Tak: The Great Juju Challenge

It’s time once again for the Great Juju Challenge, an athletic event that is held every 60 years in honor of the Moon Juju goddess. This time around, Team Pupanunu consists of two tribe members, Tak and Lok. It’s up to them to beat out all the other teams, and uphold the Pupanunu tribe’s honor.

The game begins with the shaman exhorting Tak and Lok to win, win, win! They have to compete against several other teams from around the world, but they won’t actually be playing against the other teams, as that’s just the official storyline to set the plot. Tak and Lok are a team, and as such, will be playing tag-team throughout the game. Most of the game is straightforward platforming action, with Tak and Lok jumping from platform to platform, collecting health points and increasing their juju powers. At the end of each world, there is a boss battle and a race. There is also a mini-games section which can be accessed after the first world race is won.

Tak and Lok’s moves are basic jumping and attack modes, but when Lok is in the lead, there are special moves he can also make, like a flying jump, a super butt-stomp and a protective umbrella that he can activate when carrying Tak on his back. The flying jump is especially handy for getting past hazards and for jumping across high jumps. It takes a bit of practice to get this move down pat, though. However, once it’s learned, it’s a really cool move. Other cool actions involve using other animals as trampolines, that’s pretty funny. Players will probably opt to play as Lok for most of the game, as Tak is really only good for shooting at enemies across distances.

The control buttons are assigned logically, and the combos are easy to implement during the game. The game has three levels of difficulty, but the easy level is far too difficult. The main problem comes from the distance between checkpoints, which are often not placed very well. Instead of being able to save past a particularly difficult sequence, players will often have to forge ahead with no save point for a little longer, and hope for the best. This is problematic, as getting past a hard part usually means that the character’s health is low, and he’s more vulnerable to expiring.

The platforming aspect of the game is a hoot with a great emphasis on situational puzzles, but is a bit too difficult in places in the easy level. Easy is supposed to mean easy, but there isn’t anything easy about carrying an egg past a homicidal chicken, with no means to protect your character while he’s carrying the egg. Try to throw the egg to a further point, and most times it will travel too far and fall off the ledge. Try jumping with it, and many times your character drops it. When the egg is finally safely delivered, guess what, there’s no checkpoint! If your character is unfortunate enough to expire during the level after the egg episode, it’s back to the beginning and players will have to deal with the egg and crazy chickens all over again.

Many times there are situational puzzles that have to be solved before Tak and Lok can move ahead. Most of the time this involves moving objects from one place to another past obstacles, which may be hazards like rabid animals, or manipulative puzzles that require finding some type of device and activating it to remove a wall of blocks. These puzzles are fun and challenging.

The races are the worst part of the game, and are a pain to play. For some reason, WayForward decided to design the races in a side-scrolling manner, where the racers travel around a circular track from one side of the screen to the other, instead of having a “behind the racers” viewpoint, where the racers move into the screen, so-to-speak. This makes for extreme difficulty in controlling the car around the track, and often it will just spin around in place when players are mashing the directional pad. This is about as non-intuitive as you can get. And furthermore, players have to win in order to advance to the next world! Not place second, nope, you gotta win.

Once the first race is won, the second world and the mini-games section opens up. There are several mini-games offered, but guess what, they’re not really mini-games. Instead, they’re small vignettes of previous platform action with timers. Not much fun. Players will probably opt to skip them altogether and move on to the next world, which is much more fun and has new power-ups for Tak and Lok to try out.

The worlds are colorful and varied, with good detail. Tak and Lok are cute, and are animated smoothly. Graphically, everything compares well with other GBA games. The sound is pretty average, and isn’t annoying or intrusive.

Considered as a whole, this is a slightly above average platform game that offers a decent amount of challenge in the form of puzzles, good platform action and several hours of game-play. Some aspects are less pleasing, namely the mini-games and races. The mini-games can be ignored, but the races have to be dealt with after each world, and can be a stopping point for younger players. This game is best for older kids and adults.

Gameplay: 7.0
The platform action is very good and engrossing. The location of save checkpoints is problematic at times, and the race levels are frustrating and can block progress for some players even on the easy level.

Graphics: 8.0
The graphics are varied and detailed with good animation.

Sound: 7.0
The sound and music is pretty average.

Difficulty: Medium
The game is challenging at times, but not overly difficult, except for the races.

Concept: 7.0
There’s nothing startling innovative or new, but the execution is good for the most part.

Overall: 7.5
A decently entertaining platformer that offers good action, fun puzzles and varied gameplay. However, the frustrating races and the boring mini-games leave somewhat to be desired. This could have been a great game if these two areas were as well-designed as the platform aspect. Still, it’s a good game, especially when compared to many sub-par GBA games that have been released recently.