Tak 2: The Staff of Dreams

"Help Tak beat those Woodies.... Hey, I didn't name them!"

I played the original Tak at a friend's house. I never beat it but when I saw the sequel for $5 at Best Buy I figured I might as well pick it up. The game is drastically different than the original and not in a good way. The difficulty is wacky with some levels be super easy while others are insanely hard. The fact that there aren't many bosses is also annoying. All of the bosses seem to appear at the end, in a row.

The story is very simple. Tak has a dream and is told he needs to save the princess at the top of the tower. Why didn't I just skip it because of the plot? Granted, the story is amusing at times and I loved the Wizard of Oz scene which was too funny. However, the plot and the twists are rather lame and even though I found the game funny, it isn't nearly as amusing as the original.

The graphics in the game are decent. The character models are good enough if not a bit murky looking in color. Tak's shadow looks 8bit and is very jaggy. The levels are colorful but also bland at the same time with boring caves and what not. Not a graphically advanced game but it does work. The cut scenes do look nice though.

The sound in the game isn't too shabby. The voices are rather good, some can be annoying but it's all fun. The sound effects are good enough, nothing much is required of them but everything sounds good enough. The music is good but it's also forgettable and while it fits the game well I'd prefer something that was a bit more memorable. I wouldn't buy the soundtrack, that's for sure.

The controls in the game are very tight and responsive. Moves and stuff are easy to pull off. Jumping and morphing and all that jazz is easy. I did have trouble moving Tak and the camera at the same time. There isn't a strafe feature that I'm aware of and there was a time where the camera just wasn't following Tak the way I wanted and this was when I was controlling it with the right stick.

The game play is almost the same as the original but drastically different at the same time. The levels are now straight forward ala Ratchet and Clank but minus the option to go back. They are fairly large except the dream levels and the river levels. I found the main levels to be fun for the first half of the game. It felt like a true adventure title which is what I was expecting with this game. The final levels are all annoying fetch quests that are poorly laid out and confusing in structure. The dream levels are linear to the point of you're basically following a path and that's it. The river levels force you along and are rather hard due to curves blocking the view and running into stupid objects that bounce you around like a ball. There are also some chase levels ala original crash titles where Tak is running towards the screen. These are fun until the last one which is just annoying due to you need to clear areas of enemies.

Tak can throw a weapon or he can wack with his staff. Later in the game he gets a second weapon which is sued on like 2 levels. He also gets combo moves which are needed to defeat enemies with shields. I found the enemies to be fairly brainless. As you get further in the game you gain the ability to change into animals at totems but it drains your Juju, which is your magic. This is sort of cool until the game forces you do switch between 4 different animals on a lame course. In all seriousness the final levels in the game are a gamer's nightmare. They are poorly constructed and the final chase is a pain due to the changing of animals unexpectedly.

Hidden in the levels are scrolls. On them are combinations of items to unlock secrets. You find the stones, berries and critters laying about the levels and by the end you should have enough for all of them. This is how you unlock commercials and more mini games. There are a ton of mini games and the snowboarding one is rather good but to be honest I just didn't care for most of the mini games. I also don't play games with others all that often so I don't focus on them but for those who like adventure games and mini games; this might not be too bad of a buy for a low price.

I just find the fact that the game is so linear compared to the original to be a depressing fact. And while I do enjoy collecting items, the last levels feel tedious due to the fact they each require you to collect 20 of the same object but the levels have more than 20 and most of the time you end up collecting more than that but they don't carry over. Fans of the original will enjoy the humor but I feel the change to the gameplay is a bit much. It's a fun cheap romp but nothing else. Buy it cheap, or rent it and beat it because it took me less than 6 hours to beat it.

Story - 7/10
Graphics - 6/10
Sound - 8/10
Control - 8/10
Game play - 5/10
Replay Value - 7/10

Final Score: 5/10

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 09/23/05