Tak 2: The Staff of Dreams (GameCube) Review

You can see this sort of game coming from a mile off. Here is our little checklist; running: check, jumping: check, collecting: check, themed worlds: check, good vs. evil: check. No danger of a revolution here then? Tak 2: The Staff of Dreams enters perhaps the most crowded gaming genre of them all. Platform games sell well every time, and when you base it in a precocious arse of a character, you are basically getting a licence to print quite substantial amounts of money. Question the need for this game all you want, turn your nose up at it by all means...but give it a chance first.

Graphically this game is excellent. As you can see from the screenshots it is bright and colourful, but the whole look of the game in motion is quite exemplary. The environments look remarkably lush and alive and with busy little animals and foes running about at all the time you really get the idea you are part of a magical fantasy world. The game jumps between two types of world, the real world and the dream world; both must be conquered in order to complete the game. The basic idea is that you have to battle to rid the dream world of the evil forces that are taking it over (conveniently the evil forces tend to be dark or sludge coloured and moan a lot) whilst going back to the real world to jump, run and propel your way through various challenges.

In order to spruce the whole experience up a bit you are helped by a number of greater beings, these are known as Jujus. They all have items or powers that are of help to you in order for you to progress, and when you come across them they will set you a challenge to compete in order for them to help you. This will normally involve having to work out how to fetch a very well hidden object. This is where SoD (amusing abbreviation – Ed) gets a bit different. Throughout your travels in the real world you are accompanied by your village shaman Jibolba who helpfully transforms himself into the form of a flea! Why is this helpful we hear you cry? Well, as you travel about you will encounter various ‘critters’. Jibolba can be launched by Tak at certain critters to put them to sleep or bite them, both having different effects. Should you ever come across a squirrel do not laugh as we first did, they are pure evil, so a swift ‘sleeping bite’ delivered by flea-man is just what is needed to slip past unharmed.

Elsewhere on the critter-front you will also encounter bears, bees and warthogs. If you manage to lure a bear to a beehive it will lie down and start licking at the dripping honey from the hive, meaning you can bounce on his fat stomach as a means of propulsion. Bees can be used to distract enemies like crocodiles and those pesky squirrels. Then you have the lure of the skunk stench...or not. By getting sprayed by a skunk, you gain the ability to be able to ride warthogs. You can also fire flea-man at sheep to get them to raise platforms (don’t ask) and at squirrels to get them to attack Woodies (again, don’t ask).

Much as we try to like these added extras, we can't help but feel that in this increasingly competitive genre even they are starting to become predictable. We expect a platformer to contain its own unique quirks, and no matter how hard SoD tries we still can't like it too much. One reason for this could be that the protagonist is an annoying little brat, another reason could be that the whole game is painfully easy, or maybe, just maybe it is because it is mind-numbingly repetitive.

All those aspects aside, we have to commend one feature in this game; and that is your ability to morph into animals! This added extra certainly brings a bit of spice to an otherwise slightly dull title. Mix that together with some very enjoyable vehicle sections and your ability to concoct various potions and SoD is well on to sticking its head above the parapet of mediocrity.

Tak is also bestowed with special Juju powers. These enable him to do just about anything but with added Juju-ness. So for example: Juju Run, Juju Jump, Juju Kick...in fact most practical things with Juju shoved in front of it. Sadly Juju Spank was not included in the final code.

Overall the presentation of this game is excellent. As we mentioned, it looks stunning, especially in the obscure and blobby dream-world where everything has a sort of halcyon glaze to it which is very effective. Nicely, the game also excels in sound department. There is a montage of talented voice actors lending their names to the game; most of their work can be found in the various cut-scenes that help to drive along the deep and meaningful plot. Jokes aside, the cut-scenes and general dialogue are very well put together and are a testament to the games overall top-draw presentation.