Tokobot

Over the past few years the only way Tecmo and Family Friendly Gaming were put together is if the prefix anti was applied. When a report on Tokobot on the Playstation Portable came across my desk I was more than just a little skeptical. Tecmo has a long history in the video game industry and even though their games are geared towards adults only - they are usually difficult and of high quality. Tokobot follows a young archaeologist who these little robots follow around. He is part of a team exploring ancient ruins of a culture far superior to the current one in this fantasy world. These little robots do all kinds of things for him like magnetically connecting to be a bridge for him to cross a gap, or spin around to smash an enemy to bits (editor: to name a few).

The graphics in Tokobot are passable, but honestly nothing special. The game has a lot of returning to earlier levels after specific skills are learned. This is actually pretty annoying. The little robots animate well, and the cut scenes are nicely done. There is cartoon violence as the robots are used as a weapon to take out the creatures in the different levels.

The music in Tokobot is pleasant, and I did not notice any profanities or Lord’s name being used in vain. The sounds are usually crisp and clear throughout the different levels. Some of the sounds worked well, and others did not feel in place for this kind of a game. Most of the creatures in this game do not seem to be in place either though.

Tokobot is a one time run through. Few gamers are going to be interested in replaying this game after solving it. It is short, and the difficulty is set pretty high. A gradual learning curve would make more sense to me. Only one player can play this game at a time.

Tecmo tried a lot of interesting things with Tokobot, but unfortunately not all of them control well. The control scheme also can lead to confusion. When it is in a critical part of a battle, having to look down at the controls is a bad thing. Lining up the little robots for certain jumps can be difficult due to the controls as well. Many of the puzzles were confusing, and that lead to a lack of fun for this one.

There is some talk of false gods, and the whole relying on our own machines theme in this game. Tecmo had a good idea, but could have made this more about exploration of ruins than fighting off these creatures so much. Tokobot was a chore for me to play and review. It is certainly not as bad as I had feared, and there are some good things in this game. The lessons the robots teach about servant hood is a wonderful lesson indeed.
- Paul