Game Info
To-Fu Collection
DS | Rising Star Games / HotGen | 1 Player | Out Now
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Review
20th August 2012; By KnucklesSonic8
Taking a lesson from countless other ninja apprentices that have come before it, To-Fu is not one to be held down by imposed limits such as gravity or even body type. Though he may be small in stature, his somewhat unique slime-like properties allow the player to freely extend To-Fu's body to more than double its original height as a means of launching him forward. Clinging to walls with ease, each action you make using your stylus (referred to as a "ping" in the game's glossary of terms) will subtract a point from the move counter shown on the top screen. Your goal is to use as few moves as possible to get to the end of each stage, while also ensuring to collect blue energy balls of Chi along the way. Evidently, the game pushes players into reading To-Fu's flexible nature as a freeing process, as there is no enforcement on the rules just described. If you make it to the pink, heart-shaped Fortune Kitty at the end of a level without collecting very many Chi and/or taking far too many turns, no one is going to penalize you for it. One could argue that this helps make for a user-friendly experience, but whether you feel this looseness is ultimately to the game's detriment or not will become clear as you move forward in your journey.
As a Chi Master in training, To-Fu is not one to be content with repetitious and unsatisfying challenges, and so the game provides a fairly varied grab bag of obstacles to keep both of you interested in what's going on. To offer a preview of what's in store: You'll find portals that retain your angle of trajectory as you pass through them, glass surfaces that gradually cause To-Fu to slide downwards, as well as giant saws and lasers. By dragging and holding To-Fu in place for a while, you can also charge up a Super Ping, useful for breaking through additional obstacles you come across. Interaction is kept to an inanimate level with no enemies to be seen or dealt with and the available platforming being quite simplistic in design. The game doesn't try to be something that it's not, but in so doing it hardly feels like an achievement on any level. Of course you start to appreciate the gradual introduction of new elements, but in what can be seen as a reflection of To-Fu's behaviours, the lightweight nature of how this all comes out isn't at all impressive, nor is it all that engaging.
It's interesting, though. Using the same aspects described above, the game tries to make a case for players to have a desire to see To-Fu achieve his long-term goals. And in using recognizable terms of organization, the inclusion of new booby traps and whatnot is done on a more categorical level than a progressive one, feeding the inner brackets of its system without actually learning from it. What all this means for the experience is that in the case of both games, it's very difficult for To-Fu Collection to see itself to a deeper progression whereby the varied challenges aren't simply part of a cycle but are actually enhancing the gameplay on the whole. So instead of your continued completion of levels bringing about genuine feelings of satisfaction, it's almost as if these executions are done out of slight desperation since there's no actual growth taking place.
Yes, at the end of the day, To-Fu Collection is but a simplistic game with fairly simplistic design, but that's not a legitimate reason for its becoming stale as you go along. With these feelings becoming especially apparent by the halfway point, there's a lack of conviction on the game's part that really makes the absent grip an understandable, correlated flaw. The best moments in the game come from beating a level with moves leftover, which admittedly doesn't happen often, but when it does, there's more accomplishment to be felt in these instances than the entire run of levels you complete beforehand. I think that says something about the game's replay value in a certain respect. Since you have two goals (three if you count achievements) to work towards, it's not all a cut and dry affair. Still, I do wonder for how long players will find amusement from doing so when the game itself is only, at best, mildly so. Whether you choose to see the first game to completion before tackling the second or bounce back and forth between them periodically, you'll come to observe that To-Fu 2 adds without actually adding to the system. Both games also include a sandbox-style bonus mode where you can fool around in a boxed-in area, but these serve no real purpose. Still, with over 200 levels, there's plenty of content if you can withstand the underwhelming progression.
To-Fu isn't exactly what I'd call a charming character, nor is that a comment one could make about the game's environment. With the use of Japanese-style windows and flooring, as well as the occasional lighting changes that occur as you pass by certain areas, there's a traditional atmosphere that works decently though it doesn't help the game stand apart. With the first game in the collection, you'll also notice that there are no sound effects during gameplay. It is only in the second title that these are added, which does make a difference, but you still can't shake the feeling that there's something else missing in the way of charm and prestige.
To-Fu Collection does a good job of making players feel comfortable in its decision not to be so principled and restrictive. But in the interim, it's as if the game's execution becomes more and more synonymous with that of a wet fish handshake. Its approach is conventional and the synchronous treatments seen here certainly have merit, just not to the same far-reaching extent suggested by the surrounding behaviours. Lacking elasticity, solid progression and a meaningful function, this is a game most can do without.
To-Fu isn't exactly what I'd call a charming character, nor is that a comment one could make about the game's environment. With the use of Japanese-style windows and flooring, as well as the occasional lighting changes that occur as you pass by certain areas, there's a traditional atmosphere that works decently though it doesn't help the game stand apart. With the first game in the collection, you'll also notice that there are no sound effects during gameplay. It is only in the second title that these are added, which does make a difference, but you still can't shake the feeling that there's something else missing in the way of charm and prestige.
To-Fu Collection does a good job of making players feel comfortable in its decision not to be so principled and restrictive. But in the interim, it's as if the game's execution becomes more and more synonymous with that of a wet fish handshake. Its approach is conventional and the synchronous treatments seen here certainly have merit, just not to the same far-reaching extent suggested by the surrounding behaviours. Lacking elasticity, solid progression and a meaningful function, this is a game most can do without.
18/30 - Okay/Average
Gameplay 6/10 - Features a simplistic and loose structure, new elements predictably introduced on a gradual basis, lacks meaningful progression
Presentation 6/10 - Familiar atmosphere, repetitive music, sound effects not always present, doesn't have the level of charm you'd hope for
Enjoyment 2/5 - Not very engaging or gripping, becomes stale and underwhelming even with changing obstacles and levels
Extra Content 4/5 - Plenty of levels to clear, achievements, replay value exists through the presence of multiple goals, bonus modes are pointless
Equivalent to a score of 60% (percentage score is approximate and based solely on the previously stated rating) - Our Rating System
