Ty the Tasmanian Tiger
Encyclopedia
Ty the Tasmanian Tiger is a 3D platformer video game for the PlayStation 2
, Xbox
and GameCube
. It was developed by Krome Studios
and published by Electronic Arts
. Released in 2002, it is the first game in the Ty the Tasmanian Tiger series.
in which the player controls Ty, a tasmanian tiger, who must gather 72 thunder eggs in order to power the "Talisman Machine", a teleportation
device that will locate all five talisman
s, which will in turn have the power to free his family from the Dream time. The game takes place in "Rainbow Cliffs", which is in turn divided into a series of "Zones", each of which act as the hub areas of the game. Each Zone contains three portals, each of which lead to a level
. The goal of each level is to obtain a select amount of Thunder Eggs, which can be retrieved by either performing a certain task, completing a "Time Attack" challenge that can be unlocked upon said level's completion, freeing five bilbies, a group of animals who raised Ty after his parents were imprisoned, or by being found alongside the level's set path. A level is cleared by collecting a select amount of thunder eggs and reaching the end of the path, which returns Ty to the Zone. Retrieving a thunder egg in a level will cause it to appear on the game's pause menu
. When at least seventeen Thunder Eggs in a Zone are obtained, the player must navigate their way to the Talisman Machine; after the machine manages to locate a talisman, it opens another portal leading to their original locations; inside these portals, the player must fight and defeat a boss character before gaining access to a new Zone.
The player is given a certain amount of lives, which are lost when Ty is attacked by an enemy or falls from a great distance. If all lives are lost at any point in the game, the "Game Over
" screen will appear, in which the player can continue from the last level played by selecting "Yes". Ty has the ability to jump into the air and uses both biting and throwing boomerangs as his primary means of defense. The player begins the game with a generic boomerang, but can gradually increase their collection by collecting fifteen "Golden Cogs
" scattered throughout each level and trading them into scientist
koala
character Julius, who in turn creates a new "Techno-Rang" for the player to use; another method of retrieving a new boomerang is to complete a boss level, after which Julius will harness the excess energy of the Talisman Machine in order to create a new "Elemental 'Rang", each of which possess elemental powers that can be used to gain access to a new Zone. Like Elemental 'Rangs, each Techno-Rang possesses a unique ability, and can alternatively be used to defeat enemies or retrieve Golden Cogs or Thunder Eggs more efficiently. In early levels of the game, Ty can swim in water via dog paddle; however, following the third level "Ship Rex", the player gains the abilities to swim faster and more efficiently and to dive and swim underwater from lifeguard
platypus
character Rex; in addition, Rex gives the player an "Aquarang", a boomerang exclusively used for attacking underwater.
cassowary
Boss Cass and a family of thylacine
s for control of five mystical talismans. Boss Cass managed to trap all the Tigers in the Dreamtime by using these, although the portal was destroyed and the talismans scattered thanks to one of the family members (Ty's father) throwing his boomerang to dislodge the talismans as he was drawn through the portal.
A family of Bilbies
adopted the last Tasmanian Tiger, Ty, who was left behind. Years later, a Bunyip
informs Ty, the Tasmanian Tiger
, about his heritage and Boss Cass. Ty sets out to find the Talismans before Cass to rescue his family and save the outback from Boss Cass' Plan. Ty's old friend, Maurie, a sulphur crested cockatoo, introduces him to a scientist named Julius, a Koala who has invented a device that will find the Talismans and warp him to their locations. The catch is that the device requires a power source unique to the Outback known as Thunder Eggs, which Ty must collect.
With help from his friend Shazza, the Dingo; Park Ranger Ken, the Tasmanian Devil; and Dennis the Green Tree Frog, Ty comes closer to freeing his family and the Outback from the tyrannical domination of Boss Cass.
It is at this point that Cass, learning of Ty's collecting the Thunder Eggs and Talismans, deploys his highest-ranking henchman - another Tasmanian Tiger. Ty and his foe clash several times; and during their last duel (after fighting a Ghost Bat
and her smaller minions), actually saves his rival from falling to his death in a river of lava.
