Game Reviews

Ancients of Ooga isn't short of ideas--on some counts. By the end of this side-scrolling puzzle platformer, you'll be commanding creatures that can variously fly, breathe fire, conjure floods, slow down time, dive-bomb enemies, emanate toxic stinks, walk on lava, and electrify themselves, not to mention ingest and regurgitate each other. But that wealth of abilities isn't well matched to the game's repetitive cycle of levels and too gentle difficulty curve. Its flaws don't amount to deal breakers, but they do keep it from being anything really special.

You play as the Spirit of Ooga, a caretaker deity that can possess the Oogani: the gawky, multicoloured gremlins that worship you. You must unite the seven Oogani tribes against the bovine Booli who have enslaved them by freeing captives and resurrecting the leaders of the tribes. Cue seven chapters (say, eight or nine hours) of item-gathering, lever-pulling puzzles that are spiced up by your ability to flit between bodies, as well as the themed powers unique to each tribe and its leader. The feathered Flapper tribe can fly, for instance, and the fishy Swimmer tribe can breathe underwater, with their respective chieftains able to call up winds and floods.

The Oogani can eat a variety of food and nonfood items, including each other, with separate commands for chewing and swallowing. Chewing merely stores an item, presumably in the creature's Tardis-like cheek pouches, and coupled with a puking command, these mechanics form a basic inventory system. The latter can induce special effects; swallowing a hover bean, for example, temporarily levitates your Oogani. Usefulness aside, the eating and puking is a cornerstone of the game's mischievous humour, which is entertaining, if not riotously funny throughout. Still, the younger players for whom the game appears to be tailored might get a more consistent kick out of puking up a stream of chickens, rocks, slugs, and buddies.