Tak: The Great Juju Challenge

This fall Tak is going on his third journey, and he's taking his friend Lok with him. The two primitive spell-casters have teamed up to win The Great Juju Challenge. Exploration has taken a backseat to action; longevity loses to the potential of speed. Tak and Lok have a series of trials (integrated into several different levels) that they are required to pass in order to win. Most of these are action-oriented – big, linear levels, lots of enemies, high platforms, etc. It's the stuff action/adventure games are made of. The other trials are puzzles, mini-games and things of that sort. 

A Juju Challenge wouldn't be very challenging if you had all day to complete each trial. You know what that means: time limit! Every level is timed. Check points and time limit items increase the number on the clock, giving you more time to see what's waiting for you on far off platform #201 (or whatever presumed number the platform may be). Bonus items and various secrets are out there, but the focus is on the level and how quickly you can get through it.

Points are given based on how well you perform in each level. Did you do anything unnecessary? Were enemies left alive that should have been killed? Were all the check points reached? (Fifty seconds are added to the clock at every check point.) The more time you have left when you finish, the more points that will be rewarded.

This was a risky move on the developers behalf, but the results are excellent. There's a certain level of tension that was not present in the first game because you had all day to finish the level. Now you're rushing, constantly looking for the exit, or anything that will help get you there.

Few objectives are spelled out for the player. You're on your own after the introductory tutorial. It sounds rough, but I found it very liberating. I liked having to think fast and act faster. 

Tak, you distract him your funky dance and I’ll hit him with the hammer! 

Tak's silly-looking chicken suit is back, and Lok has a lobster costume that goes great with tarter sauce. Don these suits for new abilities. Tak swims with ease, but Lok is presumably afraid of (or allergic to) water and cannot go anywhere near it. Put on the lobster suit and that changes. Whereas Tak swims to navigate through the level, Lok can walk under water, collect items and defeat adversarial fish. Water is dense – moving through H2O is no picnic. Part of the challenge in going under water is crossing small walkways without falling to the deadly depths of the ocean.

The other, more strategic element is the necessity to use both characters. Lok is a bit of a primitive jock (minus the arrogance and cheerleader fan base). His strength enables him to throw or carry objects and animals without losing his ability to jump. He can climb vines and keeps a giant hammer on him at all times.

Lok is most commonly needed to throw Tak up to an area he can't reach on his own. You'll have to work with both characters and switch back and forth to pass each level, or plug in a second controller and let a friend take control of one character. Co-op is cool, but the quest was created with single players in mind. Going solo you're always in control of Tak or Lok – if a friend has control of one character there will be times when you have to wait. Wait for them to trigger a platform switch, wait for them to catch up, etc. 

Last one in’s a rotten egg! 

The Xbox version of Tak: The Great Juju Challenge has put me in a hard place. There's a huge part of me that wants to score this version higher than the one for PS2. Better graphics, better picture quality, better controls (it's more of a preference, but I do like the controls better), etc. Until the day Xbox 360 is released the original Xbox still holds the crown for most powerful console, which is what makes scoring this game so difficult. The PS2 version moved consistently, but there were a few brief moments when it did not move consistently on Xbox. There was a slight drop in the frame rate, and for that one or two second period Tak and Lok did not move too well. It's not a huge deal, but of all the versions Xbox should have had the most technically polished game.

Unfortunately my score cannot go any higher, but don't let that stop you from playing it if Xbox is the only console you have. The Great Juju Challenge is great and will be enjoyed by anyone who loves the genre.

Gameplay: 7.9
Tak is back for another great adventure. Given how good the original was it’s hard to say that The Great Juju Challenge is the best in the trilogy, but the combination of gameplay elements between two unique characters cannot be beat. Being able to change characters in real-time is old news; having an important reason to do so – that’s something you don’t see every day.

Graphics: 8.3
Sharper and appearing to run in a higher resolution than the PS2 version, Tak: The Great Juju Challenge is one of the better looking multi-platform games to land on Xbox. The level designs are just amazing. It's like you're walking through this unknown fantasy world, a place unlike the world you know, and yet you never want to leave.

Sound: 8.7
Great fantasy music; unparalleled voice acting. Tak's soundtrack is a rarity for the genre: an epic, fantasy-oriented score with lots of memorable moments. When the characters speak (which they do often), you'll want to listen. Not only is the acting good, but their dialogue was written well (another rarity for the genre).

Difficulty: Easy/Medium
The Great Juju Challenge has a good balance of challenges that are fun, not frustrating. Few of them are truly challenging, but it's still above a cakewalk. Tak is more of a hard cookie that can be softened in a microwave. Find the microwave (figuratively speaking) and the world will soften.

Concept: 7.5
This game is not going to win any awards for innovation, but you’ll love how the series is evolving. As the gameplay bond between Tak and Lok increases, so does the fun, challenge, and originality.

Multiplayer: 7.7

Overall: 7.9
The best dual-character action/adventure you can buy. Tak: The Great Juju Challenge has a beautiful, peaceful world that you’ll want to revisit again and again. The tension-building time limit puts an end to that inevitable feeling that the genre can’t seem to get away from – boring moments where you’re wandering aimlessly with nothing to do. Tak doesn’t give you time to be bored. It doesn’t give you much time to think either, which is ironic. You have to think to get through some of the less obvious levels. Clues are within the level itself; you can’t talk to a fuzzy creature for hints. That nonsense is left in other games. For Tak, all that awaits players is joy.