During the final fight against Cass's massive robot, the mysterious other Tiger - Sly - makes an appearance. Declaring he has turned against Cass, he gives Ty the Doomerang their family used to scatter the talismans beforehand, and Ty takes down the cassowary, saving Australia and his family.
, Bush Rescue
was released on all the above platforms, in addition to Game Boy Advance
. Also in 2004, DPS Film Roman and Krome Studios announced they would produce an animated cartoon
series based on the game, but no further reports have been made since then, and it never saw the light of day. In May 2005, Activision
and Krome Studios signed a co-publishing agreement for the third installment of the series: Ty the Tasmanian Tiger 3: Night of the Quinkan
. It was released in October the next year.
PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan...
, Xbox
Xbox
The Xbox is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Microsoft. It was released on November 15, 2001 in North America, February 22, 2002 in Japan, and March 14, 2002 in Australia and Europe and is the predecessor to the Xbox 360. It was Microsoft's first foray into the gaming console...
and GameCube
Nintendo GameCube
The , officially abbreviated to NGC in Japan and GCN in other regions, is a sixth generation video game console released by Nintendo on September 15, 2001 in Japan, November 18, 2001 in North America, May 3, 2002 in Europe, and May 17, 2002 in Australia...
. It was developed by Krome Studios
Krome Studios
Krome Studios is an Australian video game company. Its headquarters are in Brisbane and it previously had offices in Adelaide and Melbourne. Krome Studios is best known for their Ty the Tasmanian Tiger games and for revitalising the Spyro the Dragon series...
and published by Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts, Inc. is a major American developer, marketer, publisher and distributor of video games. Founded and incorporated on May 28, 1982 by Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer games industry and was notable for promoting the designers and programmers...
. Released in 2002, it is the first game in the Ty the Tasmanian Tiger series.
Gameplay
Ty the Tasmanian Tiger is a platform gamePlatform game
A platform game is a video game characterized by requiring the player to jump to and from suspended platforms or over obstacles . It must be possible to control these jumps and to fall from platforms or miss jumps...
in which the player controls Ty, a tasmanian tiger, who must gather 72 thunder eggs in order to power the "Talisman Machine", a teleportation
Teleportation
Teleportation is the fictional or imagined process by which matter is instantaneously transferred from one place to another.Teleportation may also refer to:*Quantum teleportation, a method of transmitting quantum data...
device that will locate all five talisman
Talisman
Talisman have several meanings:*TalismanBooks and novels* The Talisman , a historical novel by Sir Walter Scott* The Talisman , a novel by Stephen King and Peter Straub...
s, which will in turn have the power to free his family from the Dream time. The game takes place in "Rainbow Cliffs", which is in turn divided into a series of "Zones", each of which act as the hub areas of the game. Each Zone contains three portals, each of which lead to a level
Level (video gaming)
A level, map, area, or world in a video game is the total space available to the player during the course of completing a discrete objective...
. The goal of each level is to obtain a select amount of Thunder Eggs, which can be retrieved by either performing a certain task, completing a "Time Attack" challenge that can be unlocked upon said level's completion, freeing five bilbies, a group of animals who raised Ty after his parents were imprisoned, or by being found alongside the level's set path. A level is cleared by collecting a select amount of thunder eggs and reaching the end of the path, which returns Ty to the Zone. Retrieving a thunder egg in a level will cause it to appear on the game's pause menu
User interface
The user interface, in the industrial design field of human–machine interaction, is the space where interaction between humans and machines occurs. The goal of interaction between a human and a machine at the user interface is effective operation and control of the machine, and feedback from the...
. When at least seventeen Thunder Eggs in a Zone are obtained, the player must navigate their way to the Talisman Machine; after the machine manages to locate a talisman, it opens another portal leading to their original locations; inside these portals, the player must fight and defeat a boss character before gaining access to a new Zone.
The player is given a certain amount of lives, which are lost when Ty is attacked by an enemy or falls from a great distance. If all lives are lost at any point in the game, the "Game Over
Game over
Game Over is a message in video games which signals that the game has ended, often due to a negative outcome - although the phrase sometimes follows the end credits after successful completion of a game...
