Slaying pigs has never been this fun. Or pink.

by Joanna, the nostalgiafag

Imagine yourself strolling in a pleasant looking area – out in the fresh air, surrounded by fresh, green grass and pretty trees. 

 

Suddenly, you notice this magnificent, stunning, adult, brown hog. You simply must have it. So you chase the hog around the pleasant looking area and enjoy a delicious dinner a few moments later. However, the dinner is interrupted by strange noises. 

Turns out some pigs, very pink pigs, are robbing an innocent man. Being the hero that you are, you run to his rescue. You are very brave and eager to fight. Still, you end up unconscious. You wake up to find that your beloved bracelet given to you by your grandpa has been stolen by the pigs. Now, you are angry. Those pigs are going to get some. And so, the pursue begins.

Tomba! also known as Tombi! (PAL) is a game developed by Whoopee Camp released in 1997 (Japan) for the Sony Playstation. It is a 2D adventure game with some RPG ele- ments. And it is definitely worth your attention.

 The action takes place in an unidentified world, on a group of islands. Turns out, a group of Evil Pigs has been stealing gold from people and casting evil spells all around the area. Previously unaware of all this, now you’re getting yourself right in the middle of this mess. The bracelet you’re after is with the master of the Evil Pigs. In order to get to it, you have to defeat all of the Evil Pigs. 

So you wander through the is- lands, meet characters, gather items, get new weapons and skills and, most impor- tantly, kick some pig ass. Every area has an evil spell casted on it and an Evil Pig behind it. For every Evil Pig, there is an Evil Pig Bag. You have to find those, defeat the Evil Pigs and therefore get rid of the evil spells

The essence of Tomba! lies in its gameplay which is based on a mission or, as it is called in the game, event system. As you go through the game, you discover different events and clear them. There are 133 events in total but not all of them are essential for completing the game. Don’t worry about keeping track. The game provides you with a nice interface where you can check which events have you discovered and which have you cleared. Every event is worth a number AP points. AP points expand your health bar and also al- low you to learn magic later on in the game.

You will also be spending quite a bit of time in the inventory as there’s a lot of stuff to be collected. Basically, the whole game is about collecting, delivering and using stuff, which is not that bad. You just have to be prepared for quite a number of travels.

You can move, run, jump and attack ene- mies with your melee weapon(s). Your motor skills get improved when you progress in the game. For example, you can get an umbrel- la which allows you to float in the air for a bit, or you can get different shorts of short which improve your running speed or jump height.

The gameplay is pretty fluid and not too demanding. The fighting system is very simple – you can either use your weapons or jump on pigs to smash them against something (can give you much satisfaction). The most im- portant skill is actually precision. 

Often in the game, you get a feeling of running through the areas to get to somewhere/do something faster and the animal dash allows you to do it. However, you can often miss jumps, fall off platforms and run into enemies so better be careful. You also have to do a lot of talking. It’s best if you talk to every character in the game. Most of them unlock different events but also give you hints about various things in the game or help you complete missions..

The graphics in Tomba! are nice, flat and very colorful. There were better graphics done in those years but the visuals in Tomba! fit the game perfectly, the characters are animated nicely and, basically, there’s no need for more.

Same for the music – it’s nice, cheerful, more serious when needed and very fitting. The sound effects are also nicely done, especially the ones the pigs make - very enjoy- able. There is no voice acting though. 

Instead there are speech bubbles and some unidentified high pitch sounds which re- place talking. Tomba himself doesn’t say a word, yet still he’s able to communicate. I’ve always wondered if it was (not) done delib- erately or the developers were just lazy or lacking ideas on what Tomba should say.

 Tomba! is not an extraordinary game. It’s not groundbreaking in any way. Still, it is a solid and very playful adventure which you will en- joy even as a grownup. It’s one of those games where you don’t expect and think about blowing away graphics or huge, explorative worlds. 

It’s a game that you plainly enjoy in its simplicity. It’s also one of those games that make you want to play it again over the years. 

To put very simple: oldie but goodie.

Score:
Gameplay: 8/10 

Graphics: 7/10 

Sound: 7/10
Long test-run: 8/10

Final score: 7,5/10