Ty the Tasmanian Tiger 2: Bush Fire Rescue HD Review (Switch)

Game: Ty the Tasmanian Tiger 2: Bush Fire Rescue HD
Genre: Action, Adventure, Platformer
System: Nintendo Switch (also on PC, PS4, and Xbox)
Developer|Publisher: Krome Studios
Age Rating: EU 3+ | US Everyone
Price: US $29.99 | UK £23.99 | EU € 29,99
Release Date: March 30th, 2021

Review code provided with many thanks to Krome Studios

Back for Seconds

Ty the Tasmanian Tiger returns for a second outing with Bush Fire Rescue. A game that rewrites the formula of the original game, whilst maintaining the lively Australian characters from the first. I reviewed the first Ty the Tasmanian Tiger which you can find here. Ty the Tasmanian Tiger 2 was released on the Gamecube, PS2 and Xbox in 2004 the game has been brought back to life with a fancy new HD edition thanks to a lively fanbase supporting the game on Kickstarter in January 2021. But was this a project worth rescuing from gaming days of old? Or should it have been left in the past?

Break Out

Cass (a bird) the villain has busted out of prison thanks to a new villain Fluffy (a lizard) and it’s up to Ty and his friends to put him back behind bars whilst also completing a few side quest for good measure. The game begins with one heck of an action sequence with Ty running around defeating enemies with his boomerangs.

Then before you know it Ty is jumping into a mech and taking down giant robots. It feels like something you’re used to seeing at the end of a video game but this is just the opening segment. After this adrenaline rush things quickly calm down and the game moves to a more open-world approach. 

A New Approach

Gone is the collectable gameplay of the first game in the series. This time you are dropped into a large open world where you run around completing missions to progress the story. These missions range from helicopter rescue mini-games, taking out multitudes of enemies in an area and of course lots of platforming. To begin with, this new structure felt a little confusing after playing the first game, it’s much more non-linear this time around. You have a handy mini-map in the bottom right corner of the screen which you can zoom in on, it helps you get your bearings as to where the next mission is.

You can complete the missions in any order you fancy and there is plenty of exploring to do, as well as a pretty entertaining karting mini-game to play in. Sure, this is no Mario Kart, but this does harken back to that lovely era in gaming where developers used to throw as many mechanics as possible into the game. You can also play the kart game in a two-player split-screen from the main menu which is awesome. The orbs you used to collect in the first game now act as currency in this title and are dropped constantly by enemies and by smashing crates. You can then exchange these at the shops for new weapons and other unlockables like new mechs. You can also collect silver cogs which this time act as the currency to unlock new cosmetics. 

Graphical Upgrade

Graphically Ty 2 is a visual improvement over the first game. Ty 2 actually looks like he has two individual eyeballs this time, unlike the first game where he looked like he had Sonic the Hedgehogs one eye socket look. The environments are warm and colourful and pretty standard affairs for a 3D platformer. It didn’t feel like there was as much variety in the environments as in the first game but there is a substantial increase in enemy variety and NPCs just hanging around the areas bringing small pockets of life to the open world.

With its HD boost on Switch, the game performs well in handheld and TV modes. The frame rate feels a little lower this time around but it didn’t break the game experience and there is a lot more happening on screen. Cutscenes are now in the engine and not the ugly prerendered look from the original and the awful voice acting is very much intact here. Yes, terrible Australian puns are present and accounted for. I’m not sure what happened between the first and second game but Ty’s voice is now more high pitched and very annoying, verging on migraine territory. Lucky for me this game does feature subtitles. 

A Nice Drive

The controls are essentially the same but this time Ty can now grind on rails, a feature that seems to take inspiration from Sonic Adventure 2 on Dreamcast. With the new open-world approach TY 2 does feel like a game that is beginning to head in its own direction instead of taking bits and pieces from other 3D platformers like the first game.

The big new addition is being able to drive various vehicles around such as cars, karts and mechs all of which control very well. The latter of which you can use to put out fires and even use underwater. My only niggle with the controls is that jumping often still feels awkward. The moments where you’re navigating platforms at a high altitude and falling means a slow boring climb back up to try again. 

Loaded With Content

Ty 2 will no doubt keep you busy for quite some time. The main campaign takes over 10 hours to finish and there’s plenty of collectables and things to unlock on the side. The overall difficulty is easy to medium meaning this is a game that is unlikely to stress you out too much.

Combat is still fairly straightforward and even the boss fights have pretty simple patterns to overcome, just move about and wait for your moment to strike. With a simple control scheme this was a game I found pretty easy to dip in and out of in handheld mode. 

Conclusion

Is Ty the Tasmanian Tiger 2: Bush Fire Rescue HD better than the original? Well, it’s different. Some folk might miss the collectable gameplay but equally, some may welcome the new open-world formula. Personally, I like games that try new things and even though Ty’s voice gave me headaches, I had a lot of fun exploring the world and competing in the karting mini-games.

The real success story behind Ty 2 is this is a game clearly loved by fans. The fact that the game came to Switch thanks to the supporters on Kickstarter shows that this series clearly has a fan base that is alive and well and ready to accept Ty onto new systems. I hope they enjoyed this product as much as I did. Let’s hope we see Ty 3 someday.

Final Verdict: I like it