Review: Tembo The Badass Elephant (Playstation 4)

November 6th, 2015 at 11:41 am -

Tembo The Badass Elephant is a quirky 2D side-scroller that combines the blazing speed of Sonic The Hedgehog and the gameplay elements of many notable titles from the genre (i.e. Alien Hominid, Metal Slug etc.). But unlike the games that came before it, Tembo takes a light-hearted approach to the fast-paced, military carnage it portrays, as you control the elephant protagonist through seventeen levels of unabated action.

The premise involves saving Shell City from an evil organization that calls itself the National Army. Ironically, the player is encouraged to destroy everything in their path, including buildings, platforms and containers. Essentially, you’re adding to the city’s distress instead of actually saving it, but I digress. It’s the amount of fun you have while doing it that counts.

Despite his enormous size, Tembo can race through levels like Sonic the Hedgehog by pressing and holding Square button. This also allows our peanut eating friend to break through walls, tear down platforms and even level buildings (where applicable). The most intriguing part of the game, though, is the level design. Some levels use imaginative content to help Tembo reach certain parts of a level. For example: during level four, the player can jump towards a spinning cog to have the game’s protagonist swing from his trunk. While spinning, the player must time Tembo’s release by press X button. It may sound easy, but it actually isn’t. Later levels require the player to swing from multiple cogs before actually reaching a platform.

Every level contains a large variety of obstacles that range from deadly fire traps to massive, wall-like barricades, to name just a few. During some levels, Tembo can use  cannons – and his body as a projectile – to reach platforms that are difficult to reach and to collect peanuts that are suspended above the level. But most importantly, the game encourages the player to cause destruction and mayhem throughout the city. Using Tembo’s enormous size, the player can charge through walls, smash into enemies, and destroy buildings by pressing and holding Square button. The player can also use Tembo’s tusks to destroy hanging objects (i.e. certain platforms) and his immense weight to butt-slam through multiple-story buildings.

The game’s main objective is to rescue innocent civilians that are held prisoner in every level. Each enemy base (i.e. level) can only be unlocked by killing a certain number of enemies, which is outlined by a purple ‘kill’ counter.  Once the first three initial zones of a level are completed, a fourth, final zone appears containing two levels and a final boss encounter. And while Tembo is powerful, he can still sustain damage along the way. Special crates containing fruit can be destroyed to replenish any missing health. Moreover, collecting three hundred peanuts will award the player with an extra life.

Graphically, Tembo’s comic book visuals harken back to classics such as Alien Hominid by developer Tuna Technologies / The Behemoth. The exaggerated animations never fail to raise a smile, and the on-screen destruction of buildings and platforms is represented by bright explosions and flying debris. The graphics also resemble classic arcade games from the 1990s (i.e. SNK-PLAYMORE’s Metal Slug series comes to mind), and they’re constantly filling the screen with a tremendous amount of sprites.

Tembo The Badass Elephant is a fantastic side-scroller that uses some of the best gameplay mechanics from the genre, while incorporating a good amount of humor along the way. It may not innovate as a platformer, but what Tembo The Badass Elephant provides is a solid gameplay experience that gamers of all ages can enjoy.

Mike Pittaro
Platform: PlayStation 4 (Available on PSN)
Developer: Game Freak
Publisher: Sega
ESRB: E 10+ (Everyone 10+)
Price: $14.99/£9.99/€12.99

Tembo the Badass Elephant Official Website