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Tak 2: The Staff of Dreams Review - Xbox

Tak gets set off on another two exciting adventures in Tak 2: The Staff of Dreams. In the beginning, you find Tak fast asleep where he has been for the past sixteen days. Tak is dreaming. In his dreams, he is confronted with an adventure that he must fulfill, or he will never wake up again - at least, that's what he's been made to believe by a bright light known as Dream Juju. When he awakes, he's again confronted with an adventure, only as the apprentice of Jibolba. Tak and Jibolba set off to defeat Tlaloc and once again return his world to peace, however this time you have Juju! Learn all new abilities and fulfill the prophecy of the people of Pupanunu to accomplish Tak's greatest fears, and greatest adventure yet.

Gameplay

Tak 2 is plain good old fun. Of course, it's audience is children, but the gameplay involved is fun for all ages. Jumping around in the 3D world, you must learn new skills and have an awesome time battling all the Woodies. These are creatures that appear to be made out of wood, and are incredibly easy to kill. If they swarm you and you don't attack though, you will find yourself dead momentarily, before respawning in a segment moments before the fight where you died. Don't worry though, because as you progress through the game you'll learn new abilities and new combos to help you defeat the bad guys.

You don't level up like an RPG, the leveling up is more like Pokemon, as each time it happens you learn a new move (obviously level ups are not as frequent as the early days of a Pokemon). You can level up at any time though; mid-battle all of a sudden you may be lifted into the air by a whisk of light, and thus level up, earning a new combo or attack to slaughter your foes with. This was most entertaining to watch as it looks remarkably similar to something that may happen in a Zelda game, and whenever anything relates to a Zelda game, it makes for some enjoyable times.

Weapons include your Staff (duh) and a hook-shot type weapon that will help you reach far places, pull your enemies towards you, tie your enemies up, or just simply knock them off their feet. It's kind of annoying switching between weapons when you're being swarmed by ten Woodies and have to kill their head Woodie to stop them from respawning, but it does create intense battles here and there. It's questionable as to whether a child could get through some bits of the game, as they get progressively harder and you have to be on the ball in certain situations which would just seem too hard for a young gamer to conquer.

The river levels are some of the most fun you could have ... (continued next page)