For the past six years now, we adventure gamers have been debating (sometimes heatedly) how adventures should change in order to get back in the mainstream. We've seen many games try to make changes to graphics, control, puzzle style, and add elements from other genres to bring adventures into the new millennium. When games try to do this, it often feeds yet another debate and to me it seems that both adventure developers and their fan base get caught up in solely trying to innovate.

Now, I don't have anything against trying to innovate the genre, but sometimes, I just want to play a good, solid adventure that isn't trying to reinvent the wheel. But to do that, my options would be limited to strictly the classics. That is, until a game called Tony Tough and the Night of Roasted Moths caught my eye. 2D graphics, point n' click interface, all that stuff that the average adventure gamer would probably consider "traditional." And it looked to be just the thing to whet my appetite.

Yeah, it was obviously not trying to reinvent the wheel, but there was that "good, solid" part that had yet to be decided. After reading a few reviews, I got the impression that the game was very funny and worthwhile, yet I remained skeptical and thought that the game looked too over-the-top and too slapstick to be very funny, and the puzzles were apparently very difficult and obscene for most gamers. However, my hunger for a simple, fun adventure was too great. And after playing it, do I think my fears were in vain? Fortunately yes.

We find ourselves controlling Tony Tough, a weak little PI with saucer glasses and an oversized overcoat. Working for the Wallen & Wallen Investigation Agency, Tony has been working on a case of stolen Halloween candy for years. Some lowlife has been nabbing obnoxious little imps of their fattening treats every Halloween and every October 31st since, Tony has been trying to bring the petty thief to justice. However, Tony believes that this is no ordinary criminal, but this is the work of aliens. “Candy today, tomorrow the world!” Tony thinks. Obviously, Tony is belittled for his beliefs by the rest of the agency and is the company joke. This doesn’t phase Tony one bit, as he’s sure that thieving extra-terrestrials are the culprits of this infamous crime. And tonight is Halloween night, the night that these aliens will make their move. Along with his dog/tapir, Pantagruel, Tony will finally crack the case. That is, until he gets a ransom note saying that Pantagruel has been kidnapped and he must go to Halloween Park to try to rescue his companion. The note is signed by Jack O’L. Who is this guy? Why has he kidnapped Pantagruel? In order to answer these questions, Tony must wander the bazaar Halloween-themed amusement park to save his friend and solve the case once and for all.

When I first read about the story, I thought it sounded pretty stupid. It seemed like it was trying pathetically hard to be funny, yet in reality, just annoying. Such is not the case. The plot works surprisingly well and is well-written. The game’s setting is very interesting and fun to explore with a lot of unique locations that all add a lot to the humor. It’s easy to see that Tony Tough was inspired greatly by the Lucasarts classics in the humor department. You can definitely see traces of Sam & Max, Day of the Tentacle and even Zak Mckracken in this game (in fact the game does pay homage to both Zak and DOTT). The writing and characters are incredibly reminiscent to all these games and works great. The dialog has the same smart, sarcastic feel as Sam & Max, using very big words and punch lines that pack a big sting. Unfortunately, Tony isn’t as successful with this as Sam or Max and near the end of the game, I found Tony spewing these every time I gave him a command and skipped through a lot of the dialog. However, TT is still one of the funnier games out there.

The biggest tagline for Tony Tough is probably the graphics. Its gorgeous 2D backgrounds and characters are definitely a sight for sore eyes for the adventure “purist.” But that doesn’t mean others won’t love the graphics as well. In the age-old argument of 2D vs. 3D, Tony Tough certainly gives a lot of weight to the 2D side. With all the 3D adventures that have been released after this game, that’s a four year span, Tony Tough would still beat out ninety percent of those games.



One aspect that deserves mention is the voice acting. I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of both voice acting and dialog. All actors do a good job with their roles and none are overly annoying. The dialog is flawless and written well, as mentioned earlier. The reason this is such a big deal is because the developers of this game is stationed in Italy. There have been many foreign games that have big problems with both aspects, but Tony Tough was thankfully translated very well and was casted decently. After playing Jack Orlando, it was refreshing to play a game that did not mutilate the English language.

Tony features two modes of game play. You can choose from easy to hard. Only difference is that you can skip a few puzzles in easy. Every review of this game I had read beforehand stated that the puzzles in hard were so obscene and leap-of-logic that I would refer to a walkthrough for the bulk of the game and that not many people would have the mentality that was needed to solve most puzzles. So, either the reviews were wrong, or I should be institutionalized. I had no major problem with any puzzles and once I got in the cartoon state of mind, all puzzles were logical and none were obscure at all.

So all in all, Tony Tough and the Night of Roasted Moths delivered not only in thirty minutes, but also gave me complimentary breadsticks. The game reminded me why I got into adventures without trying to really amaze me and surprised me with its quality humor. It does have minor flaws and may not be for everybody, but this game was simply a good time, and that’s what I was searching for in the first place.

8.0/10

[artwking4]

I had a good time with this game, but playing it on the "hard" difficulty level was beyond me. And a lot of the time, I didn't know what I was supposed to be doing. It was very non-linear in that way, but I wish the story would have pushed me more to go in certain directions rather than making me flail blindly to just pick up every item that wasn't nailed down and hope it could be used someplace that I remember being stuck at. Still, it was very refreshing to play this particular title after all these "serious" games that have been coming out in the last few years.

Originally Posted by artwking4

It was very non-linear in that way, but I wish the story would have pushed me more to go in certain directions rather than making me flail blindly to just pick up every item that wasn't nailed down and hope it could be used someplace that I remember being stuck at.

Yeah, but I thought that was sort of the expirience they were going for.

[artwking4]

Hehe... well, they succeeded tremendously then! However, I just like to have a bit more of an idea of what I'm supposed to be doing next, or maybe why I should I solve a puzzle. I can't remember anything specific, but there were puzzles that I didn't understand what I would have to gain by solving them. There seemed to be a lack of motivation to explain certain puzzles (but maybe this was because it was the "hard" difficulty). Doesn't make much sense, but that's my take. I still enjoyed the game.

Heh. Yeah. The whole game was pretty much a scavanger hunt. But still, that's probably what they were going for.