Review of Toki Tori – An Old Friend Brings Fun to Windows

One of the best games on the Game Boy Color was Toki Tori and now you can play it on your Windows PC. This is a new and improved version of the game which pays respect to past while bringing it up to date with HD graphics and a 5.1 surround soundtrack.   It also has additional levels not found in the Wii version. In short, you’re not just re-buying the same game without updated graphics and sound on a different platform.

The game is genius in its simple and straight forward goals and plot.   Toki Tori puts you in control of a yellow egg-shaped chicken on a quest to find his still in the shell siblings.   The movements are simple keeping to its roots as a platform game – left, right, up and down. You can control your chicken with the mouse, or the keyboard.   Toki Tori also supports joypads such as the Xbox 360 controller, if you have the hardware.   The Xbox 360 controller is our favorite way to play since it makes the control so easy.

You have 80 plus levels over 4 worlds where you must pick up each egg in that level using a set number of tools.   But is not just a simple case of avoid the monsters and collect the eggs.   You must plan your paths carefully since it is a puzzle game at its core.   As you move up the levels, you gain an array of tools to help solve that level. Some of those tools include Bridges, Telewarp, Freeze-o-Matic and InstantRock.   At times you may only get a limited number of some of those tools, so use them wisely.

For kids, or less experienced gamers, there are easy levels but those still make the player learn how to manage the spacial elements of the level with tools they have at hand to achieve success.   On the harder levels the puzzles quickly evolve into “what to do moments” to get those siblings. This what makes Toki Tori such a great causal game, you have great feeling of success when you finally beat that “it just can’t be done” level.   Plus for some of those moments of great accomplishment, you get Steam Achievements!

The Verdict

The bright cheery music is well suited to the game, as are the sound effects.     All four worlds and their levels are great eye candy which just make you want to play and watch the game.

The only con I had with the game came during install.   Make sure you have the latest video drivers for your graphics card before you install the game.   On my out of the box Windows 7 x64 bit machine with an ATI Radeon 4850 video card, the install would silently fail.   Once I went to ATI and got the latest drivers, the Steam install worked without a hitch.

It is a great game at a great price point which the whole family can play.   It has more fun and fewer calories that one of those fancy coffee drinks that Seattle is famous for, at about the same price.   Just buy it, you will be happy you did.

Rating: 4.5 of 5 Stars

System Requirements

You get Toki Tori through Valve’s Steam service for $4.99.   But early buyers of the game will receive a special introduction discount of 25% – AKA $3.75.   Please note that this is for a limited time only.