Reviewed by: Funkadelic
Rated:
Posted on: 03/08/00

Released during the late summer of ’98, Tomba! was one of the more original games ever to grace the PlayStation. It combined platform and adventure elements, with a hefty dose of pure insanity thrown in for good measure (what other game let you control a pink-haired jungle boy who bit the backs of evil pigs?). The game was created by Tokuro Fujiwara, the same man responsible for the popular Ghost & Goblins series, so Tomba! was practically guaranteed to become a success. It almost seemed as if Sony had a new hit franchise character on its hands, gently elbowing Crash and Spyro out of the way. Well, Tomba and his pink hair are back in an all-new adventure; this time it's to save his kidnapped girlfriend, Tabby, and rid the land of the Evil Pigs once and for all!

Like the first game, Tomba! 2 has an excellent presentation. The first thing you will notice is the nicely done and well-animated opening movie, which serves to begin the story. As mentioned, Tabby, Tomba's girlfriend, has been kidnapped by the Evil Pigs, who have also invaded a nearby land, filling it with Evil Pig Spells. Tomba will need to save his girlfriend and rid the land of these Evil Pig Spells. His new adventure begins in the sunny "Town of the Fisherman," but will continue on through both hot and frigid environments.

Tomba! 2's graphics are definitely a step up from the original Tomba!.

Right away it becomes apparent that the graphics have received a complete overhaul. Richly detailed characters and texture-mapped landscapes have replaced the plain-looking sprites of the first game. Tomba! 2 is also a lot more colorful, and the backgrounds contain much more depth than the first game owing to the new quasi-3D world. Unlike in the first Tomba!, you now have much more freedom to explore the richly detailed environments. At certain points along any given path, arrows will be displayed to show the possible directions in which Tomba can move. You still don't have complete control over where to go, but there is a much greater amount of freedom than there was in the first game.

One thing Tomba! lacked was voice acting, which caused many players to strain their eyes while reading the abundant amount of text. Tomba! 2 features voices for every character in the game (except Tomba, who doesn't talk at all), which is quite amazing, considering the huge amount of characters that are in the game. The voice acting is quite good, but there are a number of characters who are annoying, namely Zippo, who is with Tomba throughout his entire quest. Still, it's definitely a plus not to have to read the text, and the voice-overs allow you to become further immersed in the game. The music and sound effects are good but not extraordinary. In fact, some of the music and sound effects are rather annoying, but you have the option of adjusting the music and sound effect levels in the options menu.

Tomba! 2's gameplay is very similar to the original game's in most respects. Tomba still jumps on the backs of enemies and flips them to their death, but there are a variety of new weapons, moves, items, and, of course, a whole new batch of side-quests. The main objective is to rescue Tabby and rid the land of the Evil Pigs. However, to do that, Tomba must embark on several side-quests for other characters so he can obtain important items needed for his adventure. Not all of these side-quests are instrumental in completing the game, but others must be completed to advance. Some side-quests are more involved than others, and most will often intermix with each other. An example of a side-quest looks like this:

The Artisan has misplaced his clay spatula and wants it back. He tells Tomba that he made a pot for his next-door neighbor, which is the last place he remembers seeing it. When Tomba visits the neighbor who owns the pot, the neighbor professes his love for the pot and leaves shortly thereafter. Now that the neighbor is gone, Tomba has a chance to inspect the pot, which "accidently" falls and breaks into a million pieces. Fortunately for Tomba, the clay spatula was inside the now-broken pot, which he can return to the Artisan. Unfortunately, in order to make a new pot for the next-door neighbor, the Artisan will need some clay, made from washing clumps of mud in the machine room's washing machine, setting off another side-guest.

During this mine cart mini-game, Tomba must quickly deliver some cement before it hardens.

There are also some fun (and sometimes frustrating) mini-games that Tomba can take part in along the way. For example, one mini-game takes place on a mine cart, and it's Tomba's job to successfully maneuver the mine cart so he can deliver some cement before it hardens. Another mini-game involves washing some furry animals known as Kujara by throwing them into washing machines. Of course, the objectives in these mini-games are easier said than done and will require a little bit of skill and a whole lot of patience to beat.

Tomba will need a bunch of weapons and skills to defeat the Evil Pigs and complete the quests. Luckily, there are plenty of both. Tomba starts off with his famous blackjack weapon (an iron, spiked ball connected to a rope) and a plain pair of pants. As he gets further into his adventure, new weapons — like boomerangs, hammers, and even a Bionic Commando-like grappling hook — become available. Some weapons like the ice boomerang, fire hammer, and grappling hook are very important for completing certain objectives and side-quests, since they'll be needed to access parts of a level or to destroy a particular type of enemy. For instance, in one area of the game, there are "hot" enemies called Cappers, who must be "cooled off" with the ice boomerang. Also, an item like the grappling hook needs to be used extensively to make it safely across hazards. The grappling hook even comes in handy when Tomba's other weapons fail to puncture objects, some of which may contain rare items. Tomba can also perform a move known as the Animal Dash, which enables him to run faster and jump further. This move, executed with the Square button, will come in handy throughout the entire game.

Then there are the special outfits that give Tomba special abilities. The squirrel clothes, for example, allow Tomba to keep warm in cold environments and soar through the air. Tomba can also acquire Evil Pig Robes after successfully capturing a certain type of Evil Pig. Depending on the type of Evil Pig captured (Flame Pig, Ice Pig, Ghost Pig, etc.), the particular robe will give Tomba different magical powers. However, in order to harness the powers of the Evil Pig Robes, Tomba needs to gather energy to fill a Magic Gauge. To do this, Tomba must destroy a number of enemies to put enough energy into the Magic Gauge.

Tomba does receive some help along the way from a bunch of friendly characters, including Zippo, a Pento-bug that accompanies Tomba on his quest. In fact, Zippo is very similar to Sparx of Syro the Dragon fame, with the only difference being that Zippo doesn't protect Tomba from damage but instead takes care of all Tomba's communication (Tomba is a jungle boy, after all, and doesn't have much of a vocabulary).

Anytime during the game, a press of the Triangle button will bring up Tomba's Adventure Journal, a book that holds all of Tomba's vital information. The Adventure Journal is divided into four section: Items – displays all of Tomba's acquired and equipped items; Events – displays all of the events that Tomba has either completed or discovered; Status – shows Tomba's location, condition, and equipped items; and Help – explains how to perform various operations in the game.

Tomba will need to find some squirrel clothes when visiting the Kujara Ranch to prevent frostbite!

While the game's difficulty level is neither too hard nor too easy, the fact that the player has an unlimited amount of continues should open the game to all audiences. Skilled gamers will probably make limited use of the continues, while others, particularly younger gamers, may view the unlimited continue feature as a godsend. Still, even the most experienced gamer will need to use at least a few continues to complete the many quests and uncover all of the hidden stuff.

In the end, Tomba! 2 isn't a huge leap above the original game, but it has enough small changes and improvements to warrant a purchase from Tomba! fans. Fans of platform and adventure games also can't go wrong with picking up a copy of Tomba! 2, because the huge amount of quests and overall addictive gameplay will last for weeks to come. Tomba! 2 will definitely do for now, but let's hope the next installment places our little pink-haired jungle boy into a fully interactive three-dimensional world.

Supports:

• 1 Player
• Dual Shock Analog Controller
• Memory Card