![]() ![]() Sometimes, levels will contain lines of enemies for you to jump and diagonal-dash through as well, and the sensation of doing so is decidedly Sonic-like. That endless ability to run, as opposed to worrying about a stamina meter, is matched with enemies that, for the most part, die simply by being touched, meaning that many of the game's stretches are laid out simply for your elephant to gleefully stomp through. Press it while holding up on a joystick to uppercut anything above your head, and press it while holding down in mid-air to do a butt-stomp. ![]() Press it in mid-air (if you're not already dash-jumping) to diagonally dash downward and more quickly clear fiercer foes. Press it while walking to endlessly run (as opposed to a brief burst) with tusks aimed forward and you will mow down most enemies and barriers. Almost all of the game's maneuvers revolve around a "dash" button. We point all of this out because the aesthetic adds a crucial amount of speed and oomph to Tembo's relatively basic formula. ![]() Thankfully, all of these comic effects are pulled off with apparent hand-drawn frames as opposed to Flash-style bending of game images, which means the whole thing looks much crisper in motion than its cheap-o manga inspirations might lead you to believe. Same goes for the Batman-style "Pow"s with every strike, and so on. AdvertisementĮvery stomp when you hit the "dash" button to run makes the word "BADA" appear in your dust, resulting in a percussive trail of "BADA BADA BADA BADA BADA" that somehow never gets old. It fits well with the decidedly '70s or '80s manga-inspired art style-much like the designs in Nintendo's Elite Beat Agents and Osu Tatakae Ouendan games-that emphasizes bold lines, expressive faces, and giddily unnecessary blasts of text in intense fonts. Tembo features quite a few cartoon action movie tropes: waves of bad guys in matching, ugly, purple uniforms a leading henchman with a wicked laugh a good-guy military squad scrambling to fight back and one particular soldier (you know, an elephant) coming out of retirement to get the job done. That should be enough pedigree to get any platforming purist excited, and Tembo doesn't take long to assert its, er, weight as a worthy successor. ![]() They have a sleeper hit of a platformer under their belts as well: 2006's Drill Dozer for the Game Boy Advance. Tembo comes courtesy of the game makers at Game Freak, who are best known for designing every major Pokemon game. Tembo The Badass Elephant sure feels like one, with an insane challenge curve-and a few curious design decisions-to match. Sounds like a beloved early '90s game, doesn't it? Those are all well and good-really good, in fact-but what about a new game that feels precisely like Sonic? After a long time, a lot of awful 3D Sonic games, and the so-so Sonic The Hedgehog 4 reboot, Sega of all companies has come forward with something that might do the trick. Say hello to Tembo, the so-called "badass" elephant who relies on speed, body slams, and a trunk uppercut to tear through tricky vertical levels full of collectibles. Action Henk might be the best recent game to scratch that speedy, 2D-platforming itch, and other significant platformers of the past five years- Super Meat Boy, Risk of Rain, and Mark of the Ninja, to name a few-have drawn obvious inspiration from Sonic's formula of tricky obstacles, hidden tidbits, and a pressing need to finish levels quickly. Today, the actual Sonic franchise sucks-gosh, it has sucked for decades at this point-but there are plenty of indie developers filling in his spiky-haired void. Platform: Windows, Xbox One, PlayStation 4 ![]()
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