Tomba!/Tombi! (PS1, 1997)
Graphics-8 Sound-8 Control-7.5 Challenge-7 Story-6.5
Level Design-7 Frustration-8 Fun-7 Originality-6
Overall Score-7
+
Action adventure/RPG elements (lots of sidequests, interconnected world, gain new moves and weapons, upgradeable health bar and movement speed - very fast movement when fully upgraded, very interactive environment overall (can also examine inventory items though the descriptions aren't particularly useful), some JRPG-like TD view areas, experience system although it only affects if you can pick up and use the three elemental gems or not (and they're not needed though the fire one helps in the jungle)
Goofy and charming atmosphere
Double plane/2.5D gameplay (Revenge of Shinobi/SMW-style, can move between the fore- and background in various spots as well as climb some background walls)
Teleport items (the one-use wings let you go back to any previously visited area and the bell takes you back to the old man's hut) - there's also a flying dog which you'll get help from later on and which has the same function as the wings and can be used freely
Many secrets
Great sound fx overall
Basic quest log (doesn't help much for the most part though as the descriptions tend to be short and vague)
Can check the world map at any point (unusual in that it's fairly zoomed in on the current area and vaguely shows its paths as well as most save points and path crossings, can move the cursor around and check area names for any visited areas, the map doesn't show where locked chests or quest givers are though)
Some cutscenes are interwoven with in-game events, pretty nice cartoon cutscenes overall (the mix between CGI and drawn animation (and some pasted in photo elements?) and the fluffy shading style is a bit offputting though)
Charge attack
Some innovative mechanics (in some sub areas the perspective can rotate 45 degrees at certain points (similar to Fez), the bridge that lowers/crumbles as you stand between the poles in the dwarf forest, the forest area where eating a "laughter" mushroom makes platforms rise and eating a "crying" one makes them lower along with making the flowers here change mood as well, can climb some platforms at a higher than 90 degree angle (almost upside down), the boss fight with the spinning wheel obstacle in the background reaching into the foreground) and abilities (the grapplejack - weapon+grappling hook in one, the wind power - hover jump and double jump), great grappling hook physics overall (somewhat glitchy when swinging into certain objects)
Can use the run move to jump further and higher from standing or climbing position
Can speed up text on a per sentence/message box basis (can't speed up the quest given and quest completed text though)
Dual shock support with toggleable vibration
Nature restoration theme
Can escape from boss battles
+/-
Frequent save points (15 slots per card, shows current location and some stats)
Unlimited inventory?
Can grab and throw regular enemies (works kind of like in Klonoa except you have less control over the throw here)
Can't move while attacking or charging (only turn around and jump, breaks flow a bit)
Extra lives system is a bit redundant in a game with frequent save points
You get more AP points (used to unlock AP boxes) by finding quests before finishing them - some like the chicken collecting in the first area can be done before getting the quest to do so
~10 seconds of loading between the main areas
Can't manually ask any NPC about quests relevant to the area they're in (makes getting relevant tips take longer)
TD view segments (towns and some other areas) are much less interactive overall in terms of the objects in them
Can't toggle the "stone"/super fast form gained from the mysterious mushroom on and off (it's a bit too much for some platforming segments) - have to die to remove the effect
Later on there's a shortcut to leveling up your three elemental gem abilities (lure a certain fish in certain ponds using fish food)
Generally lighthearted and sometimes comical tone (silly (some fart jokes), slapstick, bizarre, sometimes ironic - Charles the monkey acts more civilized than Tomba)
Can restore your health by reloading a save
Partial control config (only the face buttons can be remapped)
Can't access the item menu while in mid-air
Can't move between screens in mid-air (have to be moving on the ground)
Some boss gates appear near the beginning of an area rather than at the end of it
Can't toggle the umbrella (hover jump) on/off while in-game - not flexible enough to press down to fall faster as the effect is too small
Several chests are placed in mundane spots without a platforming/exploration/puzzle/combat challenge leading to them
Two racing mini-games (not that good though - first one which is on foot is very easy, second one is super hard unless you use an exploit)
-
Too many fetch quests
Collectathon (you're usually kept from progressing until you collect a bunch of items and complete one or more fetch quests in each area, sometimes you're locked out of sub areas because they're "very dangerous" which really means the same thing)
No proper area maps (see Super Metroid for example, not that much of a problem besides in the haunted mansion area but you'll have to memorize a bunch of chest locations)