" screen will appear, in which the player can continue from the last level played by selecting "Yes". Ty has the ability to jump into the air and uses both biting and throwing boomerangs as his primary means of defense. The player begins the game with a generic boomerang, but can gradually increase their collection by collecting fifteen "Golden Cogs
Gear
A gear is a rotating machine part having cut teeth, or cogs, which mesh with another toothed part in order to transmit torque. Two or more gears working in tandem are called a transmission and can produce a mechanical advantage through a gear ratio and thus may be considered a simple machine....
" scattered throughout each level and trading them into scientist
Scientist
A scientist in a broad sense is one engaging in a systematic activity to acquire knowledge. In a more restricted sense, a scientist is an individual who uses the scientific method. The person may be an expert in one or more areas of science. This article focuses on the more restricted use of the word...
koala
Koala
The koala is an arboreal herbivorous marsupial native to Australia, and the only extant representative of the family Phascolarctidae....
character Julius, who in turn creates a new "Techno-Rang" for the player to use; another method of retrieving a new boomerang is to complete a boss level, after which Julius will harness the excess energy of the Talisman Machine in order to create a new "Elemental 'Rang", each of which possess elemental powers that can be used to gain access to a new Zone. Like Elemental 'Rangs, each Techno-Rang possesses a unique ability, and can alternatively be used to defeat enemies or retrieve Golden Cogs or Thunder Eggs more efficiently. In early levels of the game, Ty can swim in water via dog paddle; however, following the third level "Ship Rex", the player gains the abilities to swim faster and more efficiently and to dive and swim underwater from lifeguard
Lifeguard
A lifeguard supervises the safety and rescue of swimmers, surfers, and other water sports participants such as in a swimming pool, water park, or beach. Lifeguards are strong swimmers and trained in first aid, certified in water rescue using a variety of aids and equipment depending on...
platypus
Platypus
The platypus is a semi-aquatic mammal endemic to eastern Australia, including Tasmania. Together with the four species of echidna, it is one of the five extant species of monotremes, the only mammals that lay eggs instead of giving birth to live young...
character Rex; in addition, Rex gives the player an "Aquarang", a boomerang exclusively used for attacking underwater.
Plot
Several years ago, an epic battle ensued between would-be dictatorDictator
A dictator is a ruler who assumes sole and absolute power but without hereditary ascension such as an absolute monarch. When other states call the head of state of a particular state a dictator, that state is called a dictatorship...
cassowary
Cassowary
The cassowaries are ratites, very large flightless birds in the genus Casuarius native to the tropical forests of New Guinea, nearby islands and northeastern Australia. There are three extant species recognized today...
Boss Cass and a family of thylacine
Thylacine
The thylacine or ,also ;binomial name: Thylacinus cynocephalus, Greek for "dog-headed pouched one") was the largest known carnivorous marsupial of modern times. It is commonly known as the Tasmanian tiger or the Tasmanian wolf...
s for control of five mystical talismans. Boss Cass managed to trap all the Tigers in the Dreamtime by using these, although the portal was destroyed and the talismans scattered thanks to one of the family members (Ty's father) throwing his boomerang to dislodge the talismans as he was drawn through the portal.
A family of Bilbies
Bilby
Bilbies are desert-dwelling marsupial omnivores; they are members of the order Peramelemorphia. Before European colonisation of Australia, there were two species. One became extinct in the 1950s; the other survives but remains endangered....
adopted the last Tasmanian Tiger, Ty, who was left behind. Years later, a Bunyip
Bunyip
The bunyip, or kianpraty, is a large mythical creature from Aboriginal mythology, said to lurk in swamps, billabongs, creeks, riverbeds, and waterholes....
informs Ty, the Tasmanian Tiger
Thylacine
The thylacine or ,also ;binomial name: Thylacinus cynocephalus, Greek for "dog-headed pouched one") was the largest known carnivorous marsupial of modern times. It is commonly known as the Tasmanian tiger or the Tasmanian wolf...
