Tonic Trouble

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a game by Ubisoft
Genre: Action
Platforms: Nintendo 64Nintendo 64, GameBoy Color
Editor Rating: 6.8/10, based on 5 reviews, 8 reviews are shown
User Rating: 6.0/10 - 4 votes
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See also: Action Adventure Games, Action Games
Tonic Trouble
Tonic Trouble
Tonic Trouble
Tonic Trouble

People say:

7.0

Tonic Trouble is one of those games you wish wasn't on the N64. The visuals are nice, but aren't nearly as sharp as they could be, mainly due to the limitations of the system. Levels have a lot of puzzle-solving elements in addition to standard 3D platform game fare, with something new facing you in every room. Level design-wise, this is a tightly developed platformer. There are things you'll see while playing early on that you'll come back to later after you've acquired more abilities (like flying, getting the pogo stick ability, etc). But there's a lot about this game that's kinda dull. I wish there were more difficult bosses that you'd have to face throughout to spice up the levels. Instead you usually just have to outsmart them and plant a few direct dart hits before they're gone. The music's nothing memorable, and doesn't divert much from the standard theme--there's nothing special for completing levels or opening something extra except an occasional "Yeah!" from Ed. Each of the overworld areas could've used a bit more differentiation so you know where you are without having to read signs. Control-wise it's tight-when you learn new abilities that require a different control scheme it teaches you how to use them first before setting you free into a tevel. When all's said and done. Tonic Trouble is a solid platform game that could've used a little jazzing up aesthetically to support its gameplay.

4.5

First, Tonic is so close to Rayman they're practically the same game. They share the same engine as well as that limbless look. The environments come off on the lean side. There's lots of sparsely filled rooms and halls that don't exactly evoke excitement when you travel through them. More variety and stuff to mess with would've been nice. Overall, considering the goofy theme, the boring atmospheres and the recycled engine, I say pass on Tonic.

6.5

Ed is just one of those dumb characters that you really don't care about one way or the other. The worlds he explores are big, beautifully designed and filled with good ideas (if weird) but he's really annoying. I have some issues with the camera system too. which moves around so much it can make things confusing. I really dig some of the objects. Pogo-sticks and flying bowties rule. Do we really need another 3D platformer on N64 though?

6.5

Here's a game that's too odd for its own good. Ed, the game's annoying Rayman-doned star, is always wiggling around, and his animations can get distracting. But Tonic Trouble does look nice. Kids will like it. Some levels are really wild and well-conceived--but many go a little overboard with platforms and chasms. As in Banjo, you'll learn new moves that let you reach previously inaccessible areas, and that's what kept me playing 'til the end.

Download Tonic Trouble

Nintendo 64

System requirements:

  • PC compatible
  • Operating systems: Windows 10/Windows 8/Windows 7/2000/Vista/WinXP
GBC

System requirements:

  • PC compatible
  • Operating systems: Windows 10/Windows 8/Windows 7/2000/Vista/WinXP

Game Reviews

Remember a while back when a game called HED was in Protos? Well. HED is now called Tonic Trouble, a game by Ubi Soft (makers of Rayman and other titles). Ubi plans on taking full advantage of the Nintendo 64 hardware with this new title which has its main character trying to clean up a toxic mess he accidentally created on Earth. Because of the green liquid he let loose on the planet, life and land on Earth mutates. Although it may sound menacing. Tonic Trouble is a fun title.

Designed by the primary creator of Rayman, Tonic Trouble is already starting to show compelling designs of distinctiveness that made the aforementioned game find a niche of its own.

Tonic Trouble's plot revolves around an alien named Ed who drops a mysterious can onto Earth. Havoc ensues, and mutations of plants and animals break out throughout the planet. Seeking to fix the problems that he created Ed must explore and fight enemies with a variety of weapons. As you can see from these screens, this game shows promise. Rest assured, we'll do a more in-depth preview as soon as we get some more info.

Emanating from the same French development house as the soon-to-be-unveiled PlayStation shooting fest POD, Ubi Soft's third quarter action/adventure, ED, was this month finally given some daylight to bathe in.

Although relatively little was revealed, the game looks and plays in a similar style to Ubi Soft's 32-bit platformer, Ray Man, with strapping great comical characters tearing about the place, multi-coloured backdrops and a light-hearted storyline involving the square-jawed tomfoolery of the lad ED.

