Review: Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker

Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker
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Cost
$39.99
Format
Retail and Digital
Size
1.9 GB
Available On
Wii U
Release Date
12/5/2014
Developer
Nintendo EAD Tokyo Group#2, 1-Up Studio
Publisher
Nintendo
Modes
Single Player

Captain Toad is a character initially introduced in Mario Galaxy for the Wii. He’s the leader of the Toad Brigade, a group dedicated to helping Mario with his epic journey by giving him stars, 1-ups, and more. He carries a backpack and a headlamp and often gets in over his head. Along with helping in the Galaxy games, Captain Toad became a playable character in Super Mario 3D World in small bonus special levels. These levels were perhaps the most innovative and fun part about the entire game, and Nintendo saw something special in Captain Toad’s side adventures. Nintendo unveiled the game, Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker for the Wii U in early 2014 and the game launched on December 5th in the same year. Treasure Tracker is a simple yet fun game that is bursting with life and charm. It’s a testament to Nintendo’s unparalleled ability of creating inventive and enjoyable games with its massive roster of characters. Nintendo needs to make more spin-offs, for more reasons than one. To allow itself to not flood the market with the same games, like the New Super Mario franchise or the Mario 3D Land/World franchise over and over. And instead make those games at a reasonable pace and appetizer the gamers with great side content like Toad’s escapades in Treasure Tracker.

Captain Toad’s movements are very constrained, especially when compared to the Mario’s acrobatics. He can move and run, he can climb ladders, and he can pluck and throw objects. On top of that there are level specific things he can do like ride a mine-cart or control a cannon. Overall the levels are designed to create fun gameplay within the games restrictions. Many games not today are all about giving the player the ability to run, jump, and shoot, any way he or she wants. Games like these are all the rage, just look at Sunset Overdrive or every online shooter as of late; everyone can run off walls and practically fly through the air. These games can be fun, but they can also lose focus. Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker is a puzzle game. The goal is very simple, get to the star. But on the way there are three jewels that can be collected and a side mission as well. The levels are almost like floating puzzle boxes in the air; you can control Toad but also can control the camera to manipulate the angle of the world. Often there are hidden items or passage ways can only be seen once the world is rotated to the perfect spot. In this way the game really feels like a treasure hunt. There are hidden items all over, and even when the jewels or final star is right out in the open, it’s a puzzle to just find out how to get there. With each level only taking a few minutes, the replayablity is great. It’s a blast to find all the jewels and reach the finish. And after you complete the level, there will be an added side mission that becomes visible. Sometimes that mission was already completed without you even noticing. These side objectives are fun and can range from finding the hidden gold mushroom, to collecting at least 75 coins, to taking down every enemy.

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Speaking of enemies, Goombas and Boos have never been more dangerous. Since we don’t play as Mario or Luigi, the challenge of the game isn’t about simply demolishing each enemy you see, it’s more about trying to avoid them while trying to figure out how to destroy them. Just like every enemy of the Mushroom kingdom, simply landing on their head is their mortal weakness. Since Toad can’t jump, this has to be done in different ways. There are times when Toad can drop down on the enemies head from a higher position. Other times Toad can plug a turnip from the ground and chuck it at them. And other times still there can be level specific things like environmentally killing them or finding a super powered pick-axe to wipe them out. Again, the formula of limited the player actually creates a dynamic where it’s more fun to kill the enemies because it takes thought process and execution.

The level diversity is very good. Some levels take place under water, where movement is slowed and fish swim about. Other levels are in jungles with more secrets than normal and giant piranha plants. There’s a level on a train in the middle of a blizzard, levels in caves on mine carts, inside haunted houses with mischievous Boos, and more. The challenge of each level is usually varied as well. One level may be very puzzle heavy, with switches and secrets that make the player think. Then the very next level may be filled with enemies and Toad needs to take them all out. There’s a level where Toad rides a raft across poisonous waters, another where platforms are invisible and can only be seen when a button is pressed. The biggest complaint with diversity is with the bosses. Sadly, the game uses the same bosses multiple times with just small variations. I personally hate this trend in gaming. There’s nothing fun about playing the same boss over and over with small changes. Unless it’s a game like Mario 64 or Mario Galaxy, where meeting and fighting Bowser three times feels like an accomplishment and an epic journey. But when the boss is just a fat bird who hordes jewelry or a giant lizard in lava that Toad fights over and over it becomes repetitive and boring.

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The visuals in the game are very pretty; of course they won’t win any graphics of the year awards but they are nice nonetheless. There’s a lot of color, brightness, and flare in every level. The characters movements and the little touches in every aspect of the game are fantastic. Nintendo knows how to make a good looking game, that’s a fact. The music is sub-par when compared to Nintendo’s standards. There are some nice little tunes, but nothing that really jumps out and sticks in your head for months the way that Nintendo music so often does.

