ᴀ ᴍᴏʙɪʟᴇ ᴡɪsʜ: Tak and the Power of Juju
ʟᴇᴛs ᴅɪᴠᴇ ɪɴᴛᴏ ᴛʜɪs ᴏᴠᴇʀʟᴏᴏᴋᴇᴅ, 2000’s ɢᴇᴍ
Tak and the Power of Juju is an action-adventure platformer created by Avalanche Software, and was published by THQ Nordic (simply THQ at the time of publication) in October of 2003. It was met with mixed to average reviews by critics, and was given an average rating of about 6/10. At the time of its release it was looked over by many potential players because of the bigger named titles that released that year (Jak 2, Ratchet and Clank: Going Commando, and DMC2 to name a few). You could play this title on the GameCube, PS2, and the Game Boy Advance (the format that I owned). Luckily for me this game released during my childhood ( I was 7 at release) and couldn't be bothered with the snobby opinions of "video game critics" reviews (let alone fully read them if I wanted to). Not only was this game awesome visually, the main character "Tak" was voiced by Jason Marsden (Max from "A Goof Movie" and Chester from "The Fairy Odd Parents"). This game was one of my first memories playing a Game Boy Advance, and couldn't be happier with this new title in my little gaming collection.
The Power of Juju is the first installment in the franchise of three, technically four games (Power of Juju, Staff of Dreams, Guardians of Gross, and the Mojo Mistake - a Nintendo DS exclusive) . Asethically the game fit the period that it was released. Most popular platformers of the time had jungle and tribal visual roots with tons of African/ Australian drums and woodwind instruments as the audio backdrop of your adventures (I want to blame Donkey Kong for this, but I'm not entirely sure who the originator of this tribal environmental-tone decision was). Also, most platformers of the time, had to have some type of "misunderstood magical element" to create and push storytelling and narration along (which I am totally fine with).
ᴛʜᴇ ᴏᴠᴇʀᴀʀᴄʜɪɴɢ ɴᴀʀʀᴀᴛɪᴠᴇ:
You play as Tak, the apprentice to the High Shaman of the Pupanunu people. You are tasked with getting the resources required to help the "supposed" protectors of your people, and to fulfil the ancient prophecy of the Moon Juju that has spoken of an imminent danger. As tragedy would have it, your first potential candidate of protector...gets killed by a herd of sheep, and the other gets an uncontrollable case of the stomach flu... It is now up to you, to take on that task, fulfil the prophecy alone, and take on the lurking evil known as, Tlaloc.
ᴡᴇ ʙᴀsɪᴄᴀʟʟʏ ᴀʟʀᴇᴀᴅʏ ʜᴀᴅ ɪᴛ ᴏɴ ᴍᴏʙɪʟᴇ:
Tak and the Power of Juju technically, was already a mobile game. As I stated earlier, I owned this game on the Game Boy Advance. It would be no surprise to anyone if I said, that mobile devices of today would put the portable gaming devices of the earlier 2000's to shame (sorry die-hard 90's kids, its true). With the massive amount of advancements that we've made in the last decade or so in mobile gaming, putting Tak and the Power of Juju in the Play or App Store would be a piece of cake (with minimal effort, if any at all). I am a firm believer in the idea that mobile form factor games of the early 2000 should all find there way to an app store in the near future (I'm seriously waiting on this day to happen).
ᴡᴇ ᴀʟʀᴇᴀᴅʏ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ᴇxᴀᴍᴘʟᴇs ᴏꜰ ᴍᴏʙɪʟᴇ sᴜᴄᴄᴇss:
A reintroduction into the franchise would be met with the warmest of welcomes. We can look at the remastered mobile edition of Spongebob’s “Battle for Bikini Bottom - Rehydrated” as a testament that early 2000's nostalgia is alive and well! With more console focused titles finding their way into the mobile gaming space, it's more than about time development studio's took that leap of faith on the mobile gaming community. Honestly I wouldn't hold my breathe on it NOT being some type subscription service of some kind in the future…we don't live in a perfect world.
ᴅʀ.BIOS
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