GENRE
	Platformer
	DEVELOPER
	Electronic Arts
	PUBLISHER
	Krome Studios
	NUMBER OF PLAYERS
	1
	CONNECTIVITY
	No
	BUY NOW AT

I'm a bit of a platformer junkie.

For the longest time, I liked to fool myself and say that my favorite game genre was RPG. That, you see, was the thinking man's genre, a place where dignified gentlemen in tweed coats eagerly debated the merits of Zelda versus Dragon Warrior in between rousing sessions of Final Fantasy. RPGs required discipline, intelligence, savvy and concentration. Being an RPG lover fit the image of the person I liked to think I was.

Sadly, I'm none of those things. I lack discipline, am not that bright, and cannot focus for more than about a half-hour at a stretch. Hence the platformer junkieness. I'm at a stage in my life where I like mindless games I can hop through using only my instincts and button-mashing abilities. I enjoy the state of disconnected bliss I enter when I'm immersed in a solid platformer -- jump here, swing there, shoot him, save her. These days, such enterprises are far more likely to keep me up late than the effort involved in trying to make it through just... one... more... dungeon...

As a platformer junkie, I enjoyed Ty the Tasmanian Tiger 2: Bush Rescue. I had a good time. I'm not sure how I feel about recommending it to the non-junkie, however. It's a little like good heroin: Smack addicts love the horse, but they don't necessarily walk down the street suggesting every good person give themselves a shot of junk.

visuals

Pleasant, bright, fun. I like the way Ty moves; he's got a nice fluidity and expressive motions. I appreciated some of the faux 3D backgrounds in the levels, with two or three layers of 2D graphics moving independently of one another. The character design for the good guys is pretty clever, but the baddies suffer somewhat. The generic low-end enemies, or Frills, are just sorta messy green blobs. Level design is consistently strong, although not overwhelmingly tough; I was through 60% of the game before I hit a level that I couldn't beat on the first or second try. But there are plenty of cool sections, where you need to do such classic platforming maneuvers as jumping down a hole, swimming through a pond, then emerging on the other side to achieve some goal. Solid stuff.

audio

Appreciation of the diggereedoo is a requirement to enjoying Ty 2's musical score, as it's lathered with plenty of the indigenous Australian instrument. The musical selections are pleasant enough and satisfactorily addicting. I can't lie; they've ran rampant through my brain on more than one occasion when far away from my GBA. In keeping with standard GBA practice, there's no real voice work to speak of, although Ty does have one or two trademark noises he makes as you manipulate him through the levels. I yearned for something more distinct, but maybe that's just me; I'm the kind of guy who's been known to shout Klonoa's trademark "Waa-HEY!" at random moments just for kicks.

gameplay

Your controls are pretty simple: A to jump, B to toss your boomerang, and the L shoulder button to switch between your arsenal of 'rangs. Pressing A a second time after a jump allows Ty to hover slowly to the ground, a maneuver that makes tricky sections of the game a lot less challenging. I've always felt the hover option in a platformer can make things so much easier that the levels need to overcompensate to make up for it, but I'm sure the goal of the Ty 2 creative team wasn't to create a jaw-droppingly difficult game in the first place.

Bush Rescue HQ is your base of operations, and you move from there in your jeep across an overworld map that takes you to from level to level. You don't have complete control over your gameplay destiny, as you need to defeat certain levels to open up the next set, but there's always at least two levels to choose from, and sometimes upwards of four. The game has a main storyline involving the diabolical Boss Cass and his plans to transform mammals into evil lizards, butmany of the missions play out like filler, which is kinda discouraging. It's hard to stay engaged in a story when you're being asked to put zinc on koala kids, or to corral crocs into a pen. But again, I'm sure the Ty 2 team wasn't looking to break any storytelling barriers with their latest GBA platformer.

As you play the game, you collect opals which are used to purchase new 'rangs and bunyips, which in the game are licenses to operate large robotic machines, but in the outback are imaginary monsters inhabiting swamps and lagoons. There's a neat variety of 'rangs and it's fun to switch between them as the game goes on, but it's a little too easy to acquire them at first, meaning you'll easily score enough opals just by playing the game well to buy any boomerang you desire. It's not until you've defeated several levels that you'll actually start having to save opals to buy specific 'rangs or bunyips.

The only real gameplay variety from the straight-up platforming are the bunyips, which allow you to throw giant rocks and jump around and put out fires; and the driving sections, where you may encounter enemies on the road as you race from level to level. This could have been a fun added feature, but instead it's pure monotony, with basically the same road layout each time and five baddies on motorcycles to run off the road. You'll quickly find yourself either avoiding these encounters at all costs due to sheer boredom, or toughing them out just to earn a quick 100 opals toward the next 'rang or bunyip.

multiplayer

N/A

overall

Platform junkies looking for a quick, fun fix might want to check out Ty 2. It's an excellent game for kids, with just enough challenge and depth to give them a truly fulfilling experience. Joe Q. Gamer may want to think twice before picking it up, and instead consider sticking to their own personal gaming heroin.

7.0/10