Nintendo has done a great job with Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker. The game is pretty, replayable, and most importantly, fun. Nintendo just knows how to make fun games. Maybe they don’t have the hubge explosions or deep dramatic stories, but Nintendo games are straight up fun. The game gets a bit repetitive when it comes to the bosses, and this is no Mario Galaxy 3. But in my opinion it’s the most fun Mario game since Mario Galaxy 2. In the case of Super Mario 3D World, the game chooses to limit itself, with singular objectives and a boxed in world. It becomes the opposite of the grand beautiful ambitious efforts of the Galaxy series. And in many respects Captain Toad is the same as 3D World, with a small scale and simple mechanics. But that’s fine. We expect Mario to push the limits and be flying around and saving the world. Meanwhile Captain Toad is narrowly escaping a room with a couple Shyguys, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Nintendo please keep making spin-offs. Let Mario Galaxy be epic. Let the Zelda games blow our minds. Save the simplistic great fun for small scale games like Captain Toad or Hyrule Warriors.

PROS:
1) Fun simplistic gameplay
2) Nintendo feel

CONS:
1) Repetitive bosses

7.7
GOOD

 

Review: Funk of Titans

Funk of Titans
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Cost
$12.49
Format
Digital
Size
1.71 GB
Available On
Xbox ONE [Reviewed]
Release Date
1/9/2015
Developer
A Crowd of Monsters
Publisher
A Crowd of Monsters
Modes
Single Player

Funk of Titans tells the story of Perseus, son of Zeus, and his quest to retake the heavens in the name of Funk music. Yes, Perseus’ epic quest is to take back the heavens from the likes of Pop, Rap and Rock so that the god’s funkiness can rise again. I don’t know if this is pre- or post- Medusa as the game is pretty light on “story” but I can assure you that Perseus is up for the task. Funk of Titans is a platformer with the gameplay mechanic where your character is always being pushed forward. There is some directional play but for the most part your job is to either Jump or Swing your weapon. Everyone seems to be going hardcore with platformers today; 1001 Spikes, Volgarr, it’s nice to have a game that makes it’s mark with fun rather than frustrating memorization and twitch responses. Funk of Titans is fairly forgiving with a kind of “I know you really meant to jump 1 second later, so you made it!” feel. The question is did they dumb it down too much?

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Each level has 3 gold awards you can earn. One for taking no damage, one for getting all 100 vinyls in the level and one for getting the Pegasus Idol. Once you succeed at one it’s permanently completed so you can do these one at a time, but once you get a feel for the game getting all 3 at once will be the norm. The game does introduce a few new wrinkles in each world with updated puzzles and mechanics. The 100 vinyls is a perfect run and although a few will be found in large jars (in fact every jar has a vinyl so always destroy every single one of them) the most important thing is to always look for the vinyls to show you where to head next. If you come to a choice and one path has a lovely bouquet of roses and the other is a shear cliff covered in poison tipped spikes but the cliff has a vinyl; then just jump, that’s the correct way to go.

When you get a Pegasus Idol in a level, and complete the level, you are taken to a bonus stage for a chance to get some extra vinyls. This bonus level is the closest you will probably ever come to playing Flappy Bird on the ONE. There is only one level that you will play again and again and again but at least the order you take on obstacles is randomly generated. You are pretty much playing Flappy Bird in this bizarre combination of Ipod Nanos and food items. I am to this day baffled by the level design. I get iPods are music but am I missing some Funk connection with cupcakes and french fries? For me this was a huge letdown. This section is about the only part of the game that takes any real skill and the biggest reward is more vinyls, which you will be swimming in in no time. There is no option to skip these Pegasus levels so by world 2 I was just letting Perseus plummet to his death as fast as I could to get on with the actual game.

There are three worlds; Pop, Rap and Rock. Each of these have two boss battles. These are some of the easiest QTE (Quick Time Events) you have ever played. It’s actually one of the biggest disappointments in the game. The first in each world is a mid-boss grunt. You have three rounds of simply pressing the four buttons as they come up. Easy. The final boss of each level, a Titan, is the same exact QTE only the boss goes first and you have to beat their score. You would have to go out of your way to lose any of these battles. The Grunt battles are 100% exactly the same in each world. Same animations, everything. In fact the entire game has only 3 enemies. A guy with a pointy hat (kill), a guy with a round hat (jump on his head most of the time) and the round hat guy behind a spiked chariot (always jump). For 40+ levels. The design of the levels themselves is superb with some of the pathing and timing being a thing of beauty.

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These battles highlight one of the downfalls of the game which is the sound. They developed a game around a battle between Funk and other music genres and the background music is just generic. At the very least I was expecting a little funk vs pop/rap/rock music for the boss battles. There is always the argument that you get what you pay for on indie titles but when you base your story on music, it’s nice to have the music at least match the levels.

All those vinyls you are collecting are the game’s currency. There is a large store with different weapons and helmets covering all kinds of pop culture references from Star Wars to Friday the 13th. A nice touch is these items are used in the in-game challenges and also are required to open up magic doors protecting some of the more rare Pegasus Idols.

Funk of Titan plays very smooth and the mechanics behind the game are very solid. The problem is you are going to get distracted from this by pointless and subpar boss battles and a flappy bird clone that seemed misplaced and tacked on. I would of preferred they either had dropped the Pegasus angle all together or make the rewards for playing that level more appealing.

PROS:
1) Good classic style platformer
2) Fun, not frustrating, gameplay

CONS:
1) Sound could be A LOT better
2) Simplistic and Repetitive Boss Battles

7.0
Good