The Baconator Returns

HIGH It’s endlessly charming. The new soundtrack is fantastic.

LOW The extra features are not explained. The museum lacks polish.

WTF Tomba keeps items in his stomach, like Snake did with cigarettes in Metal Gear Solid…

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Tomba! Special Edition is a reminder of the bygone days of the PS1, when developers took experimental approaches to the then-new Sony console. Tomba!, a 2.5D game from 1997, defied the logic that 3D was where every developer should be heading. What resulted was an experience that still looks beautiful, has a ton of charm, a cult following, and remains enjoyable more than 20 years after its debut.

Tomba! Special Edition is an action-platformer with light RPG elements. The titular character must defeat the evil Koma Pigs to recover his stolen bracelet. Along the way, Tomba will encounter and befriend many creatures and people who need help, while also carrying out objectives to advance the story, finding ways to the evil pigs’ lairs, or opening new pathways to needed items in this fairly non-linear adventure.

The characters are all endearing and charming in their own way. From standard fantasy dwarves to wilder fare like mouse cowboys, each area was packed with unique and colorful characters. Each map is bright and picturesque, and the music has been wonderfully enhanced with a remastered soundtrack that pops.

Looking at the gameplay, platforming is the star of the show here, as Tomba is given various methods to traverse the world, such as a parasol for slowing down his fall rate or a grapple line to grab and swing from various objects. The 2.5D aspect also allows Tomba to go into the background and play in a different part of some levels. This was a pretty clever way to add… depth…. to platformers, which often didn’t use background layers like this. In this aspect, Tomba! excels.

To dispatch enemies, Tomba must jump and grab onto them, so that he can then fling them. Sometimes stunning them is necessary first, and combat never became dull since different enemies required unique strategies. The boss pigs in particular were a highlight, as each has their own arena where the objective is to throw them into an Evil Pig Bag. (Yes, it’s called that.)

As Tomba! Special Edition is an updated release, there are some great quality-of-life features that I found incredibly helpful during my time playing. For starters, there’s a helpful rewind feature that allowed me to move the game back anywhere from a few seconds to a few minutes. This allowed me to retry difficult platforming sections without losing progress or health. There’s also a way to save at any time, which made the challenge even more friendly to new players of the series, like myself.

In addition, a museum feature allowed me to view art and documents, such as advertisements and manuals. There were also videos with Tokuro Fujiwara (director and creator of the series) about the development process of the original Tomba! and a music player where any of the tracks can be listened to.

While this new version of an old classic seems great as I’ve described it so far, there are a few issues with both the game and the supplementary material.

For example, with the historical videos, there’s no way to rewind or even pause the playback. This seems like a pretty standard feature in 2024, and the omission of any controls here is pretty annoying.

In regards to the game itself, it suffers from long load times between areas. In many cases, this isn’t really noticeable, but when having to many between short screens in succession, it became an annoyance. There’s also noticeable frame juddering, particularly when weather effects are present.

Also annoying is that the rewind and save features are not explained to the player beforehand. I figured them out by pressing random buttons, which is hardly optimal. New features like these need to be explained, so people will know exactly how to take full advantage of them. (The music also cuts out for a few seconds when using rewind, taking me out of the mood.)

Mechanically, Tomba! Special Edition suffers from some wonky physics, although these issues were present in the original. When swinging between platforms, it’s common to miss the next one due to how easy it is to overshoot an object and how little time to correct there is. Jumping also feels imprecise, often feeling too floaty.

Finally, mission design is often a bit too obtuse for its own good. For example, sometimes it’s necessary to talk to unassuming NPCs several times despite not having any reason to do so. There’s also a good deal of backtracking to be done, and sometimes I felt frustrated wasting time looking for answers, only to find that something else needed to be done first. Clearly, we’ve learned a lot about signposting and quest structure since the game was originally designed.

Tomba! Special Edition is a charming reminder of the experimental days of the PS1 era, and the cute characters and wonderful soundtrack still appeal. However, the flaws in this port and some of the game’s original issues might make it a bit tough for newcomers to fully embrace this beloved cult classic.

Rating: 7 out of 10

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Disclosures: This version of Tomba! is developed and published by Limited Run Games. It is currently available on PS4/5, XBO/X/S, Switch and PC. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on PS5. Approximately 8 hours was devoted to the game, and it was not completed. There is no multiplayer mode.

Parents: This game has an ESRB rating of E10+ rating for Alcohol Reference, Crude Humor, and Mild Fantasy Violence. The ESRB rating states: “This is an adventure platformer in which players follow a hero (Tomba) attempting to retrieve a stolen keepsake from evil pigs. From a side-scrolling perspective, players traverse whimsical environments while collecting fruit, performing quests, and defeating animal/monster enemies. Players use a spiked ball to knock out enemies; player can also grab and toss pigs into other characters. One mission involves fixing a pump to provide wine for a village. One level depicts pixelated cherub characters urinating on the ground; the cartoony cherubs’ pelvic regions and buttocks are briefly depicted. ”

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind options.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: The game offers subtitles, but only during gameplay. Subtitles cannot be resized. (See example above.) This game is not accessible, due to a lack of subtitles during voiced cutscenes.

Remappable Controls: No, this game’s controls are not remappable. A screen will appear before the game is started that explains the controls. On PS5, circle attacks with the equipped weapon, X is for jumping and can be used to scroll through text, square is for interacting with objects and NPCs, triangle opens up the items menu, the touchpad opens the entire menu, L2 opens the rewind menu, and R2 opens the emulation menu. The first areas of the game will also explain them. However, there is no way to reference most of these controls without either restarting the game (since backing out to the main menu is not possible) or going back to the tutorial areas. The rewind and save anywhere features are not explained at all.

Front(line) Mission

HIGH Good tools enrich the solid gameplay.

LOW The controls and interface are a bit clunky.

WTF Excuse me, just going to drive this Sherman through a building now…

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Despite World War II ending nearly 80 years ago, gamers seem no less interested in the subject, and Headquarters: World War II allows them to relive legendary battles via an incredibly well-built strategy framework that captures the spirit of commanding troops in some of the conflict’s most pitched encounters.

Headquarters: World War II is a turn-based strategy game, where players’ troops start at a predetermined area of the map, and must capture objectives. Each side has access to a limited number of units, such as tanks, ground infantry, artillery groups, and more.

The main campaign features three factions for players to choose from — the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany. Each of the campaigns features iconic and legendary battles, such as the Omaha Beach landing, Operation Good Wood, and Operation Tillich. Each features a difficulty selection, alongside a custom difficulty setting with adjustable sliders for accuracy and damage, both for the player and enemy.

Every unit’s ‘health’ consists not of hit points, but instead, how many men are left in a particular unit. As each unit is damaged (loses men) its combat effectiveness is diminished. For example, an infantry unit may not be as accurate when firing, or a tank may not be able to drive as far in a turn. Each troop is visually depicted on the battlefield and in the status screen of the unit.

Ally and enemy squads also have morale, which will cause teams to run away if depleted — helpful in herding retreating enemies to a position where a trap has been laid. In one skirmish, I was able to drive an enemy away from hard cover and into the open once they lost their nerve, at which point the rest of the unit was dispatched. Morale affects allied units too, though, so the player’s morale should be kept as high as possible. This really made me think about which units to send ahead, and which to have fall back.

When attacking, each combatant is subject to fire from the other side. Terrain, cover, and manpower determine how accurate each group will be. There are also some units impervious to specific types of fire. For example, an infantry squad is unable to destroy a tank under any circumstances, but I could use recon units to spot tanks so my artillerymen could blast them from afar — it never failed to make me feel accomplished in my strategy.

In addition to this, units also have unique abilities. Recon troops can spot enemies from farther away than others can. Transport trucks can move troops around without any action cost to the unit they’re moving, mobile artillery can deliver long-distance pain to faraway enemies, and so on.

There are also some special abilities that take a few turns to recharge after using them. The most helpful was the “reinforcement” command, which allowed one unit to completely replenish its troops, allowing them a chance to recover ranks (essentially healing the unit) every three turns. There are also spy planes which allowed me to see units I hadn’t spotted yet, as well as extra artillery and naval gunfire, which could soften or destroy targets, but had a longer cooldown.

These were all incredibly nice to have, as they provided me with some extra options that I didn’t normally have on hand, or had in short supply. These helpful resources made the playthrough more enjoyable, not because it gave me an unfair advantage, but because I had to be judicious with their usage.

There is also a player vs. AI skirmish mode, which allows players to set up a random battle on a predetermined map, or make their own. This adds replayability, as it offers a lot of control on the mechanics of this mode, so players who’ve beaten the campaigns can create their own battles.

The whole package is pretty extensive, and I had a great time going through each map, each with its own goals and objectives that tasked me to rescue allies or capturing convoy materials, for example. I was challenged with using all the tools given to me to attain victory, and I never felt like any of the missions were impossible. With a good understanding of the toolkit, there were no roadblocks to progress — every mistake was my own, and I made sure to learn from them.

While the majority of Headquarters: World War II is aces, one issue I had was with the UI – it gets very crowded with information at times!

While it was nice to have plenty of info, it made things a bit hard to read for me. It did become a little tricky to see units with how cluttered the screen was, and removing some elements (like completed objectives) would have freed up some of the real estate. Related, some elements were simply hard to see, not due to crowding, but because of the fonts and colors. Stats about my currently selected unit, the mini map, the available forces I had, and combat predictions were muddy and tough to parse as they were displayed on a brown background, with the text being only slightly brighter. Leaving the text white would have alleviated this issue.

Headquarters: World War II is an excellent game for WWII enthusiasts and strategy aficionados alike. It provides a great amount of tools for players to use on the battlefield, in addition to plenty of options to tailor the experience to their needs. Some UI and interface issues diminish the experience a bit, it will still provide many hours of enjoyable warfare for fans of the material.

Rating: 8 out of 10

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Disclosures: This game is developed by Starni Games and published by Slitherine Ltd. It is currently available on PC. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher, and reviewed on PC. Approximately 6 hours was devoted to the game, and it was not completed. There is an online multiplayer mode for up to four players.

Parents: This game is not rated by the ESRB rating. This game is set in World War II, and allied and enemy units can be killed in a variety of ways, including gunfire, flamethrowers, artillery, and so on. However, the deaths are never gory or violent. Troops will simply collapse as they are dispatched, and machines and tanks will explode. There is some dated language and insults, such as use of the phrase “Kraut” when the German military is discussed by American troops.

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind options.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: The game does offer subtitles, but cannot be resized. (See examples above and below.) All voiced dialogue is accompanied by subtitles. The text can be a tad difficult to read, and therefore this game is not accessible.

Remarkable Controls: No, this game’s controls are not remappable.