Teratopia [Xbox]
Ravegan’s Teratopia has you take on the role of Tucho, Benito and Horacio to rescue the land of Teratopia from monstrous enemies. Run around as little monster creatures, spawning littler ones to assist in taking down enemies, gaining eyeballs that can be used to unlock chests. Tonnes of eyes will be dropped upon defeating enemies - with harder enemies rewarding more - these bounce and roll away (often off the edge of the map) so you’ll need to chase them down, otherwise they’ll go to waste.
As any of the three playable characters, you’ll set out to defeat the Bosses, ridding Teratopia of the red invaders plaguing the land. They each fight differently; with Tucho, the blue one, who is a punchy ball-guy that melee attacks enemies; Benito, the green ranged fighter, who fires projectiles; and Horacio, the orange jelly-blob trickster. Each character has their own ‘family’ with a group of different minions at your disposal that can be gathered as you progress. Be sure not to waste them though, as they come in handy against the bosses!
Visually, it has a simple cartoon-y style that is reminiscent of 90s/early 00s platformers, with bright colours and floating maps. Off into the distance you can see other creatures, which looks pretty cool and makes for a far more interesting scope of view than simply fading out. The soundtrack is very Pixar-like, and adds to the jolly, lighthearted feel of the game. There’s plenty of humour throughout, from introductory cutscenes to the boss fights themselves, and it’s this humour that makes for a confusing time when trying to figure out the target audience of the game.
It feels well suited to kids with its simple, straightforward brawling style and easy to learn - albeit somewhat unpredictably frustrating - controls, but the humour is definitely geared towards adults. Even giving the benefit of the doubt, I thought that maybe the humour is meant to be like when there’s a more adult joke in kids’ movies to keep the parents entertained, but it’s not quite as subtle as that; one of the bosses - Pinko - even has a large CENSORED bar across her chest during the boss fight.
There’s a Teratopedia to see all of the creatures - both friend and foe - and here, you can gain tentacles (to spend at the in-game shop on costumes) by defeating certain numbers of enemies or unlocking new characters to utilise. Within this you can also see the ‘family tree’ of the bosses including baby Du-Du-Ajo to Grandpa Grandfarter. And with areas having new chests available to find only after defeating the area bosses, you’re actively encouraged to revisit areas and explore - although this is a bit tedious as they just appear afterwards, and are not locked off due to a lack of abilities. All of the areas are connected within the map, so you can start from any of the warp points and make your way across all of the regions with nothing to stop you aside from a few barriers (and these just need you to spend eyes to unlock them). If you don’t have enough to open up the next area, then you’ll just have to hunt down more enemies to gain more eyes.
Available for £12.49 on Xbox, Teratopia is a decently enjoyable game that will give you a few hours of simple fun. Jumping to/from platforms is pretty damn frustrating, but I still had an okay time. If you’re looking for a challenge, this might not live up to your expectations due to the basic gameplay so I’d only really recommend it when it’s on sale and if you’re just looking for something straightforward to pass the time (and get the gamerscore!)
In the end, we decided to give Teratopia the Collecting Asylum rating of 6/10.
Have you played Teratopia yet? What did you think of it?
Let us know in the comments below!
- V x
Thank you to Ravegan for the Teratopia Xbox review code!
