Ty the Tasmanian Tiger

Gameplay

Ty the Tasmanian Tiger is a platform game in which the player controls Ty, a Tasmanian tiger, who must gather 17 Fire Thunder Eggs, 17 Ice Thunder Eggs, and 17 Electric Thunder Eggs, in order to power the Talisman Machine, a teleportation device that will locate all five talismans, which will in turn have the power to free his family from the Dreamtime. The game takes place in "Rainbow Cliffs", which is in turn divided into a series of "zones", each of which act as the hub areas of the game. Each zone contains three portals which lead to a level. The goal of each level is to obtain Thunder Eggs, which can be retrieved by either performing a certain task, completing a "Time Attack" challenge that can be unlocked upon said level's completion, freeing five bilbies (a group of animals who raised Ty after his parents were imprisoned), or by being found alongside the level's set path. A level is cleared either by collecting a select amount of Thunder Eggs and reaching the end of the path, or beating certain mini-games, each will return Ty to Rainbow Cliffs hub world. Retrieving a Thunder Egg in a level will cause it to appear on the game's pause menu. When at least seventeen Thunder Eggs in a zone are obtained, the player navigates their way to the Talisman Machine; after the machine manages to locate a talisman, it opens another portal leading to their original locations; inside these portals, the player must fight and defeat a boss character before gaining access to a new zone.

The player is given a certain amount of lives, which are usually lost when Ty is attacked by an enemy or falls from a great distance. If all lives are lost at any point in the game, the "Game Over" screen will appear, in which the player can continue from the last level played by selecting "yes". Ty has the ability to jump into the air and uses both biting and throwing boomerangs as his primary means of defense. The boomerangs return after throwing. The player begins the game with a generic boomerang, but can gradually increase their collection by finding secret areas, or collecting fifteen "Golden Cogs" scattered throughout each level and trading them into scientist koala character Julius, who in turn creates a new "techno-rang" for the player to use; another method of retrieving a new boomerang is to complete a boss level, after which Julius will harness the excess energy of the Talisman Machine in order to create a new "elemental 'rang", each of which possess elemental powers that can be used to gain access to a new zone. Like elemental 'rangs, each techno-rang possesses a unique ability, and can alternatively be used to defeat enemies or retrieve Golden Cogs or Thunder Eggs more efficiently. In early levels of the game, Ty can swim in water via dog paddle; however, following the third level, "Ship Rex", the player gains the abilities to swim faster and more efficiently and to dive and swim underwater from lifeguard platypus character Rex; in addition, Rex gives the player an "Aquarang", a boomerang exclusively used for attacking underwater.

Characters

The titular protagonist and player character is Ty, a heroic Tasmanian tiger, adopted by a family of bilbies, who must save his family from the Dreamtime. The main antagonist is Boss Cass, a cassowary who plots to become a dictator by using the five talismans. Ty's love interest is Shazza, a female dingo. Helping Ty on his journey is Maurie, a sulphur-crested cockatoo who acts as Ty's mentor figure; Julius, a koala scientist who helps Ty find the talismans; Ken, a Tasmanian devil and park ranger interested in nature; and Dennis, a cowardly green tree frog. The boss characters include Bull, a razorback who later becomes Ty's companion; Crikey, a cybernetic tiger shark; Sly, another Tasmanian tiger and Ty's blood brother; Fluffy, a thorny devil who controls her large Yeti robot; and Shadow, a ghost bat.

Story

The evil cassowary Boss Cass enters the Outback to activate the Dreamtime by stealing five mystical talismans so he can become the ruler of Australia. However, he is confronted by a family of thylacines and they fight for control of the talismans. Boss Cass uses the last talisman and opens a portal to the Dreamtime to attract the tigers in. However, his plan proves to be a failure when one of the tigers family members throws his Doomarang to dislodge the talismans. The portal is destroyed and the talismans become scattered. Following his family's disappearance, Ty becomes the last of his kind, and a family of bilbies adopt him. Ty thinks that the other Tasmanian tigers are dead during his time with the bilbies. Years later, Ty falls into a cave by accident while playing with the bilbies. While there, he encounters the Bunyip elder Nandu Gilli, who informs him about his heritage and Cass' intentions to seek out the talismans again. Ty resolves to retrieve the talismans and save his family, and is rescued by Maurie, his sulphur-crested cockatoo friend.

At Bli-Bli Station, Ty is introduced to a scientist named Julius, a koala who has invented a device that will find the Talismans. Because Thunder Eggs are required to power the device, Ty must find the Thunder Eggs by visiting portals to other worlds. Maurie informs Ty that he must find another boomerang. From there, Ty makes his way through a billabong and finds his second boomerang with the help of Maurie, At a rainforest, he helps save his dingo girlfriend Shazza and helps Ranger Ken by clearing the bats out of a cave, and learns to swim from the lifeguard Rex and find a wrecked ship on a tropical island. When Julius finds the first talisman, Ty encounters Bull, a boar. He tames Bull by luring him into the rocks and rescues the first talisman. At Julius' laboratory, Ty learns that Julius has developed elemental boomerangs by diverting the excess energy from the Fire Thunder Eggs through his Hyper Techno Boomerang Maker.

