A Calm Stroll Through The Outback

Back in 2010, I was financially downtrodden. During this time, I scrounged for whatever game I could get my hands on for the few dollars I might have to my name. One of these games was Ty The Tasmanian Tiger 2: Bush Rescue and I was surprised by how competent it was. It was nothing spectacular and didn’t have any originality, but it was an enjoyable game that I could recommend to platform fans. Ty The Tasmanian Tiger 4 shares a lot with the second game in the franchise, even with the switch from 3D to 2D. Despite some floaty platforming, overly long levels and repetitive gameplay, Ty The Tasmanian Tiger 4 is a decent game that fans of the genre can get some enjoyment out of.

Not that the Ty series is known for its plot or anything, but the story is non-existent in Ty 4. Ty is a member of the Bush Rescue, an organization established to protect the citizens of the outback. Recently, there has been an influx in issues that seem to point to the return of a familiar foe. That’s pretty much it. Each area consists of tasks to help out the denizens of that area with only boss fights at the end of each act loosely tying together an overarching story. Needless to say, the story, or what little there is, isn’t very well done and is simply a means to an end for the game’s objectives, as well as to utilize the many other members of Bush Rescue.

However, the use of the many members of Bush Rescue seems superficial as there is no voice acting in the game. All of the characters’ dialogue is shown in speech bubbles and little is done to communicate each of their personalities. To that extent, animations look fine but simple and there’s no character to any of them. Honestly, the presentation in Ty 4 is very cheap looking and sounding. Music tracks are reused constantly, the compositions sound very similar to the point that I can’t tell them apart, and the mixing makes some effects sound very loud. Overall though, it’s still not a bad looking and sounding game, just repetitive. The game is bright and colorful and has a very appealing cartoon graphical style. The soundtrack, though indistinctive, fits the setting well. The presentation excels at nothing and falters in some respects but is ultimately competent.

The same can be said about the gameplay. Ty 4 is a 2D platformer, much like the GBA games in the franchise. The game is broken up into three acts, as well as a tutorial prologue level. Each act has three areas, comprised of three levels each, and every act ends with a boss fight. Within each level are secret minigames and challenges that can be attempted for leaderboards and tried later from the main menu. There is no overarching world or map to direct you to the next area. Instead, the game always goes back to the main menu after a level, where you can continue with the game.

Again, there’s a very cheap feel to the game. Each of the acts’ different levels are all the same aesthetically and some of the areas repeat other areas’ themes, making for some repetitive levels. A lot of the various enemies you encounter are recycled and some objectives in the levels are repeated as well. Finally, to make things worse, some levels take a long time to complete, sometimes clocking in at around 15 minutes. Taking all of this into consideration, Ty 4 sounds like a boring game. But that’s only partially right.

The game keeps things interesting by offering you multiple weapons and optional objectives. The level design is often solid, with numerous paths to take to diversify progression. Enemies can be dealt with using Ty’s weapon, a boomerang, but some boomerangs are more effective than others. The main source of progression in terms of upgrading yourself are the numerous boomerangs that you earn as part of the story or by buying them from the Rang Shop. Red orbs called opals are strewn across levels and are the game’s currency. These can be used to buy new boomerangs that are more powerful or quicker to throw. They can also be used to buy new costumes that make you look like other characters in the game but this is purely cosmetic. The boomerangs vary from usefulness but many do have noticeable benefits.

Each level will have an objective you need to complete before you can move on to the next level. These typically consist of collecting, defeating or activating something such as pieces of a fence, a certain enemy type, or generators. In addition to these main objectives, there are side objectives, koalas to rescue, and fruit to collect. None of these offer much besides going towards 100% completion but many of these optional objectives have you doing some challenging platforming, which is enjoyable. The only caveat to this is that the platforming in the game can feel off at times. Ty sometimes slides off edges of platforms and jumping can feel imprecise at times. However, it’s rare that the game presents you with a challenge that is at odds with the game’s mechanics. Finally, boss fights are unfortunately pretty lame. All of them fall to the three hit rule and are incredibly easy.

The Verdict: 6.5 out of 10.0

This game is really just a competent platformer with nothing spectacular or original about it. It’s repetitive and is presentationally underwhelming but it also gives you a good amount to do and can be quite enjoyable in spurts. Clocking in at around five hours, it doesn’t overstay its welcome and its cheap price of $5.99 is just right for what you’re getting. In short, you could do a lot worse than Ty 4.

For more information about what the score means, check out our official review scale.

Esteban Cuevas is an Associate Editor for MONG and would actually be okay with a Ty the Tasmanian Tiger HD collection. You can follow him on Twitter, YouTube, and WordPress.