Tak and the Power of Juju
Score: 89% ESRB: Everyone Publisher: THQ Developer: THQ Media: DVD/1 Players: 1 Genre: Platformer
Graphics & Sound: The platform genre has been around almost as long as video games themselves, and until recently they were arguably the most common genre of game you could find. While the number of platforming games has begun to wane in recent years, it continues to evolve and grow with titles such as Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy and Rachet and Clank. One of the newest platformers for the PS2 is THQ's Tak and the Power of Juju. While it isn't quite up to par with the big sellers, it's still a darn fun little game in its own right. The visuals in Tak are wonderful. The FMV cut-scenes alone rival just about anything else out there for the PS2, except maybe for the Final Fantasy series. Of course the quality of the FMVs only means so much. The quality of the rendered graphics is far more important. The simplest way to describe the graphical quality of Tak would be to say that it's on the same level as, let's say, Jak II but without the same level of polish. The animation is seldom jerky and feels just as fluid and smooth as any other platformer out there. The only big problem with the graphics is a lack of diversity. While many of the areas have a diverse look and feel, such as the snow/sand boarding areas and 'chicken island', the jungle motif is present in too many areas and can cause the game to become a little tiresome prematurely. The jungle isn't exactly a quiet place and neither are the areas in Tak and the Power of Juju. Between magic spells, monkeys and giant orangutans, there's plenty of variety in the sound effects. The music is pretty much typical platforming fare, except with more emphasis on rhythm and beat, likely because of the jungle theme. Another thing definitely worth mentioning is the voice acting, which is top notch.
Gameplay: Tak and the Power of Juju takes the usual aspect of item collection found in most platformers and has some fun with it. Rather than collect the same item(s) the entire game, you will go after different types of items, for various reasons, as the story progresses. Since you also have around 20 different juju powers you can find, most of these collectables will serve some practical use other than just accessing a new area or paying off a character with such-and-such number of items. There is one type of item you'll be collecting through the entire game, feathers. Feathers are used to cast certain types of juju magic. The single biggest issue with Tak and the Power of Juju is probably Tak's movement. It just feels weird. The movement is not at all tight; loose is the word of the day here. Although you do eventually get used to it, to a degree, the movement always feels slightly awkward. Tak has to be one of the funniest platformers I've ever played. The story FMVs alone are very amusing, if not a little predictable. It seems an evil shaman named Tlaloc has turned all of the Pupanunu people into sheep. The Pupanunu shaman Jibolba prevented a few villagers from being changed, including Tak. Now you must try to collect ingredients to help Jibolba turn the local Pupanunu hero, Lok, back into a human so he can defeat Tlaloc.
Difficulty: Tak and the Power of Juju really focuses a lot more on exploring the frequently labyrinthine areas in and around the jungle more than it does fighting. That's not to say there isn't some combat. You will be constantly dealing with different variations of little critters called nerbils the entire game as well as Tlaloc's henchmen, Pins and Needles. However the real challenge is in finding the more elusive items and juju powers. Frequently you'll find something easily enough, but finding the way up to the item to actually retrieve it will be another matter entirely. You'll even explore some of the more interesting areas. A really interesting diversion from the normal gameplay is the sand and snowboarding areas. You perform tricks to earn power boosts while you explore, yes explore, the various caves and ruins while you slide down on your board.
Game Mechanics: The game isn't without it quirks. Fighting with some of the shorter weapons is a little too difficult. No matter how hard you try you always end up getting hurt at least half the time when you try to smack an enemy with them. Another is the fact that the game doesn't automatically save. This wouldn't be a huge deal, but almost all platformers autosave these days. People frequently don't manually save in these games anymore, so some people are going to forget to save and just turn off the system. Ouch. Also, the actual saving itself seems to take an awfully long time. While it doesn't quite match up to the big boys of platforming, Tak and the Power of Juju should at least be considered their little brother and some fans will probably like it more than the disappointing Jak II. It is a great platformer that's a little rough around the edges.
-Alucard, GameVortex Communications AKA Stephen Triche
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