Control/interface issues (have to use each ingredient manually at the witch's place, loose vertical scrolling underwater, the game is overly picky about where you can use the raft (it also doesn't show the jetty/platform unless on the screen with the tree of knowledge so it's fairly easy to forget to check there, it's also not even necessary to use it unless going for 100% since it only gives a small number of AP points), can't quickly switch items with l/r, Tomba has a problem with grabbing onto grapple points, can't do a running or even walking jump on the z-plane (breaks flow a bit), limited movement between planes (can only switch at certain spots which are pretty rare and seem arbitrary, lack of consistency (you can't climb some walls, can't fill the bucket in the dwarf village for example - have to catch the drops near the tower)), have to jump on/grab some items and then jump to pick them up, can't duck - sometimes makes it tricky to hit smaller objects with the default weapon, menus don't wrap around, annoying stumbling animation when walking into a shrunken pig/baby pig - doesn't happen often though)
Lame rewards for some quests (gold medal in the race, keep finding wings after recruiting Baron the flying dog, the door that couldn't be opened due to the strong winds just leads to a lunch box/healing item, psychic fish has the same effect as the mysterious mushroom besides making you super fast (which you already are at this point), 1-up for carrying the frog for half an area without being hit for example, two health restoring items for finding 10 pieces of cheese and no reward for 100% completion)
You quickly end up with quests that are sometimes not explained at all which can be overwhelming at times
Trial & error (can't interact with the door to the witch's hut at first which can lead you to believe that the hut can't be entered as you're not told where she is exactly, finding the seven friends to unlock the door to the final boss - six of them are just random NPCs, strong wire location - you only get a clue that the digger who has it is at the haunted mansion which means there's lots of doors to check, fairly easy to miss the barrel quest (the spiked barrel obstacle at the wharf can be de-spiked and rolled into the water) but it is optional with a minor AP point reward, one of the pig gate locations is kind of random (the dwarf forest square one), the green gem doesn't appear the first time you reach the top of the mountain but some time later, some one way shortcuts such as the underwater exit at trick village leading to the jungle waterfall (these aren't even useful for the most part since you have the dog), beating enemies with the fire jewel attack won't increase your ability points so it can't be used to grind for them, no warning about the fire jewel making you unable to swim while equipped (you can even die from this if in the jungle) - you'll also be hurt at the short water segment in the first area of the game after learning how to swim regardless of if you've equipped the fire gem or not!, the pump rock locations (I don't think the game even explains what they are: those spring platforms with a green "rock" on top spread all over the game world), in "stone"/fast form you drop too fast to grab items from chests falling out of mid-air - bad in the lava cave for example, getting some of the (optional) chest contents in some areas like the lava cave can be rather tricky, one way exit from the house at the first screen (can only enter from the beach below it despite there not being anything blocking the front path), same with the boat guy who gives you a one way trip back to the beginning but that's less of an issue), some leaps of faith+pits in the laughing/crying flowers area and on phoenix mountain - can look down/up with l+r but it's not quite enough, have to jump into a fire to trigger a quest in the second area, can only collect one baby pig at a time?, rescuing the dwarves is done by pulling every spore in the forest until they're found - in the tower sub area they are shown but why not everywhere?, fairly easy to miss Yan in the first area since he stands right at a point where the screen transitions to the pond area and you have to stand very close to it to talk to him, the game doesn't ask if you're ready to go when first encountering the phoenix (you'll end up falling into the village near the mountain and having to re-climb the mountain for some items close to where the phoenix was, there's also no warning before the door leading back down the phoenix mountain placed at the top of it) - the wings help but there's only a few)
Some backtracking within areas (the wings help as they even let you go to each sub area but there's only a few and backtracking for items within certain sub areas can still be slow)
Somewhat slow screen transitions (when going in and out of the menu for example - sometimes many within a single sub area)
Some invisible walls
Sometimes uneven difficulty (fairly easy bosses as you only need to successfully damage them once by throwing them into a large bag (besides the stormy pig which is pretty hard to time right) - final boss is very similar to the others as well and doesn't really test your abilities up to that point, tough lava cave area, phoenix mountain is pretty tough with wind effects+hidden springs+small platforms and pits of death+a cheap projectile attack at the toughest part+invulnerable plants that can send you backwards if they swallow you!)
