#TEMBO THE ELEPHANT FULL#

A badass? So rarely is he allowed to feel like one. What happened to smash this, bash that? Tembo is an elephant on an offensive warpath.

There's no sense of power it's a sense of being overwhelmed. Instead it's mostly played in an obnoxiously safe pitter-patter – adorably, but still - tip-toeing between missiles and bazookas and bombs and tanks. Tembo's are constructed for an elephant charging forward with such speed that a sonic boom surrounds his tusk. Variety is praised, but it's a killer when done wrong. There's no sense of power it's a sense of being overwhelmed.ĭoing the same thing repetitively under the right conditions is comforting. It's why Tembo tries to be Sonic without being brave enough to tweak things through learned behavior. Sequels exist en masse because different is scary, or worse, not profitable.

They drown out the “different” no one wants. It's why app stores are overly slathered in tap-tap-tap strategy “war” games designed to pilfer real money in exchange for fake money. Tell adults they want different or variety. Tell that to kids who have pucker lips from kissing their iPad, thanking it for letting them play more of the same Minecraft. “Audiences don't want the same, they want different,” but that's wrong. Squeeze by those, move forward, and maybe Tembo opens up. Instead, it's stop-and-go, dealing with control/attack functions designed for speed in scrunched arenas not designed for speed.

#TEMBO THE ELEPHANT FULL#

Tembo needs Rayman Origins' exquisite, full sprint music-themed stages. Those moments where Tembo is allowed freedom - smashing through Shell City (although saving towns via destruction seems to counteract the elephantine heroism) and bopping purple-clad Phantom Invaders are bliss. The spirit of this elephant is caught somewhere inside of an endless runner. Kanye West jokes are old, but Sonic is too. “Yo elephant, I know you want to run fast, break stuff, and eat peanuts, but here's a level designed so you can't. It is as if Tembo's existence is overruled by Kanye West. Tembo is designed to run fast, break stuff, and eat peanuts (there's a pinball stage too), but like Sonic, Tembo is consistently interrupted by entrapping level design. Tembo is the best Sonic the Hedgehog game in years, despite having nothing to do with Sonic other than sharing a publisher in Sega. Sega's Lineage It is as if Tembo's existence is overruled by Kanye West. Only in a video game would something this absurd be accompanied by elaborate orchestration where some themes appear to be culled from Rambo. Odd, weird, and kooky all fit as descriptors. Friendly violence, a sense of mischief, those boldly drawn outlines. George of the Jungle, Danger Mouse, Dudley Do Right Tembo wants in their club. Tembo is as illogical as '60s era cartoon shows.

Tembo the elephant