Topic: IMPRESSIONS: Ty the Tasmanian Tiger

[NWR_Karlie]

PGC's resident Australian is Ben, not Ty. But in this game Ty is wandering the Outback.

The first thing that hits you is that everything about the game is set in Australia, with areas, accents and animals to match. I played a level set at the Great Barrier Reef. You play as Ty, who was raised in a bilbies (an Australian animal) and thinks he is the last remaining of his species.  When finds out his family has been trapped in another world called the Dreamtime, he goes on a quest to bring them back.      

Walking Ty around a level, he leaves white paw prints on the bare ground. His main weapon is a boomerang, quite effective for taking down enemies. There are nice effects such as hitting the arrows directing you through the level, as this will make them shake. The L button centres the camera and brings up a target, useful for making sure of a hit but only for close targets as the boomerangs cannot be thrown very far. On land you can use the boomerangs and bite enemies. The red gems around the level are fairly easy to collect as they are picked up when you are close them. The gems also show the path of the level.    

There was a lot of swimming through the area, which is quite large, and when underwater the boomerangs cannot be used. Instead, “aquarangs" are acquired with the help of your platypus friend who also teaches you to swim. These can be used to hit switches to open gates and hit underwater animals. Enemies underwater include sharks swimming around that snap at you and alligators that lay mines. Throwing boomerangs at the mines will make them explode but they hurt Ty if he is too close. The X button dives and pressing A makes swimming faster. Many different animals guide you through the levels and offer their help, and all are based on the animals found in Australia. The controls underwater are quite easy: the control stick spins Ty for facing different directions and then tapping A moves forward. The Y button is a context-sensitive action button, used when an exclamation mark appears above Ty’s head, for example to swim into tanks.