At
E3 I had the pleasure to meet the developers of Ty 2, Krome Studios. The
developers were showing the sequel to the press and going over some interesting
statistics regarding the first game. The first Ty game sold over 1 million
units worldwide. It was such a big game in certain areas that it outsold other
platform titles that released by Sony. With Ty 2 the developers wanted to
rework the game and make it more accessible to a larger audience.
The initial game
was strictly a platform title. Similar to other platform games the basic
premise had you controlling Ty with the ultimate goal to finish the level. The
developers mentioned that the first game was a big hit with younger gamers, but
this time they wanted to expand the boundaries of the game. The creative
director of Krome Studios, Steve Stamatiadis, mentioned that the players of the
first Ty game have grown up and the game should be expanded to meet the desires
of an older audience. So the game received a complete overhaul.
The game is no
longer strictly a platform title. The gameplay now is based on an open ended
system. You are no longer limited to just one path to finish a stage; it’s
possible through multiple paths to complete the game. This version of Ty is
more of an action game than a platform title. The level design is mission based
this time and there are tons of new gameplay elements added to the game. One
huge addition is vehicles. The first level shown included Ty jumping into a
robot that you can use to fight off the baddies. Another level shown had Ty
flying a helicopter and using a graphing hook to pick up creatures in the game.
One other stage shown had Ty controlling a submarine.
But probably one
of the biggest additions to the game is the inclusion of a cart racing mode.
The developers mentioned that the cart racing mode is actually a completely
separate game included within the sequel. The developers didn’t want to release
just a new Ty cart racing game and figured this mode would be a cool addition to
the game. This mode looked and played great. The developers showed off a nice
feature within the cart racing mode where Ty can grind on rails during the
race. The rest of the cart racing game will remind most players of Crash Team
Racing. In fact the game looked very similar to Crash Team Racing.
During a hands
session on with the game at the Nintendo booth, the game itself played very
good. The graphics were excellent and the controls very tight, especially for a
demo. The only issue I had with the game was the camera would seem to swing out
of view when moving through certain sections of the game. The version shown by
the developers had Ty with multiple boomerangs. But the hands on demo only had
one boomerang for Ty. The cart racing game played really smooth and the
graphics were well done. The only issue I had with the cart racing game if you
hit one of the other carts your cart would stop. It didn’t take much time to
catch back up with the rest of the pack but it was frustrating that your cart
would just freeze after just tapping someone.
Ty 2 was a very
nice surprise for E3. With the marketing muscle of EA behind it maybe Ty 2 will
get the audience it deserves. With the great graphics, open ended gameplay and
addition of a cart racing mode, the game packs a big bang for your dollars.
Look for Ty 2 on all three consoles in Oct 2004.
