TY the Tasmanian Tiger 4: Bush Rescue Returns Review

Developer Krome Studios is bringing TY the Tasmanian Tiger 4: Bush Rescue Returns to the Nintendo Switch. The original games in the series were 3D platformers, this entry switches it up and brings TY into a 2D mode (like the titles on the Game Boy Advance) that has the titular hero navigating the levels to save the Aussie Outback. I have never experienced the earlier titles, so these characters are completely new to me. Will this be a memorable title that will be unique and stand out from the other titles in the saturated platformer genre?

The story goes that Boss Cass (who is a Cassowary, a giant flightless bird), who had previously destroyed New Burramudgee by flooding it and creating Lake Burramugee, is back, causing trouble once again. It is up to the members of Bush Rescue to stop Cass and keep the civilians safe. However, as soon as the Rescue stops one disaster, more begin to plague the Southern Rivers, like large amounts of fire spreading throughout the region. Will TY and his friends be able to stop this evil boss before their homes are destroyed?  

The first thing you do is play through a tutorial that teaches you how to control TY. For the most part, the controls are quite standard for a platformer, with the only real differences being that you are attacking with a boomerang and switching out which rang you are currently using. If you hold the jump button down, streams of wind will appear, letting you glide over large gaps or fall at a decreased speed so that you can reach other areas. TY also has a bite ability that lets him chomp a line of berries to get up to a platform or section not accessible by just jumping. This is also used to take you to locations with pie to replenish your health, bags of opals, which are the currency for the store, or to lost koala kids that are in each stage you play.

While playing, you will discover outhouses that are used as checkpoints in the level. If you happen to die, you will resume play from the last shack that you discovered. TY has four hit points, represented by a paw print in the top left of your screen. To recover your health, you will need to eat pie. If it’s a full pie, all your health points are replenished; if it’s just a slice, only one of the four will be filled. The only times that I had to worry about being low on health was when I was facing a stronger, angry enemy. These foes aren’t easily taken down by just throwing any “rang” at them; you will need to use a charged attack to stun them so that you can pass.

In each level, you will meet one of TY’s Aussie-themed friends. Kiwi birds, platypi, dingoes, koalas, and lyrebirds are all here, and each needs your help with a specific task. Dennis the Iguana is scared of the dark and needs you to light all the oil barrels on fire to create light to illuminate his path home. The Lyrebird has a broken leg and arm — well, they claim that they do, but I’m pretty sure it’s a lie — and need you to deliver a package to their place. Some quests have you fixing all the holes in the dam by finding and jamming plugs into each one, and others need to start all the wind turbines in the area. Once you complete any of these tasks, you will earn a purple medallion that acts as a GPS device. You don’t really use it yourself, but it’s one of the items in the stage that you are aiming to collect, like the special berries or finding the two lost koala kids in each level. If you pause the game, you will see a list of special items to collect. You aren’t required to find them all, but if you are the kind of person who is a completionist and wants to 100% the game, you will need to find these.

The stages in TY the Tasmanian Tiger look alright, though there wasn’t much difference in each of the levels; it just felt like you were constantly playing through the same one until you reached a totally different area like the beach. With lush forests, animated mushrooms that you bounce off of, breaking bridges, and all running at 60fps, the action feels quite smooth. Despite this, TY throwing the boomerang feels a bit stiff and wooden. The boss battles were pretty boring and basic, the pattern that the enemy moves in doesn’t create a challenging or exciting experience. At least they were short and didn’t drag on for a long time! The music playing in the levels was good and really catchy, but each track is short and loops a lot, especially when you have long stages with a ton of backtracking you need to do it gets incredibly repetitive. That was my main issue with TY the Tasmanian Tiger 4, it felt quite bland and wasn’t exciting as most of the time, all you were doing was the same thing over and over again. Unless you find one of the time trials hidden in a few of the levels. At least you are doing something a little different and trying to jump through the rings quickly! Though these challenges only last for less than a minute and then you are back to the same old same old again.

It would have helped the gameplay to have it so that you earned new boomerangs as you completed levels instead of letting players buy whichever random one they wanted at any time. This would let the creators make levels that utilise each special “rang” having elements that require the correct weapon to successfully pass. The only time this happens is at the very beginning when you get the Blazerang after completing the first level. This gives you the ability to melt ice and set things like torches or oil barrels on fire. After that level, it’s barely used, and chances are you picked up one of the other seven boomerangs available with your opals like the Deadlyrang or Chaosrang. It is very easy to switch which of the boomerangs you are using, so I think it would have made the levels more interesting by requiring you to use your assortment of weapons to pass each obstacle. At least more entertaining than just trying to take down the contestant barrage of frilled lizards that you face in each of the levels!

TY the Tasmanian Tiger 4 isn’t a broken game by any means, it’s just not overly enthralling to play. This is a platformer that doesn’t really ever punish you, with infinite lives, there is never a risk of getting a game over or even having to start the level over, as you always start at a checkpoint. Each level is a “do this task” three times and is full of extra collectables that don’t really give you anything in the game other than bragging rights. Apparently, they don't really care if you find the lost koala children in each stage as it is not required, and they don’t reward you if you do find them. I think changing some of these issues would make this a more rewarding game to play so that it doesn’t feel like you are wasting a lot of time for nothing. I just want a platformer that has some variety and provides an experience that is rewarding and makes you want to come back for more!