Toki Tori 2+ Review

<p>I&&num;8217&semi;m not the audience for <em>Toki Tori 2&plus;<&sol;em>&period; But I can tell you who is&colon; 6 year olds and their families&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>I&&num;8217&semi;m lucky enough to have a young 6 year old boy in my life who loves video games&period; He&&num;8217&semi;s a pretty cool dude&comma; and he knows what he likes and what he doesn&&num;8217&semi;t&period; Since <em>Toki Tori 2&plus;<&sol;em> came to my PS4&comma; he always wants to play &&num;8220&semi;that one with the chicken&&num;8221&semi;&period; The animation and aesthetic appeal to him&comma; the controls are simple enough for him to grasp without guidance&comma; and it becomes an entire family event to help him solve puzzles&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>This is where <em>Toki Tori 2&plus;<&sol;em> excels&period; There&&num;8217&semi;s nothing particularly special in terms of control&comma; design&comma; or challenge&period; Everything works well&comma; functions as intended&comma; and can even be quite enjoyable&period; But what <em>is<&sol;em> special about this little chicken&&num;8217&semi;s adventure is its adorable&comma; endearing accessibility to a universal crowd&period; Anyone can pick this game up and run with it&period; There&&num;8217&semi;s no huge learning curve&comma; and this opens the game up to a wide audience&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;101724" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-101724" style&equals;"width&colon; 1920px" class&equals;"wp-caption alignnone"><img class&equals;"wp-image-101724 size-full" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;03&sol;03222048&sol;03&lowbar;city&period;png" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"1920" height&equals;"1080" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-101724" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Toki Tori 2&plus; hides enjoyable puzzle design beneath a cute art design&period; &lpar;<em>Toki Tori 2&plus;<&sol;em>&comma; Two Tribes&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>Here&&num;8217&semi;s why that is so important&colon; In a world where games carry a stigma of violence and extensive challenge&comma; it can be difficult for those gamer moms and dads to find ways to open up the world of games to their kids&period; <em>Toki Tori 2&plus;<&sol;em> is a rare and successful blend of ageless accessibility and engaging gameplay&period; As such&comma; the project&&num;8217&semi;s greatest achievement is walking this tightrope without pandering&comma; or even condescending&comma; to the families and the youth&period; <em>Toki Tori 2&plus;<&sol;em> is a game you can feel good about sharing with a younger child and know that it is both enjoyable and stimulating for the whole family&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Let&&num;8217&semi;s get down to the nitty-gritty&colon; In <em>Toki Tori 2&plus;<&sol;em>&comma; you take control of a chicken with two abilities&colon; the ability to whistle a scale and land on your butt&period; These two elements&comma; combined with some light platform elements&comma; make up the entirety of the game&period; Whistling can bring things such as crabs and lightning bugs closer to you&comma; while a butt slam can push things away&period; These are the ways in which you&&num;8217&semi;ll navigate the world&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The level design is solid&comma; and the world of the game can even look quite beautiful at times&period; It feels a bit like being in a Pixar movie with a lively&comma; vibrant world that is potentially touching and sincere&period; There are times and places where the level design seems to drag out or repeat a bit much&comma; but this never really holds the game back&comma; especially when the game&&num;8217&semi;s prime audience is considered&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;101748" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-101748" style&equals;"width&colon; 1920px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"wp-image-101748 size-full" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;03&sol;03222011&sol;06&lowbar;warps&period;png" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"1920" height&equals;"1080" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-101748" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">The world of the game is colorful and vibrant&period; &lpar;<em>Toki Tori 2&plus;<&sol;em>&comma; Two Tribes&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>By now you must be thinking &&num;8220&semi;Okay&comma; Logan&period; You make this kid&sol;family game sound so great&excl; If it&&num;8217&semi;s so good&comma; why haven&&num;8217&semi;t I heard about it&quest; What&&num;8217&semi;s the catch&quest;&&num;8221&semi; Well&comma; there is a catch&comma; dear reader&comma; and it&&num;8217&semi;s not an easy one to describe&period; In order to do so&comma; I&&num;8217&semi;ll have to give you some background information&colon;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The original <em>Toki Tori<&sol;em> came out in 