Developer: BumpkinBrothers
Publisher: BumpkinBrothers
Platform: PC
Tribloos 2 – Review
Tribloos 2 is a time management game designed by Andy Tales of The Bumpkin Brothers. This game is the sequel to the bestselling time management game ‘The Tribloos’. The Tribloo village is under threat again but not just by a storm this time.
Story
In ‘The Tribloos’ the Tribloo village has been destroyed by a massive storm. This storm has destroyed all of the village’s buildings and the Tribloos have to rebuild the village. This time around the Tribloos aren’t just threatened by a destructive storm but now there’s a dragon that has it out for their village as well. Matilda the dragon is trying to blow the Tribloos away. Now that the village has been destroyed, once again, you must guide the Tribloos and rebuild their homes. To rebuild the village you will need to guide these friendly critters and tell them what to do, so the building is done as fast as possible.
Tribloos 2 presents its story by the use of a comic book, which fits the atmosphere the game is trying to create.
Graphics
Tribloos 2 has a design that looks somewhat outdated but this certainly is not a bad thing, seeing the game relies heavily on its old school style. The characters are cartoony, yet loveable and the environments look fun. When you start up Tribloos 2 for the first time, you get introduced to the Tribloos and their comical design. These little critters have a fairly unique look and the graphics used in the game emphasize this look. The rest of the game is set in Tribloo villages and the graphics are drawn very detailed and emphasize the ambiance while keeping the comical feel.
The game menu has a nice design with moving parts to make it look a bit more interesting. When switching between the menus you see the menu moving in a way that fits the atmosphere of the game.
Sound
The graphics are not the only thing that keeps the comical ambiance going in this game, the music proves to be quite amusing as well. All parts of the game have very jolly music and makes you happy, warm and fuzzy on the inside, from the moment you hear it.
Every menu has its own musical theme and this music changes to fit the location the game is set in at that moment. The forest on the Tribloo Island has a nice theme made with the sound of flutes and wooden instruments while other themes use guitars or violins to fit the setting of those levels. As well as the menu and the levels, the story being told inside the game also has its own song.
Overall the game has done a very good job on the sound, making every part of the game feel unique and new.
Gameplay
The goal of the game is to rebuild the Tribloo city as fast as possible, this is a time management game so you will need to think fast. Tribloos 2 has multiple different activities you can make the Tribloos do, these activities each require a different amount of time and can be done by a different amount of Tribloos. On the bottom right of your screen you can follow a timer that indicates how you are doing, if this timer reached outside of the green, you will not have earned the gold medal you were going for.
The first time you start the game you will have the ability to do a tutorial, this tutorial explains everything you need to know; how to build, how to manage Tribloos, how to gather and how to manage your time. The different tasks you can let the Tribloos do are building things like houses or sawmills, you can also let them gather resources like wood, toolkits or flour or you can let them remove obstacles that are in your way to reach new building sites.
Different buildings have different requirements and give different bonuses. Building a house gives you more Tribloos to command while building a sawmill gives you the ability to gather more wood without needing to find a wood pile. You don’t just have to manage your time but also your resources, you can’t finish the level if you run out of wood without having a sawmill or more wood piles.
At the bottom of the screen you will find the objectives you have to complete in order to finish the level. These objectives can be removing obstructions, building things or preparing things like bread or making toolkits. Some objectives require other objectives to be completed in order to finish them. You can’t bake bread without having built a bakery and you can’t build a bakery without having gathered wood.
After completing the level you get a window showing the feedback on this level, you see the amount of points you scored and the medal you earned by managing your time. You can earn three different kinds of points; building score, resource score and time score, this last score is also measured in a medal rating from bronze to gold.
Conclusion
Tribloos 2 is a nice example of how time management games can be executed. Both the puzzle and time managing aspects of the game are not just fun, but also challenging if you want to get a gold time rating. The music and graphics of the game fit the setting the game is in very well and make it more fun to play.
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