Lets just get this straight now; this game looks like Limbo. It will not take you long to figure that out. I mean, look at the screenshots I’ve attached. And in trying to dissect this game, we will start with the most obvious facet when opening this game up, and that is the graphics. Although they are well executed and aesthetically pleasing for the most part, they are not original.Lets just get this straight now; this game looks like Limbo. It will not take you long to figure that out. I mean, look at the screenshots I’ve attached. And in trying to dissect this game, we will start with the most obvious facet when opening this game up, and that is the graphics. Although they are well executed and aesthetically pleasing for the most part, they are not original. In fact, it is pretty heavily influenced by Playdead games, so much so it really doesn’t deserve any credit as it is about as close as you can get to it without legal implications. Regardless, as a puzzle platformer, the game has perhaps less boxes it has got to tick to succeed. That’s not to imply platforming games are easy to create; in my opinion, the genius’ that are Playdead took more meticulous crafting and nuances to create inside than Infinity Ward/Treyarch/Sledgehammer took to create Call of Duty games. However, it is arguably the case that all that is really needed for an at least half decent puzzle platformer, if nothing else is there, are some good puzzles, and decent platforming mechanics and objectives. Unfortunately, this game hopelessly fails at both.
During the 2 hour game, you go through a series of levels, from A-B, for no apparent reason. Narrative is important to me as a gamer, and I do like linear games, but I can also appreciate and accept games with a light or ambiguous story-telling when done for effect. It is this that Toby: TSM tries to achieve, but ultimately leaves too many holes in its delivery. Limbo & Inside implement abstract and unexplained motifs very well, as do Abzu and Virginia, making you piece the parts together, or search online for theories as to what this could all mean. Even if there is literally no objective at all, that’s acceptable if there is a reason to play the game, or nothing expected for you to put into the game, but Toby:TSM does have an objective and does expect you to care about chasing down the weird person with a crown and take him out by making you make a decision, and making you proceed through thick and thin to the end without any motivation to do so whatsoever.
None of the 21 levels you traverse through have continuity or meaning. You just complete 2-3 puzzles a level, move into a black space, and come out the other side after a loading screen. You move from woodland, to interior, to snow, to more interior, to a factory setting, to a fire pit…it makes no sense, but more importantly feels like a jumbled mess that is forced to allow certain puzzles to exist. This would be forgivable if the puzzles were fun or intriguing, but trust me, you will not experience either playing this game.
These puzzles, although at least varied in type, are linear and mind-numbing. They are counter-intuitive, and solving them doesn’t seem like an award for skillful play, thinking outside the box or for mastering game mechanics, it does genuinely seem random at times. The puzzles are victim to appalling detection and physics in general; jumping on platform, for example, took different techniques each time, and purely depends on that level rather than any overarching mechanic. I’m willing to admit I’m not a pro gamer, but I’m at least a slightly above average one at puzzle platformers, and I struggled not at any puzzle, which were largely generic saws or rotating platforms, but at the awful jumping, triggering levels etc that leave no room for error. Again, this would be great if it felt fair and based on your skill, but it really doesn’t. I can complete Limbo dying under 5 times, but I can barely complete a jumping section on this without being KO’d multiple times. Additionally, there is no introduction and development of difficulty. It is just difficult – not for a scaling sense of challenge, or to overcome the game, but just to add life value to a game that is hollow to the core
Even technically the game is lagging behind its competition. I encountered 2 levels where if I died on a puzzle, it would freeze my characters and I’d have to do the whole level again. The game did also crash, albeit rarely, but the game also only took 3 hours to complete.
I am very supportive of ID@Xbox games; some of my favourite games are ID@xbox. If you’re a small team or even a one man band with a great idea, take the risk. Get something in the 70’s on metacritic, and you’ve truly succeeded given the project you’re trying to achieve. However, I have little hesitation on giving a low score to a platforming game so unoriginal, unfunctional and unfair as this one. For me, this game was a disaster, and except for an easy 1000G I wished I hadn’t played it.… Expand
Toby: The Secret MineYour Score0 out of 10User Score
