WiiWare Roundup

Toki Tori

• Developer: Two Tribes
• Wii Points: 900
• In Real Money: GBP 6.30 / EUR 9 approx

Third time lucky? This game first saw the light of day in 1994 on the MSX, under the uninspiring title of Eggbert. Revamped and relaunched on the GameBoy Color in 2001 as Toki Tori, it was greeted with critical warmth but commercial indifference. Having spent a few years trying to make it as a mobile phone game, it's back on a console and - hopefully - finding that elusive combination of right place, right time.

Our hero is a perky yellow bird, looking for all the world like he's just fluttered in from New Zealand Story. He waddles around a 2D platforming maze trying to free his unborn siblings from their eggshells. You can control him as normal, or use the remote to point where you'd like him to go. He can't jump, fly or climb so the meat of the puzzling gameplay is working out the best route to reach all the eggs without leaving yourself trapped.

Helping you out are various tools that immediately call to mind Lemmings. Some enable you to cross empty spaces, or teleport nearby. Others are used to stop or destroy the various enemies that tromp mindlessly around the levels. These are enemies in the old-school sense - they stomp along until they hit an obstacle and then turn around. It's the sort of thing most people will know only from set-top box services like Sky Active, and there's definitely a simple charm at work here.

The game automatically saves after each level, so it's easy to dip in and out. You also get a Wild Card, which you can use to skip a tricky level and try the next. As you only get one Wild Card, you'll need to beat the level in question if you want to skip any more.