And the rumour that it may appear via the much-talked-of 64DD was neither confirmed nor denied by the enigmatic Ubi Soft.

The game's appearance at America's E3 show in June should provide a motorway of concrete detail.

One of the first games released for the N64 was Mario World which was a platform game that involved expansive worlds and great gameplay. Ever since way back in 1995 when this was released, there have been a number of games that have tried to imitate this formula or put their spin on it. Well, nearly five years later, Mario is still one of the best and the imitators still just can't seem to get it right.

Enter Ed and Tonic Trouble. Ed is a janitor who lives someplace in space. While cleaning, he accidentally drops a can of Tonic onto the Earth, which caused a bunch of freaky things to happen to the humans and plants. Ed is sent to Earth to find the Tonic and fix all of the damage. It turns out that the Tonic has fallen into the hands of the evil Grogh who has now declared him as the ruler of the Earth. Ed's first task is to find the wacky professor and then work together to save the Earth.

Gameplay

Nice story but what it all amounts to is that this is a platform game that follows the old, run, jump, gain extra powers to try and make it to the end of levels all while collecting a number of items (coins, rings, etc.). This game has you collecting numerous different items throughout the levels, one of which looks like little Dreamcast logos. I assume this game is aimed at younger gamers but I think the lack of originality will even turn them off.

I had really high hopes for this game. UBI Soft were the makers of the excellent game Rayman, one of the first PSX platform titles. They did such a great job creating a lush and beautiful world and interesting characters that I just knew Tonic Trouble would be good. While the game follows the same formula as most platform games, this one just feels average, plain, and been-there before.

Tonic Trouble is made up of different worlds, each containing different tasks and foes for you to beat. The main objective in all of the worlds is to collect various items but mostly to find the items that the professor has lost. These items are used to give Ed powers throughout the game. So what it boils down to is that you will spend your time running, jumping, shooting, swimming, and bouncing your way through slow developing levels.

As you make your way through the game and collect the items for the professor, you are awarded new powers. This was one of the few bright spots that kept me playing through the game. You will be awarded the blowpipe, which allows you to switch to a first person mode and shoot darts at targets and enemies. Next you will get the flying mode, which allows you to use your bow tie to fly. Then you will get deep swimming, which allows you to dive under water and swim. You will also get the pogo stick mode and chameleon mode. These new abilities helped to keep the game going but even they were not enough.

My biggest complaint with the game was the speed at which the action progressed. This game really just moved along at a snails pace. I felt like I was just sitting back riding a platform or waiting for something to happen the majority of the time. The action was very choppy and just when it started going, you would go for a ride on a platform or the section of the level would end, which took forever. I just had a real difficult time getting a rhythm down because of the overall pace of the game. I guess this might help out younger gamers but I have a feeling that they will grow impatient with it as well.

Another thing that bothered me about the game was the overall lack of originality. Okay, I know that video games have been around for quite a while and it is getting more and more difficult to come up with something original but come on. I really felt like nothing in this game had not been done before in another game. That in itself is alright but the fact that it doesn't do anything better than the original games is where I find the problems. If you are going to use tried and true methods, at least improve on them some.

Finally, this game is a 3D platform game and we all know what that means, right? Crappy camera control! Okay, so that is not entirely fair because there is one feature that I really did like with the camera control. If you hit the Z button, the camera will automatically swing behind you, which made things a little easier, but there are still some serious problems. There is a lot of precision jumping required and I can't tell you how many times I died because of the camera angles. There were times that I just could not tell if I needed to jump or step on a platform and there was no adjustment that would have made it any clearer. Also, the field of depth was just weird. You would go around corners and the camera would not follow or you would go up a hill and not be able to see anything ahead. I found myself craning my neck trying to see around corners and it just did not work. This made the game a real chore to play.

Graphics

This game looks like a Nintendo 64 game. The more and more I think about it, I consider this a negative rather than a positive. I don't know about you but most N64 games are starting to have a similar look to them. Blurry textures, fog, dull colors, etc. Tonic Trouble suffers from all of this. I think if this was a PSX game or a Dreamcast game, the graphics would have been much better but as it stands now, the graphics match the game; average and unoriginal.