Ty makes his way through Pippy Beach by using his Flamerangs. He uses Bull to travel around the outback and help Shazza and Ken once more. Ty also befriends Dennis, a cowardly green tree frog, and helps him get to his home by lighting up the paths. In the Snowy Mountains, he rescues a group of koala children, who are lost in the snow. As Julius finds the second talisman, Cass stations another one of his henchmen, Crikey. Ty jumps across a group of platforms and, after using the oxygen tanks, defeats Crikey. Ty puts out a group of bushfires and enters Lake Burril, a small lake. However, having discovered that Ty is the one collecting the talismans and Thunder Eggs, Cass deploys Sly, another one of his high-ranking henchmen and Ty's rival. As Ty makes his way through another rainforest (while being misguided by a lyrebird named Lenny), he is confronted by Sly inside the rainforest's factory. Ty easily defeats Sly, but he runs off. He later saves the koala children again and puts out bushfires on a snowy mountain, and crosses a group of tropical islands. When the third talisman is located, Ty finds and battles Fluffy, another of Cass' henchmen. Despite attacking with her giant mechanical Yeti, Ty defeats her and crosses a group of tropical islands.

After gathering enough golden cogs and Thunder Eggs and noticing that the last two talismans are at Cass' Lair, Ty enters a rainforest leading to Cass' lair while avoiding booby traps and Cass' minions. Inside the lair, Ty sees Shazza. Cass has another of his henchmen, Shadow, capture Shazza. Ty uses the ventilation shafts to defeat Shadow and save Shazza and the fourth talisman. While he continues to searching for Cass, he confronts Sly again and easily overpowers him. Just as Sly is saved from falling into the lava pit, he runs off and vows vengeance on Ty. Ty finds Cass' massive robot, where he is confronted by the cassowary. Ty damages the robot before Sly arrives and betrays Cass. He gives Ty the Doomarang, which Ty uses to destroy the robot and send Cass falling out of the sky. After giving the Bunyip elder the last talisman, his parents arrive from the Dreamtime. If Ty collects every opal, Golden Cog and Thunder Egg in the game, a robotic Tasmanian tiger awakens.

Development

Development of Ty the Tasmanian Tiger began in December 2000, originally consisting of five developers at Krome Studios. The development team was later expanded to 40 people and also included a quality assurance team of 15 members. In designing the 16 large levels, the team drew inspiration from the Australian landscapes. According to designer John Passfield, he said that his favorite boomerang in the game was the Kaboomerang. The team also implemented real time lighting effects, and Passfield cited that it "affects Ty [throughout the game] and changes the direction of his shadow, plus the world reflects in ice cubes and shiny surfaces" and he also loved the animation system used in the game. He also cited that he was proud of the "Emergent Game Play" system used throughout the game, and said that "during focus testing [of the game] it was great when players had 'stumbled across' a new way to solve a problem".

Ty the Tasmanian Tiger was first announced by Electronic Arts on May 10, 2002, and the game was later unveiled at the 2002 Electronic Entertainment Expo convention to positive response. On July 17, 2002, Electronic Arts announced that the game would also be developed for the Xbox.

Reception

Ty the Tasmanian Tiger received positive reviews from critics upon its release. Matthew Gallant of GameSpot concluded that the game is "great for younger players and can provide a satisfying experience for teens and adults as long as they don't mind their replay value coming from finding every last collectible in the game." In reviewing the PlayStation 2 version of the game, Jeremy Dunham and Kaiser Hwang of IGN concluded that the game is "a Crash Bandicoot clone through and through" and also said that "Krome Studios own attempt at platforming is still enough to warrant a purchase from diehard genre fans." In a review of the Xbox version, Hwang said that it "makes no effort in hiding its influences" and that the game "is a Mario clone through and through, just done really well."

The gameplay received mixed to positive responses. Kaiser Hwang commented that the game "borrows heavily from the Mario series." However he complained that one of the "irritating things about the game is that every time you start your game and begin a level, the game insists on showing you the same cutscene and voiceover." He also said that the game has "clever puzzles, and the levels have a good variety to them." Kilo Watt of GamePro said that controlling Ty is "a bit cumbersome with jumping being particularly tough to get a handle on." He also cited the camera angles as problematic, as well as detecting collisions in the game.

The game sold over one million copies worldwide. The PlayStation 2 version of the game was re-released for the Greatest Hits budget lineup in 2003.

Sequels

Ty the Tasmanian Tiger was followed by three sequels, Ty the Tasmanian Tiger 2: Bush Rescue and Ty the Tasmanian Tiger 3: Night of the Quinkan, for the PlayStation 2, GameCube, Xbox and Game Boy Advance and developed by Krome Studios. Ty the Tasmanian Tiger 4 was originally released on Xbox Games for Windows 8 PC & Tablets titled simply, "Ty the Tasmanian Tiger" in 2013 then ported to Steam for Microsoft Windows as Ty the Tasmanian Tiger 4 in 2015. In May 2005, Activision and Krome Studios signed a co-publishing agreement for the third installment of the series: Ty the Tasmanian Tiger 3: Night of the Quinkan. It was released in October the next year. On July 27, 2012, Krome announced plans for a new Ty The Tasmanian Tiger game to be developed for the iOS to coincide with the series's 10th anniversary, this game was revealed to be Ty the Tasmanian Tiger: Boomerang Blast, released late 2012. On March 11, 2013, Krome Studios announced a 2D Ty title to be released on July 24, 2013 on Xbox Games for Windows 8 PC and/or Tablet. The game received the title Ty the Tasmanian Tiger 4 after it was announced for Steam. It was released on September 18, 2015.