Some animations look a bit rough and there aren't any dialogue portraits
Pretty cliché story overall
The game doesn't discard quest items that you no longer need for anything
The tree doesn't tell you about the five golden items until you already have them? (some other NPC dialogue also doesn't update after finishing the quest they're talking about)
Notes:
-It seems there are more health bar upgrades than you can actually use at first, but after completing the "hide and go seek" quest the maximum increases from 8 to 16
-Sacred Fish: Run fast, jump higher than with Psychic Fish; Psychic Fish: Run faster than with Sacred Fish, jump high
Level Design-7 Frustration-8 Fun-7 Originality-6
Overall Score-7
+
Action adventure/RPG elements (lots of sidequests, interconnected world, gain new moves and weapons, upgradeable health bar and movement speed - very fast movement when fully upgraded, very interactive environment overall (can also examine inventory items though the descriptions aren't particularly useful), some JRPG-like TD view areas, experience system although it only affects if you can pick up and use the three elemental gems or not (and they're not needed though the fire one helps in the jungle)
Goofy and charming atmosphere
Double plane/2.5D gameplay (Revenge of Shinobi/SMW-style, can move between the fore- and background in various spots as well as climb some background walls)
Teleport items (the one-use wings let you go back to any previously visited area and the bell takes you back to the old man's hut) - there's also a flying dog which you'll get help from later on and which has the same function as the wings and can be used freely
Many secrets
Great sound fx overall
Basic quest log (doesn't help much for the most part though as the descriptions tend to be short and vague)
Can check the world map at any point (unusual in that it's fairly zoomed in on the current area and vaguely shows its paths as well as most save points and path crossings, can move the cursor around and check area names for any visited areas, the map doesn't show where locked chests or quest givers are though)
Some cutscenes are interwoven with in-game events, pretty nice cartoon cutscenes overall (the mix between CGI and drawn animation (and some pasted in photo elements?) and the fluffy shading style is a bit offputting though)
Charge attack
Some innovative mechanics (in some sub areas the perspective can rotate 45 degrees at certain points (similar to Fez), the bridge that lowers/crumbles as you stand between the poles in the dwarf forest, the forest area where eating a "laughter" mushroom makes platforms rise and eating a "crying" one makes them lower along with making the flowers here change mood as well, can climb some platforms at a higher than 90 degree angle (almost upside down), the boss fight with the spinning wheel obstacle in the background reaching into the foreground) and abilities (the grapplejack - weapon+grappling hook in one, the wind power - hover jump and double jump), great grappling hook physics overall (somewhat glitchy when swinging into certain objects)
Can use the run move to jump further and higher from standing or climbing position
Can speed up text on a per sentence/message box basis (can't speed up the quest given and quest completed text though)
Dual shock support with toggleable vibration
Nature restoration theme
Can escape from boss battles
+/-
Frequent save points (15 slots per card, shows current location and some stats)
Unlimited inventory?
Can grab and throw regular enemies (works kind of like in Klonoa except you have less control over the throw here)
Can't move while attacking or charging (only turn around and jump, breaks flow a bit)
Extra lives system is a bit redundant in a game with frequent save points
You get more AP points (used to unlock AP boxes) by finding quests before finishing them - some like the chicken collecting in the first area can be done before getting the quest to do so
~10 seconds of loading between the main areas
Can't manually ask any NPC about quests relevant to the area they're in (makes getting relevant tips take longer)
TD view segments (towns and some other areas) are much less interactive overall in terms of the objects in them
Can't toggle the "stone"/super fast form gained from the mysterious mushroom on and off (it's a bit too much for some platforming segments) - have to die to remove the effect
Later on there's a shortcut to leveling up your three elemental gem abilities (lure a certain fish in certain ponds using fish food)
Generally lighthearted and sometimes comical tone (silly (some fart jokes), slapstick, bizarre, sometimes ironic - Charles the monkey acts more civilized than Tomba)
Can restore your health by reloading a save
Partial control config (only the face buttons can be remapped)
Can't access the item menu while in mid-air
Can't move between screens in mid-air (have to be moving on the ground)
Some boss gates appear near the beginning of an area rather than at the end of it
Can't toggle the umbrella (hover jump) on/off while in-game - not flexible enough to press down to fall faster as the effect is too small
Several chests are placed in mundane spots without a platforming/exploration/puzzle/combat challenge leading to them
Two racing mini-games (not that good though - first one which is on foot is very easy, second one is super hard unless you use an exploit)
-
Too many fetch quests
Collectathon (you're usually kept from progressing until you collect a bunch of items and complete one or more fetch quests in each area, sometimes you're locked out of sub areas because they're "very dangerous" which really means the same thing)
No proper area maps (see Super Metroid for example, not that much of a problem besides in the haunted mansion area but you'll have to memorize a bunch of chest locations)
