It’s not easy being a block of coagulated soy milk, but someone has to do it. To-Fu 2 is a delicious take on the puzzle platforming genre and one that will keep you glued to your iPhone for a good long while. In a market filled with bouncing balls, To-Fu’s stickiness is a breath of fresh air.
It’s not easy being a block of coagulated soy milk, but someone has to do it. To-Fu 2 is a delicious take on the puzzle platforming genre and one that will keep you glued to your iPhone for a good long while. In a market filled with bouncing balls, To-Fu’s stickiness is a breath of fresh air.
At heart, To-Fu 2 is a simple game. As it has been intimated before, you play as a little block of tofu. To be precise, you play as the most malleable martial artist in history. In spite of how lofty that might sound, it isn’t all that hard at all to control To-Fu. All you have to do to send the little guy flying is touch him and drag in the direction in which you want to relay him. Once you’ve decided on where you want him to go, all you have to do is release your finger from the screen and watch as our wobbly hero goes careening through the air.
Of course, given that he’s a martial artist, there’s a small added element here. If you keep To-Fu stretched out for long enough, he’ll eventually develop a blazing blue aura and gain the ability to break through various things.
Unfortunately, his ability to transmogrify into a miniature hadouken is somewhat useless against sharp, pointy things like spikes and whirling circular saws. One touch and you’re dead, reduced to a wailing blob as you fall off screen. Fair warning, this is going to happen and this is going to happen rather often. To-Fu 2, in spite of its cutesy appearance and charming music, is not a particularly forgiving title.
It might just be my own lack of co-ordination but even the tutorial levels were rather brutal. Granted, it’s not exactly a bad thing. Though punishing, the controls feel tight enough that failure often evokes a sense of self-inadequacy; it’s not the game, it’s you. As a result, you’re likely to find yourself throwing yourself against the levels again and again till you’ve mastered the pin-point precision necessary for a perfect run.
Looks-wise, To-Fu 2 evokes an odd sense of deja vu but that, in turn, isn’t really a bad thing. The visuals are lovely and surprisingly adorable, the Eastern references far from overdone and there’s also a decent amount of particles available.
With 100 levels to work your way through, To-Fu 2 is more than worth its price tag.