Bottom Line

If you are looking for a cutting edge game that has original gameplay then I suggest looking elsewhere. Of you want a game that feels flat and has a very familiar quality to it, thenTonic Trouble may be what you are looking for. I just had a really difficult time getting any sort of a flow going in the game. I think there are better games out there that play very similar to this. I just hope that they do a better job on Rayman 2 or else there are going to be some pretty disappointed people out there.

If you liked Rayman, you might want to check out Tonic Trouble, the latest game from the creators of the popular side-scroller. Fans will immediately see similarities between the two games, most noticeably that the main character in Tonic Trouble, Ed, doesn't have any appendages; he simply has floating white hands and feet--not entirely unlike Rayman. The biggest difference between the two titles, however, is that Rayman was a 2D side-scrolling platform game, and Tonic Trouble is a 3D action-adventure game.

The main character of the game is a Martian by the name of Ed, who accidentally unleashes a can of strange liquid that transforms Earth into a crazy psychedelic land of dangerous vegetables and creatures. He is sent to Earth as punishment to try to repair the damage. You control Ed as he explores 11 different areas (although the developers told us if you do really well you might find an extra, secret one).

Most of the levels are of the "jump from platform to platform, run along this ledge, hit the bad guy before he knocks you off" nature. Some of the stages, however, are specialized and feature different types of gameplay. The first level, for instance, has an incredibly fun snow race in which you careen down a mountain while riding on a Frisbee, all the while avoiding bottomless pits and other life-threatening obstacles. One of the other really cool levels is the Canyon Level. You have to use Ed's gliding ability for nearly the entire duration of the level, and you have to glide over air rises to get a boost to keep you from petering out over the lava. Besides gliding, Ed can learn several different tricks; most notable are his abilities to shoot enemies with a blowpipe, pogo-jump and whack enemies with a stick.

Visually, Tonic Trouble is very bright and colorful, with almost a Saturday-morning cartoon look to it. The game has some really nice water and lighting effects. The only thing Ubi Soft wants to improve before the game ships is the camera tracking and the control. Both are still a little sticky at this point.

In Tonic Trouble, you're Ed. a clumsy alien who dropped a can of mys terious tonic on Earth, causing ecological mutations and evil mayhem. You've been ordered back to clean up the mess, but the tonic has fallen into the hands of the sinister Grogh the Hellish--and it's up to you to stop him.

PUZZLE TROUBLES

Tonic plays like a 3D conversion of Super Mario Bros., offering compact subworlds with unique puzzle-oriented challenges rather than vast vistas of exploration. It's a large game, but mini-quests (like finding six springs in a sub-area) keep the challenges short and sweet. Ed even grows bigger and stronger, like Super Mario, through the use of popcorn.

Tonic's sparse visuals consist of enclosed spaces with uncomplicated textures. Despite impressive effects like electric bolts and glowing rivers, the overall look is resoundingly mediocre. Luckily, the cinematic score nicely sets the mood for each sub-level's motif while cool sound effects, from the battle cry of Super Ed to the thwip of your dart gun, cure some of Tonic's troubles.

CLUNKY CAMERA

As with most 3D platformers. Tonic has some severe camera problems, such as the Zelda-inspired instant-center feature which creates a camera "cut" rather than a pan, jarring your sense of spatial relations. Otherwise, the controls are responsive and adequate--though not as intuitive as Banjo-Kazooie's, Mario 64 s, or Zelda's. In feet, that sentiment just about sums up Tonic Trouble: This is a decent, inspired adventure, but not in the same league as Nintendo's heavyweights.

  • PROTIP: To cool off that super-popcorn spitter, bring the block of ice to its exhaust port.

From the creators of Rayman comes another twisted, cartoony hero with gorgeous, detailed backgrounds and bright, engaging characters. Taking Mario-like action/adventure gaming to its hilt, Tonic Trouble introduces Ed, a happy-go-lucky alien who gets caught up in a plot to save Earth. With 10 worlds (split into different maps) that range from Egyptian pyramids to giant cooking pots, and over 40 different characters to encounter, Tonic looks like young fun.

Snapshots and Media

Nintendo 64/N64 Screenshots

GameBoy Color Screenshots

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