The Last Tinker: City Of Colors is an indie third person platformer for all ages developed by MiMiMi Productions. The game feels like a labour of love from people who enjoyed the platformers of the early 2000’s.
The Last Tinker puts players into the shoes of Koru, a monkey boy tasked with saving Tinkerworld from bleakness. The atmosphere and vibrancy of Colourtown engages the senses when you enter the world; it acts as the tutorial area and allows you to familiarize yourself with his acrobatic abilities and the easy to pick up controls (which have full controller support on PC). While it isn’t the most original storyline it will surely offer enough to stand alongside other much loved titles in the genre such as Jak and Daxter, Super Mario and others which were never known for their detailed plots.
Koru is best described as ‘Enslaved: Journey To The West’ main character Monkey’s younger artistic brother. His charm fits his environment and mixes with an unusually cute range of creatures. Forget the dull platformers which flood the market, The Last Tinker is a game that offers the very brightest presentation. The lands are bold and colourful using the entirety of a vivid palette and this matches the fun, joyful nature of the game. The almost cartoony style of the world suits this bright visual experience and it sets the air of charm incredibly well for Koru’s journey. Charming gamers into playing is only the first thing that The Last Tinker does right however.
A range of gameplay mechanics come together to make the title a solid and unique experience. Whilst there was only a small section of combat on show in the preview there was plenty of promise packed in, with a well-designed combo system which gamers will surely need in the full title. Despite the fact that combat wasn’t in full supply it is clearly one of The Last Tinker’s unique elements it isn’t the most entertaining mechanic.
To navigate the world Koru can slide along rails or engage in Assassin’s Creed style free running, providing fluid ways to traverse the map. Interestingly the game uses a singular button for running and the free running ability with no separate ability to jump, which can lead to annoyance when stuck behind a small obstacle. Thankfully, this slight irritation doesn’t get in the way of gameplay flow for the majority of the time.
Unique, colourful and fun are the words that the preview leaves gamers with. While only a small segment of the game was shown off but it certainly served to whet the appetite for more. With approximately 30 minutes of gameplay available the main bulk of the game and surely a lot more mechanics have yet to be introduced. Nonetheless, what’s on show is well designed and executed. I’m sure the bright nature of The Last Tinker: City Of Colors will be joy to many gamers both young and old.
