Tin Toy Adventure was released in 1996 for the Amiga, so it was released
quite late in the day, and by that time all but the most hardy and dedicated of
the Amiga hardcore were still enjoying the fruits the system was able to offer
up. So as you would expect with such a late Amiga game it’s an AGA (Advance
Graphics Architecture) title, and honestly it really shows.
This game has some beautiful looking graphics that are well drawn, well
animated, with plenty of parallax scrolling. But what really shows off that
this is an AGA game more than anything else is the sheer amount of colours
displayed on screen; the game is very colourful with a diverse range on screen
all throughout each level. The only other AGA title that I have come across
that can match and equal this game in its graphical detail and amount of
colours on screen is Simon the Sorcerer.
Tin Toy Adventure is toy themed with each stage taking part in a
different stage of a house, and each being differently themed in terms of
design to coincide with each different room. Each stage consists of three
levels with a boss fight at the end. The levels are well designed with
interesting layouts and a good use of imagination for each one, but what really
becomes obvious about the game is the fact that it is a tough platformer, and
as a player you really have to know the levels inside and out if you want any
hope of reaching the next level.
The difficulty of the game is perhaps the most addictive thing about it,
as the incentive to keep playing is the sheer sense of satisfaction you will be
rewarded with when you have managed to get to that next level. The difficulty
is quite reminiscent of a lot of the old 8-bit home computer games of the 80s,
yet the game isn’t infuriating and impossible to complete like those games of
old.
You have quite a few different abilities at your disposal, you can jump
on enemies to kill them, though they will take quite a few hits, which is
something that will steadily increases the further you progress through the
game as enemies get tougher to eliminate. Pressing down on the d-pad will
scroll through a number of different abilities, that when selected will only
last several short seconds, but can be more than useful when faced with a tough
part of a level. You can select a tornado, and much like Taz from Taz-mania, it lets you wiz
around the level really fast, knocking out enemies as you go. There is a power
that inflates your characters body which will let you float above the level for
a short distance, but the drawback of this is that when the ability wares off
it can easily drop you onto spikes and enemies. There is even a magical top hat
that will appear and walk in front of your character, knocking out any enemies
that get in its way and it also doubles as a platform for you to access those
hard to reach areas.
Overall I honestly think that this game is a little jewel in the crown
of the Amiga’s library, it won’t be everyone’s cup of tea due to the steep
difficulty level, but it is certainly a top quality title high up there with
the Turrican series, Fire & Ice, James Pond, Super Frog et al. To me this
is a platformer that managed to stand out from the crowd of 90s platformers,
yet I reserved judgement until I had played the game proper, and it turned out
to be an amazingly addictive and fun game, but don’t take my word for it, go
and play Tin Toy Adventure.
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