Tokobot

But if you're looking for a somewhat new angle on the old platforming formula with a little taste of Pikmin thrown in, then Tokobot is worth checking out.

Tecmo produces a light-hearted and quirky action platformer that charms us with its simple but highly strategic combat and adorable characters.

It's a great concept, but the simplistic physics and repetitive puzzles let it down somewhat. You can never really put together any flowing moves, and the game runs out of surprises far too quickly.

Sadly what we get is some very cluttered gameplay, a nonsensical story even by Japanese standards, and not much in the way of challenge beyond that which arises from the fiddly method of controlling the tokobots during combat.

The graphics are pretty, the visual design is solid and the music is excellent. But the gameplay would have been unacceptable five years ago on PlayStation; portability doesn't make its shortcomings any more tolerable today.

Totally middle-of-the-road. A nice idea that's a bit overdone, and never really takes off the way it should.

It's good to see developers trying something new but this is more of a solid template for a sequel than a top game in it's own right. [Mar 2006, p.84]

Here's hoping they'll do better with the sequel, if there is one, and produce a game with real charm, inventive level designs and plenty of fast-paced action - the game Tokobot should have been, in other words.

If they had fixed the controls and camera I would of given it a [70], if they had extended the game and not forced me to visit the same old levels I would of given it an [80]

The problem is, the control is so sluggish that combat is a chore while exploring is a bore. [Feb 2006, p.110]

Divested of any real spark, Tokobot runs out of steam quickly, mires itself in mediocrity, and never manages to rise above it.

In practice, Tokobot offers so little to challenge either the reflexes or the mind that it boils down to one long, plodding, gentle ushering from one side of a large, mostly vacant level to the other, with nothing to reward self-determined exploration and an identical series of Pavlovian cues to let the player know that it’s time to switch to the next formation. [Feb 2006, p.89]

The jointed Tokobot moves work well, and the opening sections are good fun, but the ideas soon run out, leaving a game that isn't brilliant as an all out action platformer, nor a puzzle-based adventure.