Toki Tori 2+ (Nintendo Switch) Indie One Shot
Toki Tori 2
Developed By : Two Tribes Published By : Two Tribes Publishing
Released : Feb 23, 2018
Toki Tori is back with a vengeance! Okay, maybe not a vengeance. He is, however, rocking a couple new moves in this latest adventure, which as a wholw is massively different from its predecessor. It's safe to say that Toki Tori 2+ is completely new and fresh approach to this series.
A while back, I had reviewed Rive : Ultimate Edition on The Switch Effect, another product from Two Tribes which had been touted as their final game ever. It appears that they decided to stick around a little bit more, though, and bring these two re-releases of Toki Tori, to the Switch.
The first thing you'll want to do before firing up this game, is scrapping from your mind everything that has to do with the first title. Level-by-level structure? Gone. Items for our main character to use for level progression? Won't find them here. What you will find though is an open world adventure where Toki can do what he wants, when he wants to.
As far as story goes, Toki will have to explore his island to it's extremes. A strange pollution has taken over the island in the form a black oily-like substance. Hidden in the faraway depths of the island may be the answers to what exactly the oil is and how to get rid of it.
Like I mentioned earlier, Toki no longer has the ability to use items. Instead he's learned two new moves that will need to be used the best that they can to navigate all of the island's puzzles. These moves are known simply as whistle and stomp.
Throughout the island you'll come across numerous creatures. A great number of these are involved in solving puzzles. Some blocks will actually be crab shells, frogs can spit out bubbles to make you float higher, and birds can snatch you up from the ground to carry you higher as well. All of these creatures can be lured closer to Toki with the whistle, and moved further away with the stomp.
Both of these moves have further uses though. Stomp can break through fragile ground, letting you gain access to a lower portion of the level. The whistle is probably the more versatile of the two. Depending on how long you press the button, Toki will either shrill out a short or long note. These notes can be combined into songs that will be learned as you play the game, which will greatly come in handy. These songs can allow you to fast travel, rewind to the last checkpoint you went through, or create a temporary checkpoint wherever you're standing.
Sometimes, a change like this doesn't suit a game well. In the case of Toki Tori it is amazingly done. The level-by-level design of the original game suited things for the time, but this new approach is a welcome fit for the game today. Or, rather five years ago when it originally came out on the Wii U. This 2+ version of the game has been refined a little bit for it's release on the Switch, and is an absolutely incredible title. Both are great, honestly, and it'd be a tough decision picking which one would be the better of the two. They are so similar, yet so different at the same time, but no matter what these are must play titles to own.
Rating : 9/10
Also Available On : Wii U, PC/Mac, Playstation 4
Price : $14.99
