Tak 2: The Staff of Dreams

Added November 10th, 2004 by Dakota Grabowski

Introduction:

Tak and the Power of Juju gave everyone another reason to celebrate. It gave the platforming genre a fresh look into something that could actually be worthy of our precious money we put into the game. With many lackluster platformers all ready overloading the Xbox this very moment; Tak was surely accepted by the Xbox community to fulfill their needs of a decent platformer. When compared to what was currently saturating the small platform market on the Xbox, Tak delivered on all accounts of exceeding people’s opinion on how to have fun with an adventure game. While Voodoo Vince didn’t have enough charm and Blinx didn’t give players the Mario mascot they wanted, Tak snuck in and delighted fans that were disappointed with the rest. With Tak receiving a sequel, would he have enough steam and freshness to keep people interested in the title? In several ways, Tak achieves enough success that it should warrant a third title.

Tak 2: The Staff of Dreams catches back up with the main character Tak of course, and this time he must follow a vision that came to him through his dream. The vision, as wild as it may seem to come out of nowhere, is that he must save a princess of course. What’s that you ask? Is saving a princess something new and original? Nope, don’t bet your bottom dollar because Mario is always saving a princess in one of his escapades. What Tak 2 does provide that outshines the others is that it has humor that may actually make you laugh on occasion. So while the game may not have one of the best storylines and it may not be original, it certainly does attempt to entertain you for the entire journey through the game.

Gameplay:

Tak 2 isn’t really innovative with the gameplay but it takes a little of everything from other platformers and makes it all mesh well together. Take a little of Banjo-Kazooie’s item collecting, sprinkle on Mario’s double jumping, and put in a smidgen of Conker’s humor, you’ll have Tak 2: The Staff of Dreams. It may not be as good as any of those three adventure games but it does enough with the original game to grant itself a sequel.

There are several collectable items scattered in the levels, so you’ll have to keep your eye out for them while wandering around. You can collect some fruit if you aren’t a meat lover and find various types that may or may not interest you. If you are meat lover, there are tiny creatures to pick up so they made sure they had both scenarios covered. With all metaphors set aside, there are stones, scrolls and other items to hunt for throughout the levels too. The use for item collecting is to unlock all the bonus material such as the minigames, alternate costumes and sound effects. Remember, this is all optional and doesn’t weigh down the game whatsoever.

Whoever missed out on the original Tak, the usual double jumps are included with the game. Over the course of the game, you’ll be earning new moves for Tak and making him an almighty Juju user. Yes the Juju isn’t lost and is only improved on. One new Juju power included is the ability to change into creatures and gather the power of the Spirit Animal. Some forms include a boar, a frog, a squirrel, a bear, and other woodland creatures. Tak though still suffers from easy enemies that can be taken care of quite easily. If they were to improve the difficulty of the enemies, then we might be talking about a diamond in the rough. Another attribute that may make the enemies easier then they should be, would be the weapons that can be considered to be overpowered in some situations. The Dream Shaker is appropriately the main weapon that you’ll grow to love as it can vanquish enemies instantly depending on how hard they may be. The Dream Shaker, as if it wasn’t powerful enough, can also be used to close dream rifts for Tak.

For those who love puzzles and struggling to figure how to solve them, Tak 2 might not be the game for you right out of the gate. The puzzles are varied and often may have you lost but it’s the fact that you may be lost on what to do after you finish them, not what you have to do to finish them. The game for the most part, concentrates on the platforming and jumping rather then making you use your brain for mind boggling puzzles.

Graphics:

Taking the visuals from the original and improving them only helped out the sequel as the first game had impressive graphics itself. The characters are quite elaborate and colorful. They have spunk and their designs are still appreciated, so nothing could go wrong with the graphics right? Well actually, it wouldn’t have hurt the sequel to have better environments then the first. Tak 2 does have its fair share of original environments but for the most part, they include a lot of typical levels that were expected to be seen throughout the game. The usual snow and desert levels are all here, plus you can expect the other themed levels to be included like the basic jungle levels.
Tak 2 may have something going for it though and it’s the stargazing filled effects. In one scenario, dream world has its swirling effect on the edge of the screen that makes it feel authentic to more of a dream world representation. What also may be considered a plus is that the Xbox version doesn’t have framerate problems located within the PS2 and GC versions.

Audio:

With THQ having its connections to Nickelodeon, it’s expected that Tak 2 be represented by some quality voice actors and witty dialogue. Tak 2 does just that as THQ and Avalanche hired some vocal talent to help round out the all ready returning cast from the previous Tak game. It seems that the actors have now become adjusted to the roles as they fit a lot better this time around and seem to exemplify the characters quite well. I guess you could say it doesn’t seem as forced as it once was. The music still isn’t outstanding and could possibly be the only let down of the game. I wasn’t impressed as it doesn’t sound like they improved upon the original at all. It’s still too quiet and doesn’t help with any foreshadowing through the game. Only in a few occasions does the music ever help out the game in a manner that progresses the story.

Controls:

The predecessor controlled extraordinary well so it came to a surprise that they even added in enhanced controls to improve the game. What may have been smooth and great is now polished and almost perfect. If there is one aspect of the game that has been improved the most, I could almost consider the controls of Tak 2 to be more fined tuned then the first.

Left Thumbstick: Move Tak
Right Thumbstick: Control Camera
A Button: Jump
Y Button: Throw
B Button: Use Item
X Button: Use Weapons
Right Trigger: Toggle Weapons
Left Trigger: Use Juju
White button: Ready Jibolba Flea

Replay:

While the game may be linear and easily beaten in twelve hours, Avalanche throws in new mini-games to side track you from the game and keep you interested. The best mini-game of course is the often praised snowboarding game that is elementary when compared to the likes of SSX and Amped but we shouldn’t compare it to those titles as Tak 2 is a platformer. The snowboarding is enjoyable and worth the time you put into it. With the game being comparatively easy, you might not be playing this shortly after you beat it besides the few mini-games included.

One thing that Tak 2 could have benefited from would have been some type of use of the Xbox Live service. I stress this out a lot but Xbox Live is what a lot of gamers look for when buying a game. With the Xbox having over a million users, Tak 2 could have capitalized on that and could have taken the mini-games online to play against competitors while also being able to download content and be user aware. There’s always a next time if they decide to make another Tak game before the end of this current generation.

Summary:

Tak 2: The Staff of Dreams is overall a very simple game. You’ll find yourself knowing ahead of time what to do before you try to complete the puzzle that lies ahead of you. This doesn’t hurt the game necessarily as it’s tendered towards the younger audience and the developer’s knew that. If there was to be a third game in the series, I definitely look forward to the next offering of Avalanche Software may have to offer with the Tak license. Also for those who love comic strips, look forward to Tak being featured in the December issue of the Nickelodeon magazine.