tori does is whistle and jump, it would be more than enough to solve every problem. The whistle and the bump can be combined to pass barriers. The whistle itself can be made into patterns which would execute actions such as time reversal (hello Prince Of Persia), and other helpful activities which are unlocked as you go along.

(-) Whistling along for no reason

The game is divide into levels (think 8 Bit in-game maps) and you move from one point to another until you reach the ‘Tower Town’ and fight/escape/stop ‘The Dark Crystals’. The story is barely there, but it’s alright. The game just needed a reason for you to go from one place to another, and so it did. No need to go all ho-haw over it.

(+) What are you whistling about?

This is perhaps the only game, my wife wanted to play. Granted it was because the game looked and sounded so cute, that her first impression was that of a kid attracted to candy. But the controls were so simple and intuitive that with a little bit of my help, she was already clearing levels without me having to take the controller from her even once.

Multiple times, my parents, and my brother stopped by the T.V. to check on if I wasn’t instead watching a children cartoon. There have been even more instances when they have stayed around to watch me play and navigate the levels. Once again the simplicity of the game comes to the fore and they don’t need the slightest of background to grasp what is happening on the screen and what needs to be done.

It was the same when I was playing Loco-Roco on my PSP back in the day. And it was a great game. Just saying.

(-) When Jump comes to Shove

There are times however, when you feel a little under-taught by the game. for eg. for most part of the game, I didn’t know what the Toki-dex was; turns out it’s a collectible thingy where I need to collect photos of every creature in the game. But I found this out sooner through Wikipedia, than playing the actual game, so it might be a good idea to include basic info next time. You know, just in case.

VERDICT