Control/interface issues (have to use each ingredient manually at the witch's place, loose vertical scrolling underwater, the game is overly picky about where you can use the raft (it also doesn't show the jetty/platform unless on the screen with the tree of knowledge so it's fairly easy to forget to check there, it's also not even necessary to use it unless going for 100% since it only gives a small number of AP points), can't quickly switch items with l/r, Tomba has a problem with grabbing onto grapple points, can't do a running or even walking jump on the z-plane (breaks flow a bit), limited movement between planes (can only switch at certain spots which are pretty rare and seem arbitrary, lack of consistency (you can't climb some walls, can't fill the bucket in the dwarf village for example - have to catch the drops near the tower)), have to jump on/grab some items and then jump to pick them up, can't duck - sometimes makes it tricky to hit smaller objects with the default weapon, menus don't wrap around, annoying stumbling animation when walking into a shrunken pig/baby pig - doesn't happen often though)
Lame rewards for some quests (gold medal in the race, keep finding wings after recruiting Baron the flying dog, the door that couldn't be opened due to the strong winds just leads to a lunch box/healing item, psychic fish has the same effect as the mysterious mushroom besides making you super fast (which you already are at this point), 1-up for carrying the frog for half an area without being hit for example, two health restoring items for finding 10 pieces of cheese and no reward for 100% completion)
You quickly end up with quests that are sometimes not explained at all which can be overwhelming at times
Trial & error (can't interact with the door to the witch's hut at first which can lead you to believe that the hut can't be entered as you're not told where she is exactly, finding the seven friends to unlock the door to the final boss - six of them are just random NPCs, strong wire location - you only get a clue that the digger who has it is at the haunted mansion which means there's lots of doors to check, fairly easy to miss the barrel quest (the spiked barrel obstacle at the wharf can be de-spiked and rolled into the water) but it is optional with a minor AP point reward, one of the pig gate locations is kind of random (the dwarf forest square one), the green gem doesn't appear the first time you reach the top of the mountain but some time later, some one way shortcuts such as the underwater exit at trick village leading to the jungle waterfall (these aren't even useful for the most part since you have the dog), beating enemies with the fire jewel attack won't increase your ability points so it can't be used to grind for them, no warning about the fire jewel making you unable to swim while equipped (you can even die from this if in the jungle) - you'll also be hurt at the short water segment in the first area of the game after learning how to swim regardless of if you've equipped the fire gem or not!, the pump rock locations (I don't think the game even explains what they are: those spring platforms with a green "rock" on top spread all over the game world), in "stone"/fast form you drop too fast to grab items from chests falling out of mid-air - bad in the lava cave for example, getting some of the (optional) chest contents in some areas like the lava cave can be rather tricky, one way exit from the house at the first screen (can only enter from the beach below it despite there not being anything blocking the front path), same with the boat guy who gives you a one way trip back to the beginning but that's less of an issue), some leaps of faith+pits in the laughing/crying flowers area and on phoenix mountain - can look down/up with l+r but it's not quite enough, have to jump into a fire to trigger a quest in the second area, can only collect one baby pig at a time?, rescuing the dwarves is done by pulling every spore in the forest until they're found - in the tower sub area they are shown but why not everywhere?, fairly easy to miss Yan in the first area since he stands right at a point where the screen transitions to the pond area and you have to stand very close to it to talk to him, the game doesn't ask if you're ready to go when first encountering the phoenix (you'll end up falling into the village near the mountain and having to re-climb the mountain for some items close to where the phoenix was, there's also no warning before the door leading back down the phoenix mountain placed at the top of it) - the wings help but there's only a few)
Some backtracking within areas (the wings help as they even let you go to each sub area but there's only a few and backtracking for items within certain sub areas can still be slow)
Somewhat slow screen transitions (when going in and out of the menu for example - sometimes many within a single sub area)
Some invisible walls
Sometimes uneven difficulty (fairly easy bosses as you only need to successfully damage them once by throwing them into a large bag (besides the stormy pig which is pretty hard to time right) - final boss is very similar to the others as well and doesn't really test your abilities up to that point, tough lava cave area, phoenix mountain is pretty tough with wind effects+hidden springs+small platforms and pits of death+a cheap projectile attack at the toughest part+invulnerable plants that can send you backwards if they swallow you!)
Some animations look a bit rough and there aren't any dialogue portraits
Pretty cliché story overall
The game doesn't discard quest items that you no longer need for anything
The tree doesn't tell you about the five golden items until you already have them? (some other NPC dialogue also doesn't update after finishing the quest they're talking about)
Notes:
-It seems there are more health bar upgrades than you can actually use at first, but after completing the "hide and go seek" quest the maximum increases from 8 to 16
-Sacred Fish: Run fast, jump higher than with Psychic Fish; Psychic Fish: Run faster than with Sacred Fish, jump high