Ty the Tasmanian Tiger 2: Bush Rescue Review

Ty returns for a second outing on the GCN, PS2, and Xbox. It returns heavily improved from the original. The game now has seamless level design, where you’ll go from one area on the map, to another, without a load screen. Instead, they replace load screens with giant metal doors, which take a few seconds to open. Thankfully, they aren’t frequent, but instead are placed near each world that you’ll enter.

The game starts with Ty and his friends fending off a jailbreak. Reptiles are flooding in around the prison grounds. It’s your job, as Ty, to prevent their attempt to free Boss Cass. In this first level, you will be acquainted with the control setup, along with the mech that you’ll play as. You’ll need to shoot drop ships, giant robots, and finally, defeat the boss at the end of the level, only to see her release Boss Cass.

Once released, Boss Cass declares himself the president of Cassopolis. Cass is granted diplomatic immunity, thus making Ty and his boomerangs (rangs for short) useless. Throughout the game, you’ll encounter Cass’ minions, but the game revolves around chores that you’ll have to do for various characters in the game.

Speaking of rangs, boomerangs are the primary way to kill baddies. You can also bite them, but boomerangs prove much more affective, since you won’t be up-close all the time. You’ll need to purchase your boomerangs from the store, of which one is provided for each hand. On top of the elemental rangs, there are also rangs that let you hook, swing, and stun. Say you want to drop a ladder. Simply pull out your hook, and presto, the ladder drops and you can now climb it.

Examples of the mission types in the game would include freeing a sewer of crocs, rescuing sheep from a horrible death with a helicopter, constructing a freeway with a helicopter, delivering lunch to a group of hungry workers, clearing a Hollywood set of ninjas, generating enough power to enable tourists to visit an attraction, etc. This, all in a day’s work. Ty will also combat bosses, put out fires on an oilrig and a village (using a mech), kart race for bonus opals, and collect various items.

Ty 2 has a map reminiscent of Grand Theft Auto, somewhat. You’ll usually have three missions to choose from, marked by different colors on your map. The map can be zoomed in/out, and turned off. It marks roads, paths, stores, etc. The red mark signifies a mission that you have to hit. All other missions are secondary. Secondary missions don’t affect the story, but will give you valuable opals, which can be traded in for new rangs.

Ty 2 makes good use of vehicles. You’ll be using a jeep to drive from locations outside of the main village. This is where the game enables you to roam freely. You’ll run into tracks, designed to extend replay value by way of kart racing. Speed boosts, ice bombs, missiles, and other powerups are all used to give your kart an edge over the competition. This mode is also playable from the title screen.

There’s no doubt about it; the developers made Ty 2 to be free-roaming platforming goodness. If for nothing else, you can have a good time adventuring through the game’s numerous locations. The sprawling environments, seamlessly attached via roads and paths, put Ratchet and Clank to shame in level design. Open-endedness runs rampant in these parts. If you’re looking for structure, go elsewhere.

Overall, the gaming experience found when playing Ty 2 was surprisingly challenging at times. I came into Ty 2 expecting a children’s game, and left with the impression that only people that have played platformers before should play this. Electronic Arts can now proudly say it has a platforming mascot, though its splendor won’t match that of Mario, Ratchet and Clank, or Sly Cooper. At least, not yet.