In a world where Portal exists, a game that tested player's logic rather than their patience, Toki Tori doesn't stack up
Prepare to go through that above scenario plenty of times while traversing Toki Tori's four worlds. There are other variations of the same dead end, the biggest culprit of them sprouting from some matter of using a specific tool where you shouldn't.
Each of Toki Tori's levels are essentially a self-contained jigsaw puzzle. In each of the levels you are given a set number of different tools, some that will suck slugs into a vacuum, create make-shift bridges, set traps for ghosts, and so on. You use these items to reach all of the eggs that are scattered around the environment. Once you have them all in your possession, you can proceed to the next stage to tackle a new challenge.
The problem arises when you run into the constricting design choices that were made. With each level, there is one way to gather the eggs--no exceptions. You will use every tool that you are given on every level--no exceptions. One botched move, one tool not pristinely placed means that you will have to restart the entire level over again. Imagine for a second that Toki Tori was a jigsaw puzzle. You pick up the first piece of the puzzle, and then the second, third, and fourth piece. On the fifth piece you realize that it doesn't fit, so the four previous pieces unhook each other and then scramble themselves back into the pile. Getting those four pieces back together is a matter of just picking them back up and putting them back where you found them, but why should I need to go through the trouble?
To be fair, these are not massive levels. Going from start to finish should be a two to three minute affair if you know the solution. After your fifth, sixth, seventh attempt at a given level, you'll start to ask yourself if the punishing design is worth any more of your time. There are definitely some "ah-ha" moments when the solution clicks, you execute everything flawlessly, and you move on. Yet, because you have to attempt the level so many times, success usually feels like more of a relief than gratifying.
Given the limitations of the WiiWare file-size, Toki Tori is decidedly simplistic artistically. Character and enemy designs are cute, colorful and lively, while the environments are varied between cheerful, light-hearted forests, to damp, dark sewers. The music fits each of the environments well, though in the case of the Forest level, can get particularly grating.
This version of Toki Tori is an enhanced version of the 2001 Game Boy Color version of the same name. In a lot of ways, it makes sense. This is a game that, in a lot of ways, belongs in 2001. In a world where Portal exists, a game that tested player's logic rather than their patience, Toki Tori doesn't manage to stack up to the competition.