Game Review: Tomba!/Ore!Tomba

Remember when I first talked about the underappreciate gem that was Oni for PS2? Well there was actually one diamond for the original Playstation that I ended up getting my hands on.

Yes. I'm talking about...Tomba! (With and exclimation point. See, Deadpool? Make it Big wasn't the only thing that earned it :3) This is a game that is so rare, its very hard to get a physical copy of it. I can't even find one in stores, let alone a picture of one in a store. So..what do you do when you can't find it in a game store? Go to ebay. It took me years of waiting and so much savings. And I dunno if I should consider myself lucky or not but...I got it. Yes, I actually got the game



This game was made by Whoopee Camp. Whoopee was most famous for...Tomba, their only creation. It was met with positive reviews and even earned a sequel. Yet soon after, the company went out of business and now these games are considered collectors items. You could still play it on the Playstation Network if you had the money for it. But anyone like me would tell you the only way to play Playstation games is with a hardcopy and on an old grey console from yester year



So let's talk about the game itself. Its a side scrolling 2D platformer with 3D visuals. It has a special mechanic where you can actually "background and foreground" jump at certain areas. There are moments where you can full motion anime cutscenes where you get a bit of a cartoon of it. As for Tomba himself, he's just freaking cute. How? Well just look at him. All wild pink hair and green shorts. He was beating down on pigs way before Angry Birds did. One other thing this game has is some RPG elements; you complete certain tasks and beat on certain badguys, you get AP points, like you'd get experience points. You talk to some people, read a few things to get missions and clues.

This is where I should mention about the whole objective of the game. When you get into it, its a huge compile of missions that require you to do certain tasks, find certain items, have a certain skill set, and there are some you can't even progress to without doing some missions or getting some sort of item needed for it. There's a lot of back tracking involved, and it emphasizes on exploration and trial and error. Some of the levels are difficult and it can be frustrating when you don't know where to go and end up dying a lot. But its annoying enough where you want to go back to it and you feel a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment when you get through some. Almost like Dark Souls.

Overall, this game is a must have for any RPG fan, side scroller fan, anime fan, retro gaming fan, or just anyone who wants to play a game that has a great visual to them and give them a challenge in game play. Its a shame that we'll never get a remake or remastered version of this game or its sequel, cause this really is something that could have given Crash, Spyro, Sonic, and Megaman a run for their money.

I usually don't give scores this high but, from what I've played and from what I've seen so far, Tomba! for the Playstation deserves a solid 10/10