The Last Tinker: City of Colors Review (PC)

The Last Tinker is, in short, a 3D platformer title made in the vein of the genre's classics, similar to Banjo Kazooie and the likes in terms of mechanics, visual style and story.

The game is made by Mimimi Productions and it's their debut title on Steam, a pretty ambitious undertaking presenting the story of the inhabitants of Colortown and their plight.

Once upon a time, the red, green and blue denizens of Colortown lived in harmony, but lately they started falling apart, each color devolving from the positive side of the spectrum to the negative and starting to mistrust the others.

Over time, they grew further apart, and now their very essence is threatened when a dark and mysterious force, the Bleakness, steps into their world and starts draining all the color, life and joy from Colortown.

You play the role of Koru, a do-gooder who also happens to be the equivalent of a superhero in Colortown, a Tinker, the last of its kind, being able to control all three colors' mystical powers.

Forced to act by the recent mishaps, you embark on an adventure to fight back against the Bleakness and restore color to your city, along with also restoring the colors to their original state of spirit.

This colorful fellow must be a rap producer

The sun is always happy, knowing that he'll kill us all

Gameplay

The game is designed pretty well, at first glance being reminiscent of old cartoons from a distant childhood, having the same strong, colorful visuals based around primary and secondary colors, and the same tone and simplistic storyline.

The actual platforming is done in a way that might initially seem questionable, as you aren't able to jump on your own. It sounds like madness to not be able to jump in a platforming game, but this approach makes it so that jumping on smaller targets is achieved easily and navigating the game world isn't a test of precision in its own right, the end result being a smoother and more accessible overall experience.

Combat is handled in a pretty standard manner, you simply mash on a button to perform attacks, and can also dodge-roll away from trouble, and enemies are like standard action film henchmen, patiently waiting for their one-way trip to Pain City, once again making the gameplay very accessible.

The good thing is that, although at first it seems like the game plays by itself, with combat encounters being a breeze and not even having to time your jumps correctly in order to get from one place to another, the difficulty level gradually increases up to a point where you won't feel like falling asleep while playing won't have an impact on the final outcome.

After the initial tutorial, as you go around Colortown and fight the Bleakness, you'll encounter the three colors' spirits, each one of them imbuing you with its power, and adding to your arsenal of moves. For instance, while the red spirit is quite adept at angrily smashing stuff, punching through armor and destroying obstacles, the green spirit is a tad more restrained, merely making enemies you hit with his power run away in fear for a short duration.

The increased health and power of the enemies, combined with their sheer numbers and the fact that you have to change your approach and abilities used during each encounter, coupled with the possibility to also purchase upgrades from time to time, unlocking new moves and increasing the old ones' strength, make the game a little more challenging and interesting, a welcome direction from the laughably easy and linear beginning.

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In addition to jumping around the environment by holding the space key and allowing Koru to make use of his athletic skills, you also have to solve various environmental puzzles, in typical platforming fashion.

There are levers to pull and other such things to figure out, while also making use of your trusty sidekick Tap, who can point you in the right direction should you lose your way, and there is also a mushroom assistant that you have to guide around in order to achieve progress.

As any mushroom assistant worth its salt, he can explode when shot and he can be watered to grow, and you can then ride him like you would an unstoppable juggernaut, blasting through obstacles and enemies alike.

From time to time, you'll also make use of Colortown's intricate rail system to hastily get from one part of the city to another, and the combination of puzzle and mini-game mechanics shows the developer's inventiveness and keeps things fresh from a mechanical point of view.

Also, the denizens of Colortown do its name justice, being a jolly bunch of characters oozing personality and spicing up the experience in a way that's similar to children's cartoons, through zany one-liners and simple dialogue.

Visuals and sound

The first thing that strikes you about the game is the annoyingly bright color scheme, that at first glance seems a bit overkill. We get that it's a childish fantasy city, made out of colored paper and all, but everything looks like neon colors are the only ones in the world and a bunch of kids overdosing on sugar went rampant with a truck of crayons all over the place.

Over time, you get used to the unique style of the graphics, and as the story unfolds you start realizing that it's a perfect fit for the upbeat, happy and naive tone that the game has. The game oozes a kind of old-school charm that hearkens back to the time of the classics of the genre, when everything was about genuine and uncomplicated fun.

The music complements The Last Tinker very well, being lighthearted enough to fit with its vivid imagery, and always being upbeat and positive, an arching motive of the entire adventure, while also having enough variety and quality of composition not to get on your nerves through repetition and to provide a welcome rhythm to the adventure.

The Giant Dork Whale is a long extinct mammal

This bunch is not likely to get run over in traffic

The Good

The Bad

Conclusion