There have been many heroes who have tamed the unknown wilderness: from green-capped swordsmen in an overrun fantasy land to mustachioed red-capped ex-plumbers in… everywhere imaginable at this point. But few have braved the wild outback that is Australia. That is, until one man, or rather one Tiger, stepped up to the plate. Ty, the boomerang-wielding Tazmanian Tiger set out in 2002 in his debut adventure, Ty the Tazmanian Tiger, a 3D collectathon quest to free Ty’s family from another dimension and defeat the evil cassowary Boss Cass. Two years later, Ty returned for another bout with his nemesis, this time with powerful gadgets and vehicles to wield and ride on his quest, and in 2005 he rounded up his trilogy and the threat of the Quinkan (its a long story) with the power of different elemental stones, more immersive beat-em-up style combat, and an expanded library of vehicles to trek the outback with. Then, in 2015, Ty returned in a new 2D platforming adventure, which was met with… mild disappointment. But now, seven years after the disappointing initial release of Ty the Tazmanian Tiger 4, it has been remastered to bring its story and gameplay into the modern age with a few twists! …right?
…right?
Ty the Tazmanian Tiger 4: Bush Rescue Returns is a “remaster” that fails to make any meaningful changes to differentiate itself from its predecessor or to improve upon it. Aside from updating its graphics to account for modern hardware, I cannot tell if any changes have even been made. The open world and fascinating world are gone, instead replaced with a catch-all main menu to replay stages, continue the story or go to the shops. The shops fortunately do feature the colorful characters from before, but it is still a far cry from what it used to be.
Outside of these menus, there is a linear roadmap of levels featuring clunky and unimproved controls that feel both stiff and floaty at the same time, a difficult feat to achieve. Your adventures to defeat the evil Boss Cass (again) feature uninspired levels focusing on platforming and boomerang combat. You progress through these levels by maneuvering from checkpoint to checkpoint with occasional optional side-paths… and occasional mandatory side-paths that are not clearly marked. Getting to the end of the level isn’t enough, as you are required to find and interact with quest areas and items, such as guiding (chasing) your friend who’s afraid of the dark to safety or placing repair bolts onto a sabotaged dam. Aside from the tedious nature of this process, the difficulty of the controls, and the complete breaking of pace that these quests frequently require of you, the game does very little to offer anything of value or interest in its main or optional content.
The gimmick the game uses to try to stand out from others in its genre (considering it doesn’t need to make itself any more different from its series) is the addition of multiple boomerangs with different elemental and combat properties. Some boomerangs burst into an inferno once thrown, others freeze as they fly, and many… just are better at combat, such as the one that simply allows you to throw them again more quickly. The player can swap between these on the fly to accommodate different situations, such as puzzle elements or combat encounters. …but this system raises many, many questions both lore-wise and from a gameplay perspective: if there are definite upgrades, why are they separated into individual boomerangs instead of permanent upgrades? On the other hand, Ty gained many different abilities throughout his previous adventures… Where are they now? Between games, he seems to have completely forgotten and lost his powers without any explanation or necessary debuff to even the playing field between Ty and his returning nemesis.
This criticism may be seen as harsh, and perhaps it is. But Ty the Tazmanian Tiger is a franchise that I have a level of respect for: although not exactly a true rival to Banjo or Mario, Ty was a legitimate attempt to create something unique in the style of his collectathon-counterparts. Ty evolved his core design over time, sometimes for the better and sometimes for the weirder, but the same could be said for all franchises. This game was a massive regression, even for its time, and a remaster should have provided every opportunity to recreate the game in a way that would stand more in line with its predecessors, even without changing its core game design. But instead, the game looks exactly the same as it did years ago, plays the same as it did years ago, and is just as disappointing as it was years ago. It’s clear that, even if this game somehow wasn’t meant to simply just exploit Ty’s status as a niche but respectable franchise, this rerelease is. The rerelease of Ty’s franchise could have led to a new entry and reinvigorated fanbase, but instead it chose to retread the exact same highs and lows before leaving Ty behind to fade back into obscurity.
The franchise of Ty the Tazmanian Tiger is a wild, crazy adventure through the outback that deserves more recognition and respect. This entry, however, should have stayed on the “barbie” for longer. I recommend looking into their games, especially considering their recent remakes, but this particular game is not a part of that list. Hopefully this entry into the franchise also breaks series tradition and doesn’t come back.
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Related: Reviews by Aaron Grossmann
Gaming is a passion that I, like many other people, hold near and dear to my heart. As an aspiring Game Writer and general Storyteller, I enjoy looking into the vast worlds and deep stories of every game I can. Then again, sometimes bad guys just need a good pummeling, and I am more than happy to provide!
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