2001 for the Game Boy Color and received solid critical praise&comma; though it never quite took off with consumers&period; <em>Toki Tori 2<&sol;em> then came out in 2013&comma; first to the Wii U &lpar;doesn&&num;8217&semi;t it look like a Wii U title&quest;&rpar; and then to Steam&period; Later that same year&comma; Two Tribes released the expanded <em>Toki Tori 2&plus;<&sol;em>&period; Now&comma; in early 2016 &lpar;almost 3 years later&rpar;&comma; <em>Toki Tori 2&plus;<&sol;em> has come to the PS4&period; Toki Tori 2&plus; has&comma; in an almost mirror fashion to the original <em>Toki Tori<&sol;em>&comma; received positive critical reviews and has been largely ignored by consumers&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;101749" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-101749" style&equals;"width&colon; 1920px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"wp-image-101749 size-full" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;03&sol;03221945&sol;02&lowbar;lavacave&period;png" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"1920" height&equals;"1080" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-101749" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">The engaging stylistic choices can appeal to both the young and old&period; &lpar;<em>Toki Tori 2&plus;<&sol;em>&comma; Two Tribes&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>But the question remains&colon; Why&quest; If it&&num;8217&semi;s a good game&comma; why is no one buying it&quest; I can&&num;8217&semi;t put it better than the developers themselves&comma; who <a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;eurogamer&period;net&sol;articles&sol;2015-03-12-two-tribes-reflects-on-toki-tori-2s-commercial-failure">spoke to Eurogamer<&sol;a> last year about that very question&period; &&num;8220&semi;I don&&num;8217&semi;t think I would have bought <em>Toki Tori 2<&sol;em> if I was a consumer&comma;&&num;8221&semi; Two Tribes co-founder Collin van Ginkel told Eurogamer&period; He continues&comma; &&num;8220&semi;It is a good game and it&&num;8217&semi;s the best game I think we&&num;8217&semi;ve released so far&&num;8230&semi;We were trying to make a game that didn&&num;8217&semi;t leave anybody out&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>And yet&comma; I opened this review stating that I wasn&&num;8217&semi;t the audience for this game&period; Between releasing on a struggling console&comma; a difficult release schedule&comma; and muddy branding decisions&comma; <em>Toki Tori 2<&sol;em> was always set-up to fail&period; The gameplay is good&comma; but not unique&period; The aesthetic is cute&comma; but generic&period; <em>Toki Tori 2<&sol;em> &lpar;and <em>2&plus;<&sol;em>&rpar; is a good game&comma; but not a <i>successful<&sol;i> game&period; It doesn&&num;8217&semi;t have a specific audience&comma; it doesn&&num;8217&semi;t have any particularly outstanding features&comma; and it never even reached enough people for them to make a decision on it&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;101751" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-101751" style&equals;"width&colon; 1920px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"wp-image-101751 size-full" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;03&sol;03221918&sol;05&lowbar;slugs&period;png" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"1920" height&equals;"1080" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-101751" class&equals;"wp-caption-text"><em>Toki Tori 2&plus;<&sol;em> can sometimes even offer some legitimate challenge&period; &lpar;<em>Toki Tori 2&plus;&comma;<&sol;em> Two Tribes&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p><strong>And all of those things make it perfect for children and families&period;<&sol;strong> Because it tries to appeal to everyone &lpar;and doesn&&num;8217&semi;t quite manage to do so&rpar;&comma; it can easily be accepted by children while also being just engaging enough for parents to share&period; It doesn&&num;8217&semi;t ask too much of you&comma; it sincerely does offer some nice gameplay&comma; and it creates a Pixar-esque world that is perfect for that exact demographic&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>We&&num;8217&semi;ve covered a lot in this review&comma; so allow me to tie things together for you&period; <em>Toki Tori 2&plus;<&sol;em> is a good game&period; It&&num;8217&semi;s got enjoyable gameplay&comma; an engaging artistic direction&comma; and a simple structure that anyone can leap into&period; The game&&num;8217&semi;s faults lie primarily in its image&period; It can&&num;8217&semi;t quite figure out who it&&num;8217&semi;s aimed at and what it&&num;8217&semi;s trying to achieve&period; But I say that&comma; if you are a gaming family and need something fun and wholesome to help introduce your young one to gaming&comma; this might be the game for you&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><strong>A PS4 code was provided by Two Tribes for the purpose of this review&period; <&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;

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