Mmm.
Tomba! was the best 2.5D platformer when it came out, blowing the Pandemonium! games out of the water, and competing only with the just-as-quirky
Klonoa. This game even one-ups the original. You're Tomba, a pink haired boy who's trying to find a childhood friend. Through a series of adventures and mishaps, you get caught up in stopping the Evil Pigs yet again, and saving the world (or at least the island), yadda yadda. You know how it goes. The amazing thing is that
Tomba! 2 keeps you interested in the rather inane plot from start to finish. This is partially accomplished by the various events that you learn about and get points for completing. Some of them are vital for the plot, and others are ancillary. And there are tons -- well more than a hundred of the buggers. They don't have the encapulated descriptions that they did in the first game, but that's a minor gripe. Some of them are trivial, and some of them are damned hard to figure out. It really makes the game fun.
One of the improvements of Tomba! 2 is the tightness of the world. Some of the areas in the first Tomba! seemed rather one-shot, thrown in for the hell of it. You're going to spend a ton of time in each area in Tomba! 2, and it really helps that they feel like environments instead of levels in a video game. Sure, they're all a little contrived, but nonetheless, it helps for that intangible emmersiveness.
Tomba controls like a dream, once you get the hang of it. He can jump, Animal Dash, attack with various weapons, and 'manipulate.' You attack most enemies by jumping on them and, err... throwing them, I suppose. I guess it's a bite, but it looks a little more... bizarre to me. Of course, part of Tomba's charm is the wacky character design, and it shows in things like this.
