Tak and the Power of Juju
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| Tak and the Power of Juju | ||||||||||||||||||
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 Some heroes are born. Some heroes are made. Some...make it up as they go.
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Tak and the Power of Juju is an action-adventure platform game developed by Avalanche Software and Nick Games, and published by THQ, for the PlayStation 2 and Nintendo GameCube. It is the first game, as well as the first piece of media, in Nickelodeon's Tak and the Power of Juju franchise, and the first Nick Game to not be based on any Nicktoons at the time of its release.
Good Qualities
- The concept of a tribal nation that utilizes magic via spirits known as Jujus is a very unique and interesting one, especially in a Nicktoons game. The story and gameplay reflect this, with Tak helping to restore his village and people by finding Lok's spirit and body, while meeting Jujus and learning spells along the way.
- Even better, since this is the first Nick Game to not be a tie-in to any Nicktoon at the time, Avalanche Software could go all-out with characterizations, level designs and the story.
- Great soundtrack composed by the writers at Mai Tai Studios, which fits in with the tropical island vibe the game has.
- The trailers for the game even have a cover of "Wild Child" performed by Wakefield, which makes a great theme for Tak himself.
- Excellent graphics for 2003 Nicktoon game standards, with a wide variety of locations to explore, including tropical rainforests (Upper and Lower Tree Village), the Burial Grounds, a desert (Numa Dunes and Dryrock Canyon), and even a tropical beach known as Chicken Island.
- Many memorable characters with a lot of personality, including Tak himself (the protagonist and eventual Chosen Warrior after he fulfills the prophecy), Jibolba (the shaman of the Pupanunu people), Moon Juju (the Juju who blesses the Pupanunu people with her powers of protection), Tlaloc (the main antagonist who stole Moon Juju's powers and turned all of the Pupanunu people into sheep), etc.
- The Jujus themselves are also unique, colorful characters who help Tak reach new areas of the game's universe (such as the Two-Headed Juju giving Tak a chicken suit so he can traverse Chicken Island West to collect the Conversion spell, or Dinky Juju causing a quake when Tak upsets him that moves platforms to access Numa Dunes).
- Interesting choices of weapons: you start off with a simple Club that later gets permanently replaced by the Spirit Rattle (a cactus mace that allows Tak to use Rattle Powers), and in the Burial Grounds Tak obtains a Blowgun that lets him pole vault to higher areas and shoot acorns at the Nerbils.
- Excellent voice acting, with a variety of well-known actors such as Jason Marsden (Tak), John Kassir (Jibolba), Patrick Warburton (Lok), Tina Illman (Moon Juju), Jennifer Hale (Flora), Jeff Bennett (Caged Juju/Two-Headed Juju's Left Head/Mummies/Pins & Needles), and Rob Paulsen (Tlaloc/Dead Juju/Two-Headed Juju's Right Head).
- You can obtain a variety of Juju Spells that will aid you in your journey, including some passive skills (Mana Pouch, Longer Life, Spirit Sight, etc.) and some spells you cast yourself (Juju Compass, Conversion, Spirit Strike, etc.)
- Solid controls, as they are responsive and will never be clunky and unresponsive at all. Swapping between weapons and powers can also be done with the press of a button (L2 and R2/L or R+Z to change Juju powers and R1 or R to swap weapons).
- You can interact with animals in various ways, such as carrying sheep to power devices or get flung on trees, having orangutans fling you across hard-to-reach areas, riding rhinos to destroy barriers, and even riding a phoenix-like bird in the Sun Temple boss fight.
- The plot twist that Tak is actually the Pupanunu People's Might Warrior instead of Lok, despite being predictable, is well-handled considering all that Tak did to save Lok and give Moon Juju her powers back.
Bad Qualities
- Finding all 200 yorbels is easier said than done, given that some of them are in such out-of-the-way places that the player may miss without the help of the Juju Compass spell. Luckily, you only need 100 of them to restore Lok's spirit to his body.
- Surfing in Numa Dunes and Powder Canyon is pretty wonky and takes some time to get used to, especially in the latter because there are bottomless pits in some sections that will cause you to lose your entire boost meter.
- Swapping Juju powers in the GameCube version requires you to hold down the shoulder buttons while pressing Z. Thankfully, the PS2 version uses the L2 and R2 buttons by themselves to do this.
- Except for the final fight against Tlaloc, most of the bosses are lacking in variety, as they are just some variation of Pins and Needles using different tactics to defeat Tak.
- The TV series based on the game isn't good, as it's barely faithful to this or its sequels, as well as flanderizing most of the characters.
Reception
Tak and the Power of Juju received mixed reviews from critics (with the PS2 version scoring 68/100 on Metacritic) and generally favorable reviews from players (with the PS2 version scoring 7.8/10). The art style, unique concepts, soundtrack, and story were all praised, while minor criticism was directed at the yorbel collection.
Trivia
- The engine of this game was later used for Dragon Ball Z: Sagas, another game from Avalanche Software.
- According to Avalanche Studio's John Blackburn, Tak was conceived in 1996 and then pitched to THQ and Nickelodeon.
- This was the first game licensed by Nick Games not based on a Nickelodeon cartoon series. This was new for the time, as no game company that was based around a television channel had done this before.
- It's possible that the Gameboy Advance version was completed before the console version, for Lok's and Tlaloc's sprites resemble their conceptual art more than their final designs and Dead Juju going by Death Juju.
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