Tak and the Power of Juju
Unique name, unique game. Come take a look at one of the most promising games of 2003.
Published: February 24, 2003
After doing this for about six years now, few things really surprise me. Picture, then, if you will, my jaw firmly resting on the floor as I witnessed the best game in THQ's admittedly impressive 2003 lineup. Imagine my boyish face break into a massive, ear-to-ear grin as a little bubble-eyed, Aborigine-like, maraca-wielding, loin-clothed native dashed into a bamboo hut only to be spit out moments later in a giant chicken suit, complete with shedding feathers and fake eyes that bounced around in their little plastic cages. I was witness to Tak and the Power of Juju, and I was sold before I'd even picked up the controller.
There's not too much to Tak, really, inasmuch as developer Avalanche will reveal at the moment. The story still has a lot of room to grow, but the basics are that you play Tak, a young man in a serious spot in a world that does anything but take itself seriously. Juju is something that plays a part in nearly everything in Tak's world, and Tak himself is quite adept and tackling the messy matters of Juju (essentially a catch-all description for anything having to do with gods, magic, relics, etc.), though not without certain flubs along the way.
Tak's chipper little world is turned upside down (yes, we're going with clichés here, take a look at the source material), when the quintessential bad guy nabs all of the moonstones -- gifts from the Moon Juju (see, we're using Juju in the god context here) that imbue the village and its inhabitants with their own Juju (this time used for magic) – and decides zapping the whole village's denizens with a spell, turning them all into sheep. Well, all save for Tak, who's spared the fate by the village shaman, who cooks up the last of his Juju to keep Tak safe. Now, as the only one not bleating incessantly, the task falls to Tak to get back the moonstones, and save his fellow villagers from a diet of grass, grass, and delicious pastries made of grass.
Yes, it's hardly anything new, but then the basis for most stories isn't, and it's what you do with the details that make it engaging, something that Avalanche knows all too well. While the premise isn't especially fresh, the gameplay certainly will be. While the game is doubtlessly an action platformer, Avalanche is keen to avoid typical platformer material like flame vents, floating platforms, jumping puzzles, and more. That doesn't mean you won't see them implemented in some form (though most will thankfully stay out of the game), but they'll present themselves in a far less tacky or contrived fashion.
The core of Tak's appeal, beyond the fact that the developers are trying as hard as they can not to slip into stereotypes, is simply the fact that the entire game -- from the main character to the enemies to the random fauna dotting the levels to the levels themselves -- are positively gushing with personality. The most minute little details, like the aforementioned eyes on the chicken suit rolling around whenever you move, add so much to the world that it's almost too much to take in all at once. Tak's gait is a goofy, bouncy stride, and all of the animations heaped onto seemingly everything else in the world are carried off with absolute bombast. Fingers wiggle, faces contort to express emotion, trees sway in the breeze – it's all fantastically detailed and shows the above all else, that the developer is infinitely aware that in this age of platformers (it seems last year was choked with sub-par 'tude-oozing efforts), your main character will sell your game. Short of Sly Cooper, you'll be hard-pressed to find another character teeming with so much digital life.
It's funny, too, because Tak's mission and the overall game are quite serious. Tak's expressions are anything but comical, and while the world might look like something torn from a cel of Disney animation, that serenity and color hides a darker side. While traipsing about in a level and marveling at how good everything looked, I was instructed to look up, where it was revealed that the wispy purple clouds actually formed a great many skulls in the sky. It was a nice, subtle way of delivering a message: sure, this world is pretty, but it's not all gumdrops and candy canes.
If I learned anything the significant stretch I played at THQ's Editors' Day last month (I was drawn to Tak again and again, and found myself playing it more than twice as long as anything else at the event), it's that there's still plenty of games that can surprise you, and even in a genre as mired in the mediocre as the action platformer really is, there's still plenty of room for something original, fun, and absolutely irresistible like Tak and the Power of Juju. Even if the game were released in the unfinished state it's in, it would still utterly decimate 90% of the platformers kicked out last year. Keep an eye on this one, kids, it's got platformer of the year written all over it.
There's not too much to Tak, really, inasmuch as developer Avalanche will reveal at the moment. The story still has a lot of room to grow, but the basics are that you play Tak, a young man in a serious spot in a world that does anything but take itself seriously. Juju is something that plays a part in nearly everything in Tak's world, and Tak himself is quite adept and tackling the messy matters of Juju (essentially a catch-all description for anything having to do with gods, magic, relics, etc.), though not without certain flubs along the way.
Tak's chipper little world is turned upside down (yes, we're going with clichés here, take a look at the source material), when the quintessential bad guy nabs all of the moonstones -- gifts from the Moon Juju (see, we're using Juju in the god context here) that imbue the village and its inhabitants with their own Juju (this time used for magic) – and decides zapping the whole village's denizens with a spell, turning them all into sheep. Well, all save for Tak, who's spared the fate by the village shaman, who cooks up the last of his Juju to keep Tak safe. Now, as the only one not bleating incessantly, the task falls to Tak to get back the moonstones, and save his fellow villagers from a diet of grass, grass, and delicious pastries made of grass.
Yes, it's hardly anything new, but then the basis for most stories isn't, and it's what you do with the details that make it engaging, something that Avalanche knows all too well. While the premise isn't especially fresh, the gameplay certainly will be. While the game is doubtlessly an action platformer, Avalanche is keen to avoid typical platformer material like flame vents, floating platforms, jumping puzzles, and more. That doesn't mean you won't see them implemented in some form (though most will thankfully stay out of the game), but they'll present themselves in a far less tacky or contrived fashion.
The core of Tak's appeal, beyond the fact that the developers are trying as hard as they can not to slip into stereotypes, is simply the fact that the entire game -- from the main character to the enemies to the random fauna dotting the levels to the levels themselves -- are positively gushing with personality. The most minute little details, like the aforementioned eyes on the chicken suit rolling around whenever you move, add so much to the world that it's almost too much to take in all at once. Tak's gait is a goofy, bouncy stride, and all of the animations heaped onto seemingly everything else in the world are carried off with absolute bombast. Fingers wiggle, faces contort to express emotion, trees sway in the breeze – it's all fantastically detailed and shows the above all else, that the developer is infinitely aware that in this age of platformers (it seems last year was choked with sub-par 'tude-oozing efforts), your main character will sell your game. Short of Sly Cooper, you'll be hard-pressed to find another character teeming with so much digital life.
It's funny, too, because Tak's mission and the overall game are quite serious. Tak's expressions are anything but comical, and while the world might look like something torn from a cel of Disney animation, that serenity and color hides a darker side. While traipsing about in a level and marveling at how good everything looked, I was instructed to look up, where it was revealed that the wispy purple clouds actually formed a great many skulls in the sky. It was a nice, subtle way of delivering a message: sure, this world is pretty, but it's not all gumdrops and candy canes.
If I learned anything the significant stretch I played at THQ's Editors' Day last month (I was drawn to Tak again and again, and found myself playing it more than twice as long as anything else at the event), it's that there's still plenty of games that can surprise you, and even in a genre as mired in the mediocre as the action platformer really is, there's still plenty of room for something original, fun, and absolutely irresistible like Tak and the Power of Juju. Even if the game were released in the unfinished state it's in, it would still utterly decimate 90% of the platformers kicked out last year. Keep an eye on this one, kids, it's got platformer of the year written all over it.
