Game:

Tomba! 2: The Evil Swine Return (1999)

Duration: 3:20:35

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Originally recorded: August 20, 2023
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In retrospect, I probably should've just taken the night off. I had just gotten back from a short trip, and while I arrived back at home fairly early in the day, I was exhausted. That coupled with a fairly small audience for this session means that this is probably one of my most "low-energy" livestreams ever. And honestly, my thoughts on the game itself didn't help matters much either.

I didn't exactly go into Tomba! 2 completely blind. Granted, this is my first hands-on experience with the game, but what I heard about the game wasn't particularly positive. It's not even that the game is bad or anything, it's more like that it's essentially a retread, only everything's a bit less interesting this time around. And honestly, the worst thing any video game can be in my opinion is boring.

Poor reputation aside, the entire game just feels a bit off. This is likely one of the earliest examples of a game that tries to reproduce 2D gameplay with 3D models -- the modern definition of a "2.5D game". Honestly, given the original Tomba's status as a 2D platform-adventure game with limited depth-based movement and perspective shifts, it was probably one of the best options for such an experiment. Unfortunately, that means it suffers from the same issues as other early examples of the format. Put simply, it's hard to read the pixel-perfect precision one needs to make a jump when everything's made up of polygons instead.

The game's insistence on full voice acting is also a mixed blessing. On the one hand, it's nice to give my voice a break and the voice acting hits that sweet spot of late 90s/early 2000s cheesiness that I love oh so much. But on the other hand, it makes the story segments kind of drag on... and on... and on.

Needless to say, the game didn't make the best first impression. But let's hope that things improve moving forward. Right now, I feel like the best score this game can achieve is going to be half a point lower than the original. But even that assessment feels pretty shaky this early on.

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