Tomba! Review

Tomba! (PSN)
Developed By: Whoopee Camp
Published By: MonkeyPaw Games
Date of Release: June 19, 2012
Price: $9.99

So there you are one day minding your own business and munching on some roast boar when an army of evil pigs overrun your country, steal your precious gold armband that your grandfather left to you, and mutate the flora and fauna into grotesque freaks of nature. The flowers now have a nasty bite, and farting butts grow from every vine! Sinister swine are on the rampage, looting and pillaging everything they can! What's a pink-haired cave dude to do? Looks like it's time to kick some porcine behind!




A series of well-drawn anime cutscenes set up the story for this grand adventure, and introduce our titular hero and his world's plight. The quality of the graphics are top notch, with fluid animation and eye-catching colors. The soundtrack is also wonderful with peppy upbeat tunes that keep from becoming repetitive no matter how many times you hear them. The gameplay is just as amazing, with a perfect blend of tricky platforming and metroidvania-style exploration.




In Tomba! your main weapon is a morning-star ball & chain type affair called the Blackjack. It knocks most enemies down with one hit leaving them stunned and vulnerable to your pounce attack. You can then fling them at other enemies or the scenery to finish them off. Along the way you will discover other weapons with a variety of uses, and you're definitely gonna need all of them if you want to be bringing home the bacon.



Along the way you'll be testing out your arsenal on a variety of enemies such as vicious pigs, crazed birds, and various nasties in between. The ultimate goal is to find all of the evil pig bags so that you can use them to seal away the seven evil pigs that are terrorizing the world. Defeating your enemies and solving quests will give you Adventure Points(AP) which are used to unlock new abilities and pass obstacles. Be sure to try and take out as many foes as you can together to earn extra points!




With everything that is right about Tomba!, it's quite sad what happened to the developer. Despite its near-universal critical acclaim it never sold well, and after bringing out a sequel Whoopee Camp ran out of funding and closed it's doors. If they had remained in business, one could only imagine what amazing experiences they could have crafted on today's hardware. Regardless, Tomba is a must buy for those who want to pig out on adventure, so pick it up today and hopefully we'll see the sequel on the PSN soon!