This is a game that I was not particularly familiar with and that’s surprising because it seems to be a fairly big game that was well thought out. It’s a 3D platformer that can hold its own with all the big guns. I had a lot of fun here and while the game is a little on the short side, I thought it worked well. It made sure that the collectathon parts never got to be too overbearing or anything like that. Fun was the priority here and I appreciate that. You do need to have a lot of orbs to access the final boss but none were hidden away too crazily like they were trying to stump you.

The story starts with the main character making an oopsie and a chemically powered drink lands on a nearby planet and infects everything. He needs to go and clean things up but unfortunately a local viking lord took the serum and has now become extra huge and powerful. Defeating him will not be easy so our lead is going to have to lock in! Fortunately there is a genius inventor who can help you. He will need a lot of orbs and relics in order to create a final instrument of destruction though.

So that’s the format for what you will be doing. Each world has a number of collectibles to be obtained and a bunch of enemies trying to stop you. The game is light on actual bosses though so a lot of the platforming is really about solving puzzles and using a whole lot of athletics. Nothing that you haven’t contended with before though. What I like about this game right off the bat is how fun the hub world is. It’s colorful and big without being a chore to get through. It’s fairly quick to run from world to world as well.

At times it may take you a little while to get it all memorized though. The main menu is also a great way of keeping track of how many collectibles you are missing. The quality of life features are really on point here. The developers did everything they could in order to make this a fun experience. There are still a few puzzles that will give you some trouble and one that I never figured out but you don’t need literally all of the collectibles in order to beat the game. So just get enough of them and you will be all set.

The graphics have aged really well. Like I mentioned, the artstyle is really colorful which fits the game really well. Then we have the soundtrack which is good. There aren’t any tunes in particular that really stood out for me but they all did their part in enhancing the overall experience. This was very well balanced on all sides. While there isn’t really a post game, you can grab all of the collectibles. Maybe that would at least get you a bonus scene at least.

So there is a decent amount of replay value here. Also for platformers you are generally playing them to just have a good time so this definitely works in that respect. I’m surprised they didn’t make a bunch of Tonic games, I guess in general people were less impressed with it than I was. It had good gameplay and a solid amount of cutscenes so you know that would in me over right away.

Aside from smacking your opponents, you also have a little gun at the ready. It’s really useful and for that reason it has limited ammo until the final world begins. You can hit enemies from really long distances and of course it also works on various traps that are out of range. I recommend using this as often as possible. Then you eventually learn how to glide which is super useful. You will quickly wonder how you ever played without it.

It’s another basic, but important fundamental of the game. After each world you will learn a new skill which allows you to reach more locations. The game doesn’t force you to backtrack as often as other titles though. Generally you can reach around 80-90% of the collectibles on your first visit to a location. Then you would go back to grab the very last ones. This is exactly how this kind of game should play out. It’s how you make collectathons fun.

Then in one of the last levels you get a marathon of classic puzzles. For example arranging blocks into a specific image is one of them. Another is connecting lights together where each switch activates all adjacent spots. I always like these brain teasers so those are fun puzzles to go with. They are puzzles that always feel fair as it’s just up to you to logically make your moves. There is also a reset option for all of these if you want a fresh slate.

I’m not saying the game is a walk in the park either. It’s not the most difficult platformer I’ve played but I did die a number of times. I also did use the rewind a bit when falling to save time. So you can’t exactly close your eyes and play this one. Still, I thought that the difficulty was fair the whole time. When you die, it’s generally because of something you did. Only exception is an occasional camera angle that’s kinda wonky.

Overall, Tonic Trouble is a fun game to play through. It’s a very old school platformer and yet it’s one that has more quality of life features than some modern games. It really felt like the devs were thinking of the player the whole time and I appreciate that. If you have the Nintendo Switch Online then you should play this game asap. It’s not one that you will want to keep on the backburner for long.

Overall 7/10