, about his heritage and Boss Cass. Ty sets out to find the Talismans before Cass to rescue his family and save the outback from Boss Cass' Plan. Ty's old friend, Maurie, a sulphur crested cockatoo, introduces him to a scientist named Julius, a Koala who has invented a device that will find the Talismans and warp him to their locations. The catch is that the device requires a power source unique to the Outback known as Thunder Eggs, which Ty must collect.
With help from his friend Shazza, the Dingo; Park Ranger Ken, the Tasmanian Devil; and Dennis the Green Tree Frog, Ty comes closer to freeing his family and the Outback from the tyrannical domination of Boss Cass.
It is at this point that Cass, learning of Ty's collecting the Thunder Eggs and Talismans, deploys his highest-ranking henchman - another Tasmanian Tiger. Ty and his foe clash several times; and during their last duel (after fighting a Ghost Bat
Ghost Bat
The Ghost Bat , also known as the False Vampire Bat is a bat endemic to Australia, named for the extremely thin membrane of its wings that makes it appear ghostly at night. Ghost Bats have grey fur on their backs and pale grey or white fur on their undersides. They have long, narrow wings but no...
and her smaller minions), actually saves his rival from falling to his death in a river of lava.
During the final fight against Cass's massive robot, the mysterious other Tiger - Sly - makes an appearance. Declaring he has turned against Cass, he gives Ty the Doomerang their family used to scatter the talismans beforehand, and Ty takes down the cassowary, saving Australia and his family.
Sequels
In 2004 a sequelSequel
A sequel is a narrative, documental, or other work of literature, film, theatre, or music that continues the story of or expands upon issues presented in some previous work...
, Bush Rescue
Ty the Tasmanian Tiger 2: Bush Rescue
Ty the Tasmanian Tiger 2: Bush Rescue is the second title in the Ty the Tasmanian Tiger series for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube, and Game Boy Advance produced by Krome Studios in 2004.-Gameplay:...
was released on all the above platforms, in addition to Game Boy Advance
Game Boy Advance
The is a 32-bit handheld video game console developed, manufactured, and marketed by Nintendo. It is the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001; in North America on June 11, 2001; in Australia and Europe on June 22, 2001; and in the People's Republic of China...
. Also in 2004, DPS Film Roman and Krome Studios announced they would produce an animated cartoon
Animated cartoon
An animated cartoon is a short, hand-drawn film for the cinema, television or computer screen, featuring some kind of story or plot...
series based on the game, but no further reports have been made since then, and it never saw the light of day. In May 2005, Activision
Activision
Activision is an American publisher, majority owned by French conglomerate Vivendi SA. Its current CEO is Robert Kotick. It was founded on October 1, 1979 and was the world's first independent developer and distributor of video games for gaming consoles...
and Krome Studios signed a co-publishing agreement for the third installment of the series: Ty the Tasmanian Tiger 3: Night of the Quinkan
Ty the Tasmanian Tiger 3: Night of the Quinkan
Ty the Tasmanian Tiger 3: Night of the Quinkan is the third installment of the video game series, Ty the Tasmanian Tiger. It is the only game in the series to be published by Activision instead of Electronic Arts, which published the game's two predecessors. It was developed by Krome Studios and...
. It was released in October the next year.
Reception
The game received mixed to fair reviews. The Xbox version has a score of 68, the Gamecube version has a score of 69, and the PlayStation 2 version has a score of 70, all on Metacritic.Scores
- GameSpotGameSpotGameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which...
- 7.5 out of 10 - IGNIGNIGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
- 6.8 out of 10 - GameProGameProGamePro Media was a United States gaming media company publishing online and print content on the video game industry, video game hardware, and video game software developed for a video game console , a computer, and/or a mobile device . GamePro Media properties include GamePro magazine and...
- - EurogamerEurogamerEurogamer is a Brighton-based website focused on video games news, reviews, previews and interviews. It is operated by Eurogamer Network Ltd., which was formed in 1999 by brothers Rupert and Nick Loman. Eurogamer has grown to become one of the most important European-based websites focused on...
- 5 out of 10
External links
- Krome Studios Krome Studios
- EA's official Ty site EA's official Ty site
- Bush Rescue Bush Rescue site
- ty.kromestudios.com Krome studios TY site