Tak 2: The Staff of Dreams

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Tak 2: The Staff of Dreams
Tak is back! Braver, faster, stronger, and dreamier than before!
Protagonist(s): Tak
Genre(s): Platform
Platform(s): PlayStation 2
Nintendo GameCube
Xbox
Game Boy Advance
Release Date: NA: October 11, 2004
AU: March 11, 2005
EU: March 24, 2005
Developer(s): Avalanche Software
Nick Games
Publisher(s): THQ
Country: United States
Series: Tak and the Power of Juju
Predecessor: Tak and the Power of Juju
Successor: Tak: The Great Juju Challenge


Tak 2: The Staff of Dreams is a platform game developed by Avalanche Software and Nick Games, and published by THQ, for the PlayStation 2, Nintendo GameCube, Xbox, and Game Boy Advance. It is the second game in the Tak and the Power of Juju series, and the sequel to Tak and the Power of Juju.

Why It's a Dreamy Juju

  1. Many improvements to gameplay were made in this game, including:
    • Tak can now glide to reach farther distances instead of pole vaulting with a Blowgun. He can also glide farther if you use Juju Speed.
    • You obtain Juju Techniques through story progression rather than having to find the spells in the overworld.
    • You can now throw balls of Juju Energy at foes to stun them, or use it to power up your other attacks.
    • You have two kinds of weapons: melee weapons that damage enemies from close range (and the Dream Shaker also has powers over Dream Rifts), and ranged weapons called Bolas that can pull enemies or objects towards you or stun the former by tying them up.
    • Feathers are only used to restore Tak's health and Mana, and are no longer tied to Juju spells. Additionally, Tak has a health and Mana meter rather than a damage percentage and Feather count.
  2. Bright, colorful graphics that are a step up from the previous games, especially in the Dream World. The locations are also well-designed, including Greenheart Forest, the Woodie Arena, Silverfin River, the Pachyderm Shrine, Gyre Mountain, Hotfoot Springs, and many more.
  3. The old characters (especially Tak, Lok, Jibolba, and Tlaloc) are still their likable selves, while the new ones (such as JB/Jibolba's Brother, Flora's younger sister Fauna, Mind Reader Juju, and Giant Misunderstanding) are good additions to the cast with plenty of personality.
  4. Animal interactions return in this game, and sometimes you can get their help/put them to sleep by throwing Jibolba (in his flea form) at them. There are also a few new ones, such as the bear bouncer, bee swarms, etc.
    • Throughout the second half of the game, you also unlock the power to transform into animals via Animal Totems, which is reminiscent of the final battle with Tlaloc at the end of the game except that you can choose which one you want to become at the Totem crossroads.
  5. Solid controls as usual, despite being a little slower than the predecessor.
  6. Just like the previous game, the soundtrack composed by Kevin Cleland and Mai Tai Studios is excellent and incorporates tribal themes into it.
  7. The story continues from the previous game, and is just as well-written, if not better than, its ancestor.
    • The game starts off as a simple "save the princess" story while Tak and Jibolba go to visit the former's brother JB, but midway through the game, it completely subverts the player's expectations when it's revealed that Pins and Needles were the "princess" and Tlaloc played Tak like an instrument so he could get his hands on the titular Staff of Dreams.
  8. The new enemies, the Woodies, have creative designs and are much more intimidating than the Nerbils were. They also come in several varieties, including Woodie Shamans and Woodie Warriors.
  9. There are minigames known as Dinky Games, some of which must be unlocked by Potion Cards, and they are a nice diversion from the main story mode.
    • In addition to playing as Tak, you can also play as other characters, such as Jibolba, Flora and Fauna, Lok, Dead Juju, and even Tlaloc!
    • Some locations used in the Dinky Games are areas and concepts from the original game.
  10. The combat is way better than in the first game due to having more moves to use and for being very fast-paced, and it's also very fun to use, despite being simplistic.

Bad Qualities

  1. The game is much more linear than its predecessor, with no central hub world to access levels and some Juju Potion cards being permanently missable unless one plays through the game again.
  2. The river sections are terrible, with somewhat slippery controls and requiring pefect reaction time to not crash into rocks or Woodies.
  3. The Game Boy Advance port, while it had great combat and decent controls, is a major step back from it's predecessor on the GBA and is inferior to the console counterpart due to how poorly designed the levels are, kind of similar to Rayman 2 Forever.

Reception

Tak 2 received mixed-to-positive reviews from critics and generally favorable reviews from users (the PS2 version scored 8.3/10), with many considering it an improvement over the previous game. Praise was directed at the improved gameplay, colorful graphics, and soundtrack, it got a score of 75 for the GameCube version[1], 73 for the Xbox version[2] and a 71 for the PS2 version[3], the GBA version howewer had received negative reviews, scoring a 45 on Metacritic[4]

This game is also considered by fans the best game in the series.

Trivia

  • This is the only game in the series to officially have a number in the title.
  • This is the first title in the series to be released on Xbox.
  • Originally, the four spirit animals Tak would be able to choose from in Moon Juju Interlude were going to be the bear, the frog, the squirrel, and the boar. The developers changed the animals to dragon, jaguar, eagle, and piranha to give the game more variety.
  • In a Game Spot developer interview from 2004, there was mention of an alchemy system that was not in the final release of the game.
    • There are unused voice clips where Jibolba explains how the alchemy system would work, such as Tak being able to use potions to heal himself.
    • It is possible that the alchemy system became the Juju Potion system used within the pause menu.
    • This is similar to the alchemy system featured in Tak: Mojo Mistake.
  • The story is radically different in the Gameboy Advance version. Tak's dream was confirmed as real, Tlaloc was never transformed into a sheep (despite him being depicted as one on the cover art) and you do not get to use the Dream Shaker (or any other weapon besides the Thwark).
    • This is most likely because of the Gameboy Advance version of the first game having a different ending than the console version (in-which Tlaloc is not turned into a sheep).

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References

  1. ↑ https://www.metacritic.com/game/tak-2-the-staff-of-dreams/critic-reviews/?platform=gamecube
  2. ↑ https://www.metacritic.com/game/tak-2-the-staff-of-dreams/critic-reviews/?platform=xbox
  3. ↑ https://www.metacritic.com/game/tak-2-the-staff-of-dreams/critic-reviews/?platform=playstation-2
  4. ↑ https://www.metacritic.com/game/tak-2-the-staff-of-dreams-2004/

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