Tiny Terry’s Turbo Trip – Review

If you’ve been with us for a while, you’ll know that we have a soft spot for outlandish games. While we do enjoy a well-made AAA title, there are only so many Metroidvanias or JRPGs you can play before you need a palette cleanser. Tiny Terry’s Turbo Trip, from Dutch developer snekflat, is such a game. Of course, breaking the mold isn’t enough: ideally, you’d want the game to be good as well. Fortunately, Turbo Trip delivers on that front as well. Read on to find out why the game should be on your radar.

Story

Terry has a dream: He wants to go into space. Of course, that’s easier said than done when you’re a teenager who has to go to summer school. When Terry’s family leaves on vacation, our hero senses an opportunity. He skips school and instead scores a job at a taxi company, thanks to the awesome power of lying. Of course, Terry isn’t *actually* going to do this job as a taxi driver. No, the plan is to drive it up the side of a giant building and launch his new ride into space! Before he can do so, however, he’ll need to equip the taxi with a few upgrades and cash to buy these. Fortunately, plenty of people in the island city of Sprankelwater can use help with odd jobs. If it isn’t clear by now, Turbo Trip isn’t a game that takes itself very seriously. Granted, this isn’t a game like DEEEER Simulator where it’s just a bunch of random stuff cobbled together. There is still a story here and the writing is excellent, with well-thought-out jokes. Turbo Trip feels like you’re playing through a cartoon show in the same vein as Adventure Time or Regular Show. Bonus points if you speak Dutch too, as character names or place names typically hide additional jokes that will fly over the heads of non-Dutch speakers. Sprankelwater’s resident criminal is called Steelkees, for example. “Steel” refers to the act of stealing, and “Kees” is a common Dutch first name.

Graphics

The feeling of a Saturday morning cartoon is pushed even further in Turbo Trip’s audiovisual presentation. The game has a distinct visual style, with both Terry and the other characters looking like amorphous blobs, in the best way possible. The game isn’t going to impress anyone with its visuals, but that also isn’t the intention. Instead, the colorful aesthetic sets up the perfect atmosphere for the surreal situations that you’ll find yourself in. Plus, the simple graphics aren’t going to be too taxing on your hardware, so Turbo Trip’s visual performance is great too.

Sound

We would have preferred full-on voice acting for a game as cartoony as Turbo Trip, but snekflat opted for a compromise: Characters “talk” by making all sorts of noises like honking or squeaking, not unlike the way Animal Crossing characters speak. This approach fits with Turbo Trip’s zany atmosphere well enough. The game’s OST is outright fantastic, with catchy, high-energy tunes. The ambient sound effects aren’t anything special, but they do what they need to do.

Gameplay

Remember The Simpsons: Hit & Run’s gameplay? It’s back, in Tiny Terry form. For those of you who never experienced what was arguably the best Simpsons video game, allow us to elaborate. Turbo Trip is an open-world action game with collect-a-thon elements. Just like Hit & Run, Terry’s adventure is pretty much a comedic take on the GTA formula, without the violence and R-rated stuff. You’ll explore the city of Sprankelwater, finding all sorts of junk as well as completing short missions to help out NPCs. There is no set path to follow, and instead, you’re free to roam around the island. Of course, your options for exploration expand as you obtain specific tools like a shovel and car upgrades including a glider. It’s well worth exploring too, not just for collectibles but also to seek out the delightfully funny inhabitants of Sprankelwater. Take Burning Bernie, for example, a character that’s been sitting in the sun for so long that he’s literally on fire. The island isn’t a very big place, but it’s packed with things to do and people to talk to, with your only real goal being to upgrade your taxi for your eventual trip into orbit.

Don’t go in and expect a very challenging game either. Despite that you’ll unlock weapons, there is no combat at all, nor is there a way for Terry to die. In the unlikely event that you get yourself stuck, there’s a reset button. The worst thing that can happen is that you’ll get fined for driving your car too deep into the water. The lack of challenge doesn’t translate into a lack of things to do: during your adventure, you’ll end up playing sports with an orange, taking part in a yoga class, and of course, committing crimes. Why stick to your own car if you can steal NPC vehicles at a whim, especially since there are no consequences to face? Speaking of vehicles, driving is a breeze, as the controls for this are tight and streamlined. The same applies to walking around, as well as the occasional light platforming that you’ll need to do to reach specific characters or collectibles. All in all, Turbo Trip is a surprisingly carefree and relaxing sandbox experience in terms of gameplay, giving ample room for the sheer wackiness and zaniness of the world to take to the foreground.

We really enjoyed our time with Turbo Trip, and so our biggest gripe with the game was that it left us wanting more. The game is on the short side, clocking in at roughly four hours to complete. Even if you’re a completionist who is bent on sniffing out every hidden collectible and purchasing every hat (oh yes), you’re going to be able to complete the game over the course of a single evening. That is reflected in the game’s price point of €17.49, which doesn’t exactly break the bank. It’s a matter of quality over quantity in this case, and we do feel like Turbo Trip is fairly priced despite its short length.

Conclusion

Although Turbo Trip may not be the most challenging title out there, it more than makes up for this through its cartoonish humor and simple but varied gameplay. Exploring Sprankelwater is a joy: everywhere you look, something is trying to grab your attention. The writing is fantastic too: we challenge anyone who plays Turbo Trip not to laugh out loud at least once during the game. It’s a shame that the game is so short, because we would have loved spending more time in the delightful world of Terry and his friends.

SebastiaanRaats

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