Tak And The Power Of JuJu – PS2 – Review

The story is as follows: several centuries ago a Pupanunu shaman foretold that
the Moon Juju, the tribe’s protector who they adore, would be overthrown. Ever
since this prophecy has been given, it has been passed down to each new shaman.
The latest election for the High Shaman recently took place and the entire tribe
voted for the respected Jibolba, who is extremely honest and has a very strong
Juju. Tlaloc was outraged that he was not chosen and he decided to get his
revenge upon the tribe. Jibolba knows that the prophecy is about to be played
out so he trains his apprentice Lok, to battle any evil that comes his way. One
day the entire village, except for a few people, is turned into sheep, including
Lok. This is all due to Tlaloc and his two evil minions, who also stole the
power of the Moon Juju. It is now up to Tak to save the Moon Juju and his tribe.
Are you up for this heavy responsibility? Only time will tell!

What makes Tak and the Power of Juju unique from other platformers out on the
market is its approach. The game is very comic form the minute it boots up. When
players load the game for the first time they hear a silly chant from a shaman
and than players will finally see him. He goes on and on, on a specific Juju and
than players will find he is talking to them, and presses his hands against the
screen, and it gives the impressions that he is looking at you through the TV
screen. I thought that this was a very nice touch. Humor is very abundant
through out the entire game, even though this title is obviously made for kids,
older players will want to stick around to hear and find out what outlandish
thing Tak and the characters will do next.

The game is a decent platform game with some action thrown in for flare. Players
will have to collect different types of objects such as moonstones, teeth,
acorns, feathers, and many other items. As the game progresses players will be
able to use Juju powers, but they have to have the mana to use them. These
powers really enhance the game but providing that extra boost when needed. The
last really interesting power is when players get the animals to do their
bidding. They are really used mostly for puzzle solving, such as getting an ape
to slingshot players over a ridge or a rhino to break a wall down.

There is even a snowboarding and sandboarding levels to help break up some of
the monotony of the game. The controls for this aren’t too bad and feel somewhat
responsive, but it is not as refined as SSX in any way.

Tak and the Power of Juju almost looks like a cartoon, and this is for a good
reason since Nickelodeon is the partner in this game. The colors used in this
game are very bright and vivid. THQ paid more than the usual attention to detail
and animation in this game. Players will be able to see the sheep’s wool move,
the feature bouncing around on Tak’s head, and many other things. The
environments that Tak will transverse is brimming with wildlife that makes the
game feel almost alive.

Graphics: 8.1
The animation and graphics for Tak and the Power of Juju look pretty good.
The character models and environments are really detailed. The only problem is
that players will see a lot of jaggies in this game. On the bright side there is
never any frame rate issues.

Sound: 7.8
The music is pretty enjoyable, but it is not something that will blow your
minds away. The sound effects and voiceovers are nicely done as well. The one
thing that does get irritating is the few catch phrases the Tak repeats
constantly all throughout the game.

Difficulty: Easy
This game is definitely made for children, as it does not provide any real
challenge to older games. Most of the challenges can be figured out within
several seconds. If players do have trouble with anything Flora will tell them
exactly what to do.

Concept: 8.3
This game is light hearted and provides a lot of unorthodox ideas that
players normally wouldn’t see in any platforming game.