General Information
The game always deserved another crack at finding a wider audience, and so we're delighted that Tomba! Special Edition exists. This is a port that comes equipped with a couple of key modern conveniences: the ability to save anywhere, and a rewind option. In the original release, saving could only be done at signposts scattered throughout the title's interconnected environments, and actually finding them could become something of a chore — especially if you were in a rush to set the controller down.
Needless to say, these new features can spare you from a lot of potential frustration. Tomba! isn't a particularly hard game, but it can be surprisingly tricky — and a little tedious at times. As mentioned, the adventure is set across a web of interconnected areas, and so there's quite a bit of backtracking in order to access previously unreachable locations, or to finish off a quest.
Yep, Tomba!'s got quests. The pink-haired protagonist runs into a bunch of weird characters on his travels, and sometimes, they'll cough up a task, and a subsequent reward when you're done. From finding lost dogs to solving strange riddles, the game's world is stuffed with daft little storylines. The only problem is that actually keeping track of your current objectives can be difficult. There's a quest list and a map, but you'll still need to remember who asked for what and where.
As such, backtracking, complete with chatting up every NPC in the vicinity, can start to bog the experience down. To be fair, it's not like the game's world is especially sprawling — but you'll still find yourself having to exhaust every possibility when you hit a wall. Was there a hidden quest that you missed? A treasure chest with a special item? Maybe you had to talk to that one NPC not once, but multiple times? It gets a bit... convoluted every now and then, in typical PS1-era fashion.
But even with these annoyances, there's a serious amount of charm and madcap 90s energy that runs all the way through Tomba!. It can be an intoxicatingly odd adventure that still feels unique close to three decades after its initial release — and that's partly down to the core gameplay, which has, thankfully, stood the test of time.
The platforming's a satisfyingly tactile mix of jumping, leaping, and grabbing. Indeed, our shorts-sporting hero can grab just about anything — including his enemies — and he can even clamber up most walls, which leads to some interesting level design. You're also afforded a lot of directional control during a jump, and although the sensitivity can take a little getting used to, it gives a kind of skill-based edge to Tomba! that isn't necessarily present in similar titles.
It just feels consistently fun to play once you're in the zone, pouncing from ledge to ledge, swinging on branches, and chucking evil pigs across the screen. What's more, the adventure doesn't outstay its welcome, clocking in at around 7 hours — probably less if you make regular use of the aforementioned rewind system.
The performance is also pretty much flawless on PS5, as you'd rightfully expect. Although having said that, the port does throw up some surprisingly long load times when entering certain locations. Don't get us wrong, the pig-themed load screens are joyous, but the lengthier breaks can be a tad jarring.
Conclusion
Tomba! is still a weird and mostly wonderful little platformer, packed with character and charm from beginning to end. Some of its more convoluted design elements can frustrate, and the backtracking's a bit of a slog at times, but the core, grab-happy gameplay remains satisfyingly fun. And, with the addition of unlimited saves and a rewind function, it's hard not to appreciate and enjoy this revived PS1 oddity.
