Mastering Tomba! on the PS1. (Mini-Review)
After 27 long years since the release of Tomba, I finally mastered the game at 100% completion. Little did I know, when I was a young EV, that this would be a…
After 27 long years since the release of Tomba, I finally mastered the game at 100% completion. Little did I know, when I was a young EV, that this would be a feat I was proud of. But as anyone who has played the game can tell you, making sure you know the ins and outs of every event, is a hard task. Making sure you know what items in your bag was for which puzzle also can be a challenge, be it adult or child. Don't know of events? Evil Pigs? A pink hair rascal who's taking down an evil group for sentimental reasons? Well, let me take you back to 1998, some would say the golden year of gaming and talk Tomba! on the iconic PlayStation 1. We pick up in a very colourful world with Tomba enjoying a quick breakfast only to see that he is swiftly knocked out. His precious golden bracelet he had gotten from his Grandfather had been stolen by a group of Evil Pigs. This sets off Tomba's quest as he runs to the Village of all Beginnings. Tomba makes quick work of the Village of all Beginnings and soon finds himself in the Hut of the 100-year-old man. The 100-year-old man eventually tells Tomba about the Evil Pigs and why he thinks they might have stole his grandfather's golden bracelet - they aim to collect gold. Once he leaves the the hut of the 100-year-old man, he begins his journey all across the land encountering 7 Evil Pigs, various villagers, numerous Wise Old Men, and many problems to solve. Through it all he slowly learns the tale of the Evil Pigs and the curse they have put upon this land. Through the game you collect various items, and start tracking numerous events. There are a total of 130 quests to track in the game and there isn't much help if you forget what one of them needs. Events often fall into a few categories, fetch quests, backtracking, if this than that quests, and keeping track of a point system that the game has. When it comes to achievement hunting there is a great deal that is missable, about 15. If you don't know how to save strategically, you're going to have multiple playthroughs in order to clean the achievements up. HowLongToBeat has this game listed at about 9 hours. Total completion would be about 10 hours. My final completion run was 15 hours over 10 days of play during 3 playthroughs. It doesn't sound too bad, until you remember that you will have missing achievements, and you will more than likely have to replay this game more than once. You will more than likely want a check list of events and a guide to help you along. Overall, I do recommend this game, and it is for me, a childhood classic. It's a game I'd always go back to and play throughout the years, and never expected I'd reach the end of it - finishing it completely, clearing all events. Adding achievements to older games has definitely given me a reason to go back and fully explore and play games to the fullest.