Tak: The Great Juju Challenge

"The Great Boo Boo"

THQ's Tak series is somewhat of an anomaly to me. The first game, Tak and the Power of JuJu, was so poorly put together, it's surprising two sequels were made thereafter. During all this, THQ's much better Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy has disappeared entirely. There really is no justice.

Graphics:
One thing that Tak has over the competition is its graphics, a look much better than most of the generic kid platformers. It doesn't reach the same level of polish as the pre-rendered cutscenes in Ty the Tasmanian Tiger, but Tak looks better overall. And the aesthetics of the level design are truly unique. It's like a cross between Dr. Seuss, Salvador Dali, and Nick Toons: bubbly and surreal mountains with grotesque paintings for a sky. But more impressive is what the graphics engine will put up with. The Great Juju Challenge comes with a full-blown, splitscreen co-op mode. The fact that this game can hold a fairly consistent framerate when two players are running around on separate screens is truly impressive. However, that comes at the cost of a claustrophobic camera. It angles downwards and very seldom lets you tilt it up, making it very hard to see your surroundings.

Sound:
Another aspect of the Tak games that has received higher marks than its gameplay (however unfortunate) is the sound department. Voice acting is very clear and cartoony and almost aspires to standard Nickelodeon quality. It's just a shame that 3/4 of what the characters say is really, really lame. They should stop hiring the TV rejects to write the scripts. The music in the Great Juju Challenge isn't as memorable as it was in the Power of Juju, either, but the mellow tribal beats mixed with occasional guitar riffs work really well.

Gameplay:
What doesn't work so well is Tak's core gameplay. It's a pity how often this is neglected. Even tackling Tak (a poor choice of words) with the foreknowledge that it is a kid's game, the experience is still pretty bland. Gone are the open, free-roaming worlds from Tak 1-- as well as most of the animal interactions. In Tak 3, all of this has turned into some very formulaic and linear levels. The adventure is played out with two characters, however, so there are a few interesting dynamics involved when Tak and his partner, Lok, have to work together to solve various puzzles. For instance, only Lok can climb vines, and only Tak can swim. The two often must separate and meet up later. But these puzzles rarely present much creativity. In fact, they frequently repeat themselves. It's like the game is hoping you forgot how to solve the same puzzle two levels ago. A recurring theme is for Lok to toss Tak onto a ledge, and having to do that 20 times in one level is just annoying. Tak and Lok also come equipped with a club and a frenzy for using them. Combat is heavily required, but the fighting mechanics are uninteresting and fairly mindless. Basically, you just run into a swarm of enemies and swing blindly until they all disappear.

Frustration:
For as simple as the game is--and considering this is still geared towards a younger audience--some of the obstacles it presents are just baffling. My brother and I, both adults now, find ourselves spending way too much time trying to figure out a problem when the solution is as simple as throwing Tak's weak rock at the boss. That stupid rock hadn't damaged anything up to that point, so why would it take out the boss?! In another level, Lok announces that, to cross the swamp, it's best to distract the alligators with bees. In the end, it was easier to circumvent the bees and just jump across. But for all these problems, it's hard for me to mark the game down, because Tak is very forgiving. Extra health can be found liberally, and dying only returns you to one of the many checkpoints of a level. It isn't uncommon for three or four checkpoints to be in the same area. And restarting at a checkpoint doesn't affect your game progress at all. In that sense, Tak is a little too easy. There is no feeling of danger or imminence, because you know you'll just restart right where you first ran into trouble. It leads to careless platforming, actually.

That kind of numbing is also essential to keeping you sane as you play through the Great Juju Challenge. In order to advance to the next series of levels, you have to have at least a certain amount of "points." These points are only obtained by completing levels within the time bonus. It is highly unlikely that you will ever have enough points to proceed your first time, however. Your only option then is to go back through all your "favorite" levels and play them again-- only this time, you can't wander around and explore. Forcing people to play through a game twice just to beat it once is a cheap trick, and I'm getting tired of seeing it.

Lasting Appeal:
So why even bother to play this crappy game? The adventure itself is only a couple hours long (with fewer hours spent on fresh material). What makes this an enjoyable experience is the co-op mode. As noted earlier, a second player can join in at any time and take over Lok. This does absolute wonders for the entertainment value, and I wouldn't suggest playing Tak 3 any other way. Granted, the adventure still isn't very fun, but co-op games are becoming a rarity. At this point, I'll take whatever I can get.

Overall:
The original Tak is one of my least favorite current-generation platformers. Then Tak 2 came along and got some fairly decent ratings from game journals like IGN. So I'm not so sure where Tak 3 fits into this. Again, it's just average, mediocre, generic fluff with a heavy tint of annoyingness. Fortunately, the game is so forgiving, it's hard to stay mad at it. And with a half-decent co-op mode included, Tak 3 has more charm than Tak 1 ever could achieve. But a problematic game is still a problematic game, no matter how many people get involved. If you really want good co-op, check out the Four Swords Adventure or LEGO Star Wars. Tak 3 is strictly last resort bargain material.

Points:
+ Decent co-op mode
+ Robust engine
+ Forgiving gameplay
-- Too forgiving
-- And still irritating
-- Claustrophobic camera
-- Replaying levels for points

Score: 6/10

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 03/30/06