Tak and the Power of Juju

"This fun and humorous game manages to fit into the rare category of being worse than the sum of its parts"

The story goes that Tlaloc has turned all the people in Tak's village into sheep. Only the hero of destiny, Locke, can save the village, but unfortunately he has been turned into a sheep. This means it is up to you to help Locke become human again so that the village can be saved. The cutscenes are filled with humour, and even the storyline has its often funny bits.

The gameplay is 3D platforming with a good deal of puzzle solving thrown in. You run around with the control stick, jump with X, attack with square, cast spells with circle (which are chosen with R2 and L2), put down items with triangle and change weapons with R1. Your two weapons, a bamboo stick and a wand, do different things, with you bamboo stick allowing you to pole vault as well as allowing longer distance on your attack, whilst the wand is both stronger and allows you to cast spells.

One of the main features of the gameplay is the usage of various animals. One of the most major animals is sheep (owing largely to the storyline). Sheep serve two purposes. One is that they can be used to run on treadmills which are connected up to various mechanisms. The other use is that if you carry them they cover your whole body allowing you to sneak past guards. Chickens attack you if you're holding an egg, causing you to drop and break the egg. Orang-utans bend back trees in order to catapult you (and sheep) into the air, rhinos bash down wooden walls and ostriches can jump large distances (the latter two both being rideable).

The level design is superb. Every level is unique, from the simplicity of the graveyard, to the guide-the-mummy puzzles in the sanctuary, to the animal puzzles at the hill top, the chicken costume antics at West Chicken island. There is one complaint I hold against the level design though, and that is that the are two snowboarding levels in the game, both of which are unfun yet required for the 100% mark.

Character design is basic, though the personality that the enemies have means that the basic look is not a bad thing; some enemies scream out before attacking you, and others get a menacing grin before snapping out to bite you.

The graphics are absolutely superb. The character models are detailed to the extent that you can the bristles on Tak's feather, and see his feather flutter in the air as you jump. One of the best things about the character models is the shading, particularly thanks to its very gentle look yet strong presence. The plantlife looks lush, items are detailed and the backgrounds are, at times, stunning. Even the footprints actually look like footprints instead of these pseudo-footprint circles that are becoming annoyingly abound in games today.

The music is an exemplary example of what music should be like in a humorous little platformer like this. The variety is great, ranging from the ambient to the tuneful, and from the basic (consisting mainly of percussion) to what may be considered the “normal” style of music for 3D-platformers. The variety is the only great thing though, as the quality of the music is superb. The voice overs are very good, and the sound effects are rather realistic.

However the thing with this game is, despite excelling in all its parts, it just doesn't have any soul or sense of self. There's just something lacking in it that drags it down. However, despite this, it is still a fun and humorous game that is well worth checking out.

Gameplay = 8.5/10
Design = 8/10
Graphics = 10/10
Sound = 9.5/10

Total Score = 8/10

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 11/19/07

Game Release: Tak and the Power of Juju (EU